WILLMAR, Minn. — The Willmar Stingers offense broke through a night after getting shut out, but the Stingers fell just one run short of their first comeback win of the season in a 5-4 loss to Duluth on Wednesday night. 

Trailing 5-2 going to the bottom of the ninth, the Stingers took the Huskies (2-0) to the wire in their final at bats of the night.

Willmar (0-2) notched back-to-back singles to open the ninth, but then Duluth's Alex Ferguson recorded two straight outs to put a potential comeback in jeopardy. But Brian Moore (St. John's River State) then singled home a run in his first at bat of the night to put runners on the corners and cut the deficit to two. Quincy McAfee (Pepperdine), who was playing in his first game of the summer and had an RBI double in the seventh inning, walked to load the bases. Danny Pardo (Montevallo) followed with a walk of his own to cut the Duluth lead to just one. 

But the Stingers couldn't scrape by the tying run, as Greg Lambert (Southern Illinois) grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game. 

Despite allowing five runs, the Willmar pitching staff was solid all night long, led by the efforts of starter Blake Stockert (North Dakota State). Stockert gave up three runs but all of those runs were unearned and came in the sixth inning. After yielding a lead-off single to start the game, Stockert retired the next 14 Huskies hitters in a row, finishing with seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings pitched. 

Duluth got two more runs off Stingers' relievers, but both of those were unearned runs, as well. Bradley Bailey (North Alabama) finished the night with 1 2/3 innings of relief and a pair of strikeouts in his first appearance back at Bill Taunton Stadium. 

Willmar continues its four-game homestand with a two-game series against the Eau Claire Express on Thursday and Friday. Both games start at 7:05 and Thursday night is Honor Roll Night at the Beehive. 

Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Blake Stockert. 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 2016 season is presented by Marcus Construction. For more coverage of the Stingers visit the West Central Tribune online at www.wctrib.com.