Northwoods League: Willmar Stingers continue hot streak
Jun. 12—WILLMAR — The Willmar Stingers routed the Mankato MoonDogs to continue their hot streak on Monday.
The Stingers (11-2) defeated Mankato 14-2 in a Northwoods League game at Bill Taunton Stadium. Willmar has won its last six games and is 9-1 in its last 10 games. The MoonDogs are 7-8.
"The guys, especially the offense, has really been firing on all cylinders," Stingers field manager Freddy Smith said. "You can't say enough about the pitching — that's two runs allowed in the last three games, which is nothing short of spectacular."
Willmar scored 14 runs on 13 hits and five errors. Six of the Stingers' runs came in the seventh inning.
Six Stingers — Kevin Fitzer, Graysen Tarlow, Gabe Swansen, Drey Dirksen, Scott Anderson and Jake Hjelle — had mutti-hit performances.
Hjelle, the redshirt junior from the University of Minnesota-Crookston, batted 3-for-4 with a double and one run. Swansen, a sophomore from the University of Nebraska who made his Stingers debut, went 2-for-5 with four RBIs, one run and a walk. Scott Anderson, the junior from Point Loma Nazarene University, was 2-for-5 with a double, adding three RBIs, two runs and a walk.
"We've done a really good job of scoring first," Smith said. "I think scoring first has been a huge part of our success early in the season and really just keeping the pressure on."
Marcos Herrand and Jack Hines also made their Stingers debuts.
Herrand, the sophomore right-hander from Coppin State University, pitched five innings with one strikeout and a walk, allowing four hits and an earned run. Hines, the junior from Augustana University, went 0-for-1.
Brendan Hord hit a solo home run in the eighth inning for the MoonDogs.
Willmar plays Game 2 of its series against the MoonDogs at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday in search of its third consecutive series sweep at Mankato.
Mankato 000 010 010-2 8 5
Willmar 202 011 62x-14 13 0
Hitting — Mankato: Dustin Crenshaw 0-3 bb, James Agabedis 0-3 bb, Ariel Armas 2-5 rbi, Brendan Hord 1-5 hr r rbi, Max Williams 2-4 2b, Jackson Cooke 0-3 bb, Mikey Gottschalk 1-4, Easton Fritcher 0-3 bb, Angelo Aleman 2-3 r ... Willmar: Kevin Fitzer 2-3 r-2 rbi bb-3, Graysen Tarlow 2-4 rbi-2 bb, Gabe Swansen 2-5 r rbi-4 bb, Drey Dirksen 2-5 r-2 rbi 2b, Scott Anderson 2-5 r-2 rbi-3 bb 2b, Jake Hjelle 3-4 r 2b, Sean Rimmer 0-3 r rbi bb, Luke Williams 0-3 r-2 rbi, Kyle Payne 0-2 r-2 rbi bb-2, Kasten Furr 0-0 r bb
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Mankato: Jake Riding (L) 5-10-5-4-0-4, Peter Michael 1-1-4-4-5-0, Luke Stevens 1.1-2-5-5-5-1, Grant Garza 0.2-0-0-0-0-1 ... Willmar: Marcos Herrand (W) 5-4-1-1-1-1, Cole Colleran 3-4-1-1-1-2, Michael Chevalier 1-0-0-0-2-3
