LA CROSSE, Wis. — The Stingers scored twice in the first inning and four times in the ninth inning and held on to beat La Crosse with an 11-9 win at Copeland Park on Saturday night.

Ty Tice (Central Arkansas) had his longest outing of the season so far for Willmar, throwing seven solid innings and allowing three runs without allowing a walk, while Danny Pardo (Montevallo) had a four-hit night in the slugfest victory.

Before he even got to the mound, Tice had run support to back him as the Stingers (12-13) scored twice in the first inning on a two-run single by Greg Lambert (Southern Illinois).

La Crosse (14-11) cut the Stingers lead to one in the third inning, but Tice induced a ground ball that resulted in a big double play to keep that lead at one.

Willmar then put up multiple run innings in both the fifth and sixth to increase the lead to 7-1. Danny Pardo (Montevallo) had the second of his four hits in the fifth, a two-run home run to make it 4-1.

In the sixth inning, Quincy McAfee (Pepperdine) doubled home a pair and Pardo singled home his third run of the night a batter later.

The game got closer down the stretch, as the two teams traded big innings in the final inning and a half. Four runs in the bottom of the eighth by the Loggers tied the game at seven, but the Stingers had one of their most important responses of the season in the next half inning.

Willmar scored four runs of its own in the top of the ninth, taking advantage of free passes to take the lead for good. Luke Becker (Kentucky) got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home the go-ahead run, and Cole Gray (Midland) had the big blow in the inning with a two-run double. That hit provided the eventual game-winning run.

Pardo’s four-hit night was the most hits for a Stingers player in a single game this summer, and four different players recorded multiple-RBI nights.

Willmar will go for the series sweep tomorrow night at 5:05 p.m.

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