ALEXANDRIA–Mother nature didn’t cooperate in Willmar on Thursday, so the Stingers were forced to play a pair of seven inning ballgames with the Alexandria Beetles at Knute Nelson Memorial park on Friday the 13th. Despite the ominous date, Willmar’s result was anything but ghastly, as the Stingers took care of the Beetles 11-7 and 6-4 to take a full one game lead on the idle St. Cloud River Bats in the North Division’s second half standings.

Thanks to the quirky dimensions at the Beetles home park, Willmar muscled a combined five home runs over the course of the doubleheader, with Jordan Smith and Nate Johnson each clobbering their fourth homers of the season to set a new team high. Joe Sever and Jared Norris chipped in their second blasts of the season, and Mikey Reynolds tallied his first longball in a Stingers uniform.

Next up for the Stingers, it’s a three game set in Thunder Bay to round out the inaugural regular season schedule and a good showing could ensure the Stingers a playoff appearance in their first year of existence. Make sure to listen live for all the action from north of the border on the Stingers radio network. For all your Stingers coverage, check out wctrib.com. The 2010 season is presented by Charter.