St. Cloud, Minn.—The Stingers fall to the St. Cloud Rox in the first of a two-game series 8-1. The Stingers still remain on top of the Great Plains Division with Rochester close behind.

Jack Zigan (Minn. State-Mankato) got the nod in tonight’s game. He gave the Stingers a chance to win with five scoreless innings. He allowed two runs to score before completing his sixth inning of work. Zigan walked two batters and sent down four on strikes.

It was another pitcher’s duel tonight as both starters pitched deep into the ballgame without allowing a run. In the sixth, it was the Rox that scored two runs off two hits. 2-0 Rox. Branden Boissiere (Arizona) had himself a solid game with three hits but the Stingers were unable to bring him across. Jake Marsh (Bethel) was first in relief for the Stingers. The score remained at 2-0 until the eighth when the Rox ran away with the game. St. Cloud was able to score six runs off six hits. This brought the score to 8-0 Rox.

The Stingers didn’t go down without a fight. In the ninth, Sam Baier (Augustana) lead off with a double. The next batter, Daniel Walsh (Sac City) was able to advance Baier to third on a single. Later, Baier tagged up from third scoring on a close play when Noah Haupt (New Mexico State) sacrifice flew out to the centerfielder. 8-1 was the final in favor of the Rox. Willmar looks to even the two-game series tomorrow as the head back to St. Cloud. First pitch scheduled for 7:05pm.