ROCHESTER, Minn. – The Stingers, led by Cameron Churchill (Nova Southeastern) and Luke Becker (Kentucky), got the win in the high-scoring affair Saturday evening in Rochester.
Churchill started on the mound for Willmar. He struck out a season-high nine batters through 5 1/3 innings on the mound en route to his first win as a Stinger.
At the plate, the Stingers put up four in both the second and third innings to take a comfortable lead over Rochester for Churchill to work with.
Tyler Reichenborn (Iowa Western) hit his second triple of the season in the second, driving in three runs before scoring on Brady Shockey's (USC) sacrifice fly.
An inning later, it was Nate Sterijevski (Bethune-Cookman) driving in two runs with a double off the center field wall. Sterijevski brought his total to 9 RBI on the year.
Today's Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Luke Becker. 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.
Becker got aboard all five times he went to the plate. After drawing three walks this evening, he has now walked nine times in 25 plate appearances on the season.
His fourth-inning home run was the first of his season and drove in two for Willmar, extending their lead to 10-2.
By the end of the day, he was 2-for-2 with three walks, and was named the CDI Stingers Player of the Night for the first time this season.
Additionally, Josh Bissonette (Baylor) had three hits including two doubles. Both his doubles put him in scoring position to be brought in by the following batters.
As a team, the Stingers compiled seven extra base hits in the evening.
The Stingers move to 17-16 after their victory and 2-1 against the Honkers.
Tomorrow Polo Portela (Sac City) takes the mound in game two. Portela has not yet allowed an earned run this season in nearly 27 innings pitched.
You can listen live on WillmarStingers.com or follow along on Twitter at @WillmarStingers. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
The 2017 Stingers season is presented by Marcus Construction. For more coverage of the Stingers, visit the West Central Tribune online at www.wctrib.com.
