The baseball was so good on Friday night that fans were treated to an extra inning. Despite a loss, the Minot Hot Tots had plenty to look back on positively in an 11-8, ten-inning defeat to the Willmar Stingers.
Minot struck up the offense right away, getting RBI hits from Cole Meyer and Henry Allen to go up 3-2 after the second inning.
Willmar always found a way to get back at the Hot Tots, scoring on a fielder’s choice to tie the game in the third and then plating four runs in the fourth to take the lead, 7-4.
Neither starting pitcher made it out of the fourth inning. Hunter Possehl went a full three innings for Willmar in his season debut giving up four runs on ten hits while striking out three. Braden Booth, facing the Stingers for a second time this season, gave the Tots 3.1 IP in which five earned runs scored.
The bullpens on both sides did a solid job of keeping the bats quieter in the middle-to-late innings, but it would be the Hot Tots shaking things up in the bottom of the sixth. Down 7-4, the inning began with a hit by pitch and walk, putting two runners on with nobody out. Max Ortega would hit a double to the right field corner, scoring one run. Immediately following a pitching change, Christian Stratis flew out to center, but it was deep enough to tag the lead-runner, Allen, from third. Allen would score but the relay throw got away and Ortega stepped on home to tie the game at 7-7.
Moving ahead to the ninth, Willmar would creep back into the lead with heads-up baserunning. Liam Bushey led off the inning with a single, his fifth hit of a 5-for-5 game. Minot made a pitching change to closer Kevin Schoneboom after the fact and the Stingers went to pinch-runner Kobe Eikmeier. Eikmeier was able to steal second base during the next at-bat and was moved to third on a sacrifice fly. The next batter, Carter Bailey, did the same, flying out to center, but Eikmeier tagged up and scored the go-ahead run.
Minot worked quickly in the late comeback effort, getting a clutch pinch-hit single from Charlie Kalbrener with one out. Kalbrener advanced to second on a wild pitch and would soon score on another Allen RBI single.
The game went to extras and the Stingers pulled way ahead with three runs in the top of the tenth. The Hot Tots fell short in their last inning at the plate, losing the game 11-8.
Henry Allen was Friday night’s SportClips MVP, Will Eldridge of Willmar had the SRT Fastest Pitch of 92 mph, Will Smoot’s sliding catch in foul ground was the First Command Play of the Game, and the Hot Tots drew another five Buffalo Wild Wings Walks.
