WILLMAR, Minn. – Kenny Roberts’ RBI double in the fourth inning gave the Stingers a 1-0 lead, but Waterloo responded with four unanswered runs to ultimately defeat Willmar, 4-3, at Bill Taunton Stadium Sunday night.

The Stingers’ offense never really got going against Ty Taylor, who went seven innings in his final start of the season for Waterloo and only allowed one earned run on seven hits.

In the fourth, Michael Suchy (Florida Gulf Coast) reached on an error to begin the inning, and Roberts (Alabama) doubled to left-center field to put the Stingers in front with his 34^th RBI this season. It marked the first of two unearned runs Willmar scored against Taylor.

Waterloo took the lead with two runs on two hits in the fifth. Davis Hendrickson singled to score Freddy Villalobos to tie the game, and Jason Hockemeyer later scored on an RBI fielder’s choice by Nico Zych to give the Bucks a 2-1 advantage.

In the sixth, Waterloo scored twice on two hits again with doubles from Benny Roberts and Sean Borman. All four Bucks runs in the game were charged to Kyle Fischer (St. Cloud State), who suffered his first loss of the year, allowing three earned runs on six hits in 6.2 innings. Fischer struck out three and did not walk anybody, but fell to 3-1 on the season. Kody Gorden (Nevada) and Andrew Pulido (San Francisco) combined for 2.1 innings of no-hit baseball in relief with Pulido striking out one in the final 1.1 innings.

The Stingers threatened in the seventh when Zach Benson (Stephen F. Austin) walked with one out and Forrestt Allday (Central Arkansas) reached on an error. Max Kuhn (Kentucky) singled to bring home Benson and make it a 4-2 contest. Kuhn has four RBIs in his last three games to give him 16 this year and is hitting a team-best .436 in July.

Allday scored when Hunter Dozier (Stephen F. Austin) reached on an error one batter later. Dozier received credit for his 31^st RBI of the summer, and the third Waterloo defensive miscue put the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first, but an inning-ending double play ended the threat with the Stingers still trailing, 4-3.

Willmar grounded into two double plays and lined out into two others in the game. The Stingers turned two double plays of their own defensively, but each team committed four errors in the game as well.

Willmar will play Waterloo for the final time of the 2012 season Monday night at 7:05 p.m. It’s Star Wars Night presented by 501^st Legion. Star Wars characters will be on hand to meet and greet fans as well as pose for photos. Fans are encouraged to wear Star Wars-themed costumes, and Star Wars prizes will be given away to some lucky fans.
 
The 2012 season is presented by Charter. For more information on your Willmar Stingers be sure to visit the West Central Tribune at www.wctrib.com.