Willmar, Minn. — Another day brought another strong outing from a Stingers starting pitcher, but it wasn't enough as St. Cloud defeated Willmar 2-1 at Bill Taunton Stadium Friday night.
Kiko Garcia, a right-hander from Pepperdine, gave the Stingers (8-8) a good outing in his first start of the year as he went five strong innings. The only run he allowed came in the top half of the third inning when Brandon Benson scored on a sac fly to tie the game at one.
Willmar had jumped out to an early lead for the second straight night with a run in the bottom of the second inning. Ky Parrott started the inning with a single and Brian Pruett plated him with his double all the way to the center-field wall two batters later.
But the Stingers offense couldn't do much the rest of the night against Rox starter Domenick Carlini and had only one more hit over the final seven innings.
The Rox finally broke the deadlock in the eighth inning, and the Stingers tried to counter in the bottom half of the frame. Sean Beesley reached first base on fielder's choice after the second out in the inning for Willmar, and the Stingers then proceeded to load the bases. But reliever Trevor Charpie struck out Storm Wilson to end the threat.
Garcia went five innings in his Stingers debut, allowing just two hits and the lone run while striking out a pair.
The Stingers will finish the homestand out tomorrow night at the Beehive, as they host the Rox for the rubber match of the three-game series.
The 2015 season is presented by Marcus Construction. For more coverage of the Stingers visit the West Central Tribune online at www.wctrib.com.
Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Kiko Garcia. 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.
The Willmar Stingers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2015, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website. For more information, visit www.willmarstingers.com.
