WILLMAR–In their triumphant return to Bill Taunton Stadium after nearly two full weeks on the road, the Stingers took care of business on Wednesday, sweeping the Alexandria Beetles in a pair of seven inning games by final scores of 7-2 and 5-0. The wins, when combined with losses by St. Cloud, Brainerd, and Duluth vault the Stingers to 28-24 overall and 10-7 in the second half, but more importantly, into first place in the very tight North Division second half race.

In game one, David Carroll was steady for Willmar, earning the win in a rock-solid five and two thirds innings. Carroll gave up a pair of runs, only one earned on four hits with a pair of strikeouts and a walk over that span. The offensive fireworks in the first game came courtesy of Stingers leftfielder Joe Sever who hit his first home run of the season in the second, a towering fly to left center that also brought home Eduardo Gonzalez and Jordan Smith.

Game two saw a masterful pitching performance from Willmar lefty Cedric Pomerlee. The Alcorn State brave looked better than he has at any point in 2010, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning before ending his night just two outs shy of a shutout, striking out four in six and a third innings pitched. Offensively, game two saw production from a host of Stinger batters as Jordan Smith and Sean Dwyer each padded their considerable RBI numbers.

Next up for the first place Stingers, it’s a three game set with the Duluth Huskies at Bill Taunton Stadium starting on Thursday night at 7:05 pm. You won’t want to miss it either, as it’s Wine, Women, and Baseball Night presented by Westside Liquor. For tickets, call the Stingers ticket office at 320-222-2010 or log on to willmarstingers.com for more information. As always, check out wctrib.com for all your Stingers coverage. The 2010 season is presented by Charter.