Willmar, Minn. — An early offensive outburst by Rochester was too much for the Stingers to overcome Thursday night at Bill Taunton Stadium, as the Honkers beat the Stingers 7-2. 

Tyler Hanson, who was looking for his fourth win of the season for the Stingers (27-16, 4-5 second half), started the night rather smoothly. In his first two innings of work, Hanson allowed just a single hit in both innings and kept the Honkers (26-16, 6-2 second half) off the scoreboard. 

But on a quiet night for the Stingers offense, a big third inning for Rochester was enough to spell doom. Ryan Summers led off the third for the Honkers with a double, and with one out, Ryan Webberly homered off Hanson to put the Honkers up 2-0. After Hanson recorded the second out, Mark Contreras went deep again to put the Honkers' lead at 3-0. 

Willmar tried to stage a late comeback and got a pair of runs in the eighth inning. Tyler Leffler singled with two outs in the eighth and then came around to score on Brian Pruett's double. Lucas Tancas followed that with a double of his own to bring the deficit within five. The Stingers put two more on in the ninth inning with two outs, but couldn't capitilze on the chance. Willmar was not without chances throughout the night but left 12 men on base. 

The Stingers will continue the six-day homestand Friday night with Summertime St. Patty's night presented by Miller Lite, and the first 250 fans 21 years of age and older will receive a pint glass. 

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 Dan Motl. 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.