ST. CLOUD – The Willmar Stingers defeated the St. Cloud Rox tonight, 10-6.

The Stingers sent three out of the park during the high-scoring offensive battle at Joe Faber Field.

Willmar’s bats exploded in the first scoring four runs off of the bats of Drey Dirksen and Jakob Christian. Both players were able to send home runs to left field with two outs in the inning, 4-0.

The Stingers were able to get four more runs three innings later in the top of the fourth. With the score 4-1, Josh Fitzgerald came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. On a 0-2 count, Fitzgerald sent a ball over the right fielder’s head for a stand-up triple clearing the bases.

Fitzgerald would be named tonight’s MinnWest Technology Campus Player of the Game. He finished the game going 2-4 and had four RBIs. Fitz’s batting average now sits above .300 and has seven RBIs in his ten games as a Stingers.

Although the Rox were down 9-1 in the sixth, St. Cloud scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings to cut the lead to three.

The Stingers were able to hold the Rox scoreless in the eighth and got an insurance run from Zac Corbin when he hit his second home run of the year in the top of the ninth. The game would end 10-6.

Sam Malec obtained his third win of the year and Dylan Matela got the two-inning save.

This was an important win for the Stingers as they are now 5.5 games back of the Rox in the Great Plains West. With ten games left until the end of the first half, Willmar is looking to make a run and steal a playoff spot from St. Cloud.

The Rox are coming into town tomorrow to take on the Stingers for the second game of the series. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.