WILLMAR, Minn.—In two pitcher's battles Tuesday night at Bill Taunton Stadium, the Stingers got a strong start from newcomer Phoenix Sanders in game two to rebound from a game one 6-4 loss, trumping Alexandira 3-1 in the nightcap.

After the Blue Anchors came back to win in game one, Sanders set the tone in game two for the Stingers with a first pitch strike to Kris Goodman. He followed that by striking out Goodman, and then finished the inning with a strikeout, keeping Alexandria scoreless in the first frame.

In the bottom of the first inning Willmar (39-21 overall, 17-13 second half) spotted Sanders a run behind Hutton Moyer's single and Nick Rivera's sacrifice fly later in the inning to make it 1-0.

Although the Blue Anchors eventually tallied a run in the fourth inning to tie the game at one, the offense wasn't very far behind as Moyer provided another run in the bottom of the fifth. The first batter in the inning, Moyer hammered a pitch just inside the foul pole down the right field line to provide what ended up being the game-winning run.

Sanders finished with eight strikeouts in his first start of the year and gave up just six hits and the lone run in six innings without walking a single batter. Christian Turnipseed knotched his first save of the season in his first appearance of the year with two strikeouts and a flyout in the top of the seventh.

Sean Beesley led the Singers with two hits in game one, while Moyer had the single and homer in game two in a 2×4 performance at the dish.

The Stingers are back home tomorrow night for Jerseys off Our Back Night presented by Thrivent Financial. Fans will have the opportunity to bid on all players and coaches jerseys along with the jerseys of former Stingers Hunter Dozier and Michael Suchy throughout the game. For those who cannot make it to the Beehive, the jerseys will also be available for bidding on the Stingers website WillmarStingers.com.

Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Phoenix Sanders. CDI is your local medical imaging provider. It’s your choice where you go for medical imaging, for MRI, CT, mammograms and pain injections, choose CDI. Visit online at myCDI.com/CentralMN.