Willmar, Minn. — The Stingers came back from four runs down to take a late lead against Mankato, but the MoonDogs scored a pair of runs in the ninth inning to win 7-6 at Bill Taunton Stadium on Monday night. 

Trailing 4-0 after the top of the second inning, the Stingers (42-24, 19-13 second half) climbed all the way back and eventually tied the game in the sixth inning. Willmar scored a pair of runs off Mankato starter Reece Eddins in the bottom of the third inning, with RBIs from Sean Beesley and Luke Becker on back-to-back groundouts. 

Mankato got a run back in the top of the fourth inning, but the Stingers scored three more times in the sixth to knot the game at five. Willmar started out the sixth with four straight hits, with the fourth hit from Troy Dixon scoring Eddie Estrada to make it a 5-3 deficit. Tyler Leffler followed with a walk to force home the fourth run, and Beesley grounded into another fielder's choice to knot the score. 

Then in the seventh the Stingers took their first lead of the night. Estrada led off the inning again and reached on an error this time around. One batter later Lucas Tancas ripped a double into the alley in right field, enough to score Estrada all the way from first. 

The Stingers tried to hold on in the ninth inning, but a two-out, two-run home run from Eric Schenck-Joblinske giving the MoonDogs the lead again. 

Willmar loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn't push across the tying run. 

The 2015 Stinger 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.