MADISON, Wis. — In one of the biggest moments of the season, Eddie Estrada came through for the Stingers when they needed it most. 

After eight scoreless innings between the Stingers and Madison Mallards, Estrada (Minnesota) blasted a go-ahead, two-run homer with two-outs in the ninth inning to help the Stingers drop the Mallards 2-0 and trim their magic number to two. 

Although Estrada played the role of hero, Caleb Arbeiter (Murray State) was the reason the Stingers (38-30, 20-12 second half) were in a tie game in the ninth inning in the first place. Arbeiter tossed the first complete game shutout of the season for the Stingers, allowing just four hits with just one walk and four strikeouts. With the lead in the bottom of the ninth, Arbeiter finished off his gem by retiring the Mallards in order, giving the Stingers their second shutout in the last three games. 

Greg Lambert (Southern Illinois) started the game-winning rally in the ninth inning by mashing a double into the gap in right-center field. Justin Toerner (Cal State Northridge) moved Lambert to third on a groundout to the right side of the infield, providing a great opportunity for the Stingers to take the lead with just one out in the inning.

Madison brought in closer Troy Bacon to face Danny Mayer, who struck out to get the Mallards the second out of the inning. Estrada then fell behind in the count 1-2, but fouled a pitch off and then took Bacon deep to right center to give Willmar the lead. It was Estrada's fourth homer of the year and arguably his biggest of the season to give the Stingers a split with Madison. 

Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Caleb Arbeiter. 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 Stingers now return home for the final four games of the regular season and host Waterloo in a two-game series starting on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. Thursday night is Veteran's Night as well as Wine, Women & Baseball. Veteran's Night is presented by J.D. Kreps Financial Group, as nine local veterans will be featured on trading cards for the first 250 fans. Thursday night will also feature postgame fireworks.

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.