Willmar Stingers Put Up 20 Runs In A Wild Win Over St. Cloud

WILLMAR (WJON News) -- Things started out slow and then got ugly in a hurry for the St. Cloud Rox (35-22) on Saturday. The Willmar Stingers (31-26) took down the Rox in what turned out to be a slugfest, 20- 13.

The Rox took the early lead with a Jaxien Frost RBI single in the first; St. Cloud had a 1-0 lead. It took the  Stingers until the bottom of the third to tie the game when Kai Gonzaga scored an unearned run to make it 1-1.

The Willmar offensive explosion started in the bottom of the fourth.  A bases-loaded walk to Matthew Bernath got the Stingers started. Brecken Menuet was hit by a pitch with the bases still juiced to bring in a second run.  The Rox removed starting pitcher Myles Hanson after 3.1 innings of work. Colin Fike came in for St. Cloud and was greeted by a grand slam from the Stingers' Luke DeVine, and Willmar had a 7-1 lead.

Brett White's two-RBI single in the top of the 5th cut the lead to 7-3 for the Rox, but Willmar was not done yet.  The Stingers put up eight more runs in their half of the fifth thanks to a couple of doubles and a three-run homer from Merrick Rapoza. Willmar was up 15-3 after five.

Once again, the Rox had an answer in the sixth. St. Cloud put up four runs thanks to a two-run home run from Jackson Akin and a two-RBI double by White. The Rox picked up another run in the top of the seventh to cut the Stingers' lead to 15-8.

Things were sent off kilter again in the bottom of the seventh. Willmar put up another crooked number with five more runs to go up 20-8.   The Rox were able to push across another run in the eighth and four more in the ninth to get to the 20-13 final margin.

St. Cloud will take on Mankato at Joe Faber Field on Sunday. Note that the starting time for the game has changed to 6:35 p.m. due to the extreme heat.