WILLMAR, Minn. — The Stingers have become a consistent power threat lately, and that power came at a big time on Wednesday night at Bill Taunton Stadium. 

Willmar had seven consecutive games with a home run entering the game against St. Cloud, and Justin Toerner made it eight straight games with the go-ahead solo shot in the eighth inning, giving the Stingers (23-21, 5-3 second half) a 2-1 win. 

The first six innings of the contest were a back-and-forth pitcher's duel between Willmar's Jayce Vancena and Dan Metzdorf of St. Cloud (28-13, 4-2). The two pitcher's matched one another through the first six.

Vancena (Michigan) had the edge in the early going and finished the night allowing just one run on three hits in seven innings, his longest start of the year. 

The only run the right-hander allowed came in the seventh inning when Ricky Ramirez doubled home Drew Freedman to give St. Cloud a short-lived lead. But as he did all night, Vancena worked out of the ensuing jam and stranded Ramirez and Luke Ringhofer, the eighth and ninth runners he stranded during the game. 

Willmar responded right away for their starter, scoring once in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game. With the bases loaded, Danny Pardo (Montevallo) drew a four-pitch walk to force home the tying run. 

Patrick Martin (Hawaii) took over for Vancena for the final two innings, and he had one of the best relief outings of the season. Martin allowed just one hit and struck out three total between the eighth and ninth, including a pair of strikeouts in the ninth with the tying run at second base. 

Martin's scoreless eighth gave the Stingers the chance to take the lead in the bottom of the frame, and they did exactly that. Toerner deposited a 1-2 pitch from Collin Strall over the center-field fence to give the Stingers the edge for good. 

The two scoreless innings gave Martin (1-0) his first win of the year. 

Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Justin Toerner. 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.

Willmar continues the three-game homestand when it hosts Thunder Bay on Thursday night for Zooperstars Night. The national entertainment act will be performing throughout the night. 

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.