Thunder Bay, Ont. — Pitching has won the Stingers most of their games this season, but it was the offense's show Monday night.
In a wild back and forth affair at Port Arthur Stadium, the Stingers scored in all but three innings to top Thunder Bay 10-9.
For the second straight day Willmar (11-8) scored right away in the top half of the first inning. Two singles by Dan Motl and Sean Beesley and a walk by Storm Wilson loaded up the bases to start the night, and Ky Parrott followed with a sacrifice fly.
The Stingers then scored in the fourth and fifth innings to open up a comfortable 4-0 advantage. Troy Dixon highlighted the offense with his two-run bomb, his first home run of the season, in the third inning.
But no lead was safe. Thunder Bay came back with a run in the bottom of the fourth and four more in the fifth inning to take their only lead of the game at 5-4.
That lead wouldn't last long, as the Stingers offense came roaring back in the sixth. Willmar started the sixth with four straight base runners. Wilson drove in his second run with another sacrifice fly to tie the game. A wild pitch and three straight walks then made it 8-5 in the Stingers favor.
Willmar tacked on another run in the seventh, but again Thunder Bay came back and tied the score at nine in the bottom of the seventh. The Stingers had one more rally in them though, and Tyler Leffler scored the go-ahead run in the eighth and what proved to be the winning tally.
The 2015 Stingers 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 Troy Dixon. 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.
