The Badlands Big Sticks (7-6) came into Tuesday night’s action looking to reproduce the same effort they had against the Willmar Stingers (9-5) on Sunday, where they won 13-10. 

The story for much of the season for Badlands has been getting off to strong starts and getting timely swings of the bat, which is exactly what transpired in this game.

It was junior Coy Defury (Texas State University), that got the party started for the Big Sticks during the top of the 2nd with a 2-RBI single, followed by junior Troy Berg (Augustana University MN), who sliced an RBI single to put Badlands ahead 3-0.

The Big Sticks turned to sophomore Southpaw Nikau Heeney (Skyline (CA) CC), on the mound, who manufactured 6 IP, 3.50 ERA, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 K, 3 BB. Heeney dominated the entire night, being a steady hand for the Big Sticks. 

Jameson Martin got the Stingers on the board in the home half of the third with a sac fly RBI, driving in Joey Craig to cut Badlands’ lead 3-1. 

Defury added another run in the top of the fourth for the Big Sticks with a solo blast to right field to put Badlands up 4-1. 

For the Stingers it was Kaiden Straily getting the call on the diamond who posted 4 IP, 3.00 ERA, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 K, 1 BB.

The Big Sticks added two more runs in the top of the 7th to take a 6-1 lead, thanks to a Ryan Muizelaar (University of Jamestown), RBI groundout and a Connor Massimini (East Texas Baptist University), sac fly RBI.

The 9th inning was an offensive explosion with both clubs putting up four runs. For Badlands it was Muizelaar with an RBI single and freshman Zach Gingrich (Texas State University), with a two run homer to right as the Big Sticks would hold on to a 10-5 win.

For the Big Sticks it was the strong performance of Heeney on the mound combined with another offensive onslaught and strong defence. With the team generating 12 hits and and only committing one error. 

The Big Sticks will look to sweep Willmar tonight with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CDT.