St. Cloud, Minn.—The Stingers come out victorious in Game 1 over the Rox 4-1. Willmar is one win away from advancing to the Great Plains Divisional Championship.

Polo Portela (Cumberland) made the start for the Stingers at Joe Faber Field. He gave the Stingers just what they needed pitching seven innings deep into the ballgame. Portela allowed one run off four hits in his outing. He was very effective in the zone as he walked one batter and struck out seven.

The game was held scoreless for the first three innings of play. Brandon Bohning (Northridge) broke open the scoreless game in the fourth with an RBI single that scored Riley Johnson (Augustana). The Rox answered the call in the bottom half of the inning when they scored a run of their own to tie the ballgame at 1-1.

Brandon Bohning did it again in the sixth inning. His second RBI single of the night scored Daniel Walsh (Western Carolina). Bohning later scored in the inning off a Luke Bowman (SCSU) single that put the Stingers up 3-1.

Riley Johnson drove in an insurance run in the ninth inning when his RBI single scored Brandon Boissiere (Arizona) to extend the lead to 4-1. Aldo Fernandez (New Mexico State) pitched the last two innings for Willmar. He closed the door on the Rox in the ninth while picking up two strikeouts along the way. The Stingers beat the Rox in Game 1 of the series 4-1.

Willmar will host the Rox tomorrow at Bill Taunton Stadium for Game 2 of the series. First pitch 7:05pm CT!