Willmar, Minn.—The Stingers take Game 1 of the series against Bismarck 6-1. Willmar moves to 5-4 in the second half of the summer.

Trevor Divinski (Minn. State-Mankato) had a shutout performance on the mound for the Stingers. He went seven scoreless innings allowing five hits. Through his seven innings, Divinski, walked two Larks while striking out four.

The game was held scoreless in the first inning of play. Tyler Bosetti (Nevada) led off with a triple in the second. Justin King (Alabama) was able to score Bosetti from third with an RBI single. Three batters later, Andrew Lucas (Northridge) brought in King on an infield ground ball. 2-0 Stingers. In the third inning, Daniel Walsh (Sac City) had a sacrifice fly out that allowed Brandon Bohning (Northridge) to tag up from third. 3-0 Stingers.

The scoring continued into the fourth for the Stingers. Bohning initiated the scoring when his two-out double scored Haupt. Two batters later, King was issued a walk with the bases loaded. Boissiere touched home on the walk bringing the score to 5-0. Bohning scored the last run of the game for the Stingers the very next batter. A wild pitch during Walsh’s at-bat allowed Bohing to score standing up. 6-0 Stingers.

Gus Cunningham (Montevallo) pitched the last two innings for the Stingers. The Larks were able to break up the shutout in the eighth off two hits bringing the score to 6-1. Cunningham, in the ninth, walked the leadoff man but retired the next three batters in order. The Stingers won by a final score of 6-1. Game 2 of the series will be back at Bill Taunton Stadium tomorrow at 7:05pm CT!