THUNDER BAY, Ont.—After dropping the first two games of the second half, the Stingers are back on a roll thanks to the left arm of Andrew Towns. In one of his best performances of the season, Towns allowed just four hits while striking out a season-high nine batters in the 4-3 doubling up of the Border Cats Saturday night at Port Arthur Stadium.

In his last time out against Rochester Jun. 28, Towns gave up the most hits of his young season, allowing eight in his five innings, but he was on from the get-go against the Border Cats (15-24 overall, 1-3 second half). Towns started the game by setting down the first six batters in order before he finally surrendered his first hit in the third inning. 

Before Towns gave up his first hit though, the Stingers had already staked their starter to a lead with a run in the top of the third inning. Willmar (24-10, 2-2 second half) started the inning with two straight singles by Hunter Webb and Dan Motl, although Webb was put out on runner's interference on Motl's single. Motl stole his second base of the game shortly thereafter and came around to score when Nick Rivera ripped a double to left-center field to make it a 1-0 Stingers' lead.

The Stingers tacked on one more with another run in the top of the fifth before Thunder Bay finally reached against Towns to tie the game at two in the bottom of the fifth. Two of the four hits that Towns allowed in the game came in that fifth frame, with a triple by Adam Collins driving in one run and Collins coming into score on the same play on an error to knot the game at two.

But the Stingers found an answer in the top half of the seventh with two more runs to take the lead for good. Jack Ross, in for Hunter Webb, doubled to lead off the seventh. He moved to third with one out on a wild pitch while Sean Beesley was batting, and after Beesley walked, came into score on Rivera's second RBI of the game on a single. Beesley then scored on Casey Hughston's single, what proved to be the decisive run of the night.

Towns eventually worked his second longest outing of the season, completing eight strong innings and allowing only one more hit after the two base knocks in the fifth. Brady Anderson came on for the second straight night and picked up his third save of the season after giving up a sole run in the bottom of the ninth. Towns is now 3-0 on the season.

The 2014 campaign is presented by Charter. For more coverage of the Stingers visit the West Central Tribune's website at www.wctrib.com.