Willmar, MN—The Stingers returned to Bill Taunton Stadium for their 2014 home opener with a two-game winning streak, but in front of a packed house of 1,421 fans they came up short in a see-saw affair, falling to the St. Cloud Rox 5-4.
After his younger brother Garrett was on the mound to close out the first two wins of the season, Brady Anderson received the starting nod for the home opener for Willmar. Anderson allowed base runners in each of his five innings but with timely pitches and defense behind him he limited the Rox to single runs in the third and the fifth innings. In the first after getting into a first and third situation with only one away, Anderson induced a tailor made double play ball that got the Stingers out of the inning. Then when both Rox batters reached to start the second inning, center fielder Sean Beesley sprawled out for a diving catch and then fired the ball to second base to double off Kyle Thornell for two key outs. Anderson would get a fielder's choice on the next batter to get himself out of the inning.
The Rox eventually cashed in on all of their hits in the third inning when three consecutive singles plated the first run of the game, but Anderson came back to get the next two batters and strand a pair of runners. When St. Cloud scored its second run of the game in the top of the fifth, the Stingers' offense finally came to and responded with two of its own runs in the bottom of the same frame. Dan Motl scored the first run after being driven in by a Sam Hall double, which also advanced Nick Rivera to third base. With two down in the inning after Troy Kuhn struck out swinging, Max Dutto laced a single up the middle which scored Rivera easily. However, Hall also tried to score on the the play and was cut down by the throw from Rox center fielder Danny Baer.
But the Stingers would not stay tied for long, as in the next half inning the Rox struck for three runs against Dakota Belter who had come on in relief to take the lead for good. Willmar mounted a rally in the bottom of the sixth inning with two runs to bring the Stingers within one, but Sean Beesley got thrown out at the plate trying to score the tying run. Beesley was at second when Nick Rivera reached on a throwing error by the Rox third baseman. When the ball got away from Clay Ardeeser at first base, Beesley tried to score, but the ball didn't skitter too far away from Ardeeser as he gathered it near the first base coaching box and fired a strike to home plate to nab Beesley.
Neither team could solve the opposing bullpen the rest of the way, and despite getting a runner on first in the ninth inning, the Stingers could not advance a man past first base and any hope of a comeback was terminated with a game-ending double play.
The Stingers head to St. Cloud Friday evening for the first of a three-game road series with the Rox.
The 2014 Stingers' season is presented by Charter. For more Stingers coverage head to wctrib.com.
Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Sam Hall. 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.
