Rochester, Minn.- In a game that had many turning points the Willmar Stingers defeated the Rochester Honkers 12-10 in a nine inning affair that spanned over four hours.

In the first inning the Stingers put up a four spot and seemed to be in a good situation but in the bottom half of the inning the Honkers responded scoring six runs of their own. The inning spanned over an hour and set the tone for a very high scoring affair.

In the second inning down by two the Stingers rallied to score four more runs. John Trousdale (Alabama) singled in Matt Rudick (San Diego St) to start the second inning scoring. Then a run scored on a bases loaded walk from Eric Yang (UC-Santa Barbara). Next it was Shea Kramer (Utah) driving in a run on a ground out to third and finally Jaxon Hallmark (Nebraska) drove in another run, walking with the bases loaded.

Willmar surrendered the lead in the third inning and in the sixth inning found themselves trailing 10-8. Hallmark once again got an RBI hitting a sacrifice fly to center driving in Eric Yang from third.

In the seventh inning Willmar took the lead for good on a two run blast from John Trousdale making it 11-10. For Trousdale it was his fifth homer of the season tying him for the team lead.

Willmar tacked on another in the ninth inning with an RBI single from Shea Kramer making it 12-10.

Ben Mora (Cal Poly Pomona) was exceptional out of the bullpen for Willmar. Mora went 3.2 innings, struck out five and allowed just one earned run on a single hit from the Honkers. Mora earned the win.

Jayson Newman (Cal-State Northridge) got a six out save going two innings and striking out four Honker batters.

With a La Crosse loss tonight the Stingers put themselves back into a tie at the top of the North Division with the Duluth Huskies.

The Stingers take on the Honkers on Sunday at 1:05 for game two of the two game series.

The 2018 Stingers season is presented by Marcus Construction. For more coverage of the Stingers visit the West Central Tribune online at www.wctrib.com.