La Crosse, Wisc.— Will Lydon's night didn't start the way he hoped it would, but his finish more than made up for that. 

After allowing two hits and a run in the first inning to La Crosse, the Stingers right hander shut down the Loggers the rest of the way in a complete game, five-hit performance in Willmar's 6-1 win Wednesday at Copeland Park. 

On a night when the Stingers offense took awhile to heat up, Lydon more than made sure his team was in the game throughout its entirety. Lydon gave up the lone run in the first inning, but then allowed just three hits the rest of the way over his final eight innings of work in the first complete game by a Stinger this season. 

The defense also gave Lydon some help in the middle frames. He allowed a baserunner on in each inning from the third to the sixth, but the Stingers got double plays in each of those frames to escape any danger. 

In the sixth inning the offense awakened and scored its first run of the night to knot the score. Then in the seventh, the offense exploded for a high five, sending 10 batters to the plate in the inning to take the lead for good. Billy Quirke came up with the big hit in the inning as his two-run single pushed the Stingers ahead. Then with the bases loaded and two outs Willmar started another rally and scored three more times. Two of those came on a two-RBI double from Storm Wilson, and Wilson eventually came in to score after a stolen base and wild pitch. 

That was plenty of offense for Lydon, as he finished the night strong to close out his dominating performance. 

The 2015 Stingers season is presented by Marcus Construction. For more coverage of the Stingers visit the West Central Tribune online at www.wctrib.com.

Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Will Lydon. 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.

The Willmar Stingers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2015, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website.  For more information, visit www.willmarstingers.com.