One night after being shut down by Willmar pitching, the Minot Hot Tots were able to get the offense revved up again on Thursday night. With seven unanswered runs, and some late-game dramatics, the Hot Tots sealed a 7-4 win over the Willmar Stingers.

For the second night in a row, it was Willmar striking first. Just two batters and two stolen bases into the game, David Estrada reached on an infield single and scored Brooks Wright from third. In the second inning, the Stingers manufactured one more on a sacrifice fly.

Behind early, Minot starting pitcher Ethan Blakeney started to settle in by the third. Blakeney, who did pitch in-game all spring at Blinn Junior College, threw five solid innings with two strikeouts and kept Willmar to just those two early runs.

Minot’s offense struggled against Willmar’s starting arm, Eli Kokenge, but started to score once the bullpen came in. In the top of the fourth, Nathan Belle and Kellan Burke reached base on walks. Belle would end up on third and score off of a Micah McCoy ground out. The Tots were on the board, but still had work to do.

In the fifth inning, the Hot Tot rally came with two outs. Luke Schlosser singled up the middle, Ryan Brucker followed with a hit of his own and Belle walked to load the bases. The following batter, Tyler Arnold, would work a long at-bat and eventually draw a walk to tie the game. Minot would still leave the bases loaded, but set up an exciting second half of the game.

Both teams’ relievers would do their job. James Rule and Jackson Jordan kept things from getting out of hand on the Willmar side and Kevin Rahe was spectacular for Minot, tossing three shutout innings from the pen and earning the SportClips MVP.

Arnold was back up to the plate for Minot in the seventh inning and woke up a sleepy Willmar crowd with a two-run blast to left field. The highly-touted power hitter from Hawai’i Pacific picked up his first home run of the summer and the Tots picked up the lead, 4-2. That play would hold as Thursday night’s First Command Play of the Game.

Three more runs would score in a drawn-out ninth inning and with a five-run lead, the Hot Tots asked Dylan Leoff to close down the game. With four walks in the inning, Leoff had to be replaced, but even then, the Hot Tots still couldn’t find a way to wrap it up. Cade Dickinson conceded a run on a wild pitch, then hit a batter to reload the bases. In a 7-4 game, with the winning run at the plate, Dickinson came up clutch with a looking strikeout, sealing the road win.

The Hot Tots move to 2-2 on the season with Thursday’s Sky Dancer Casino Big Win and will move over to Rochester, Minnesota to start a two-game set with the Honkers on Friday and Saturday.