Sports stats



Beetles Batters Lift Alexandria over Willmar

July 18, 2012 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Alexandria Beetles News Release


Alexandria, MN - Five Alexandria starters recorded multiple hits and eight registered at least one as the Beetles (21-28, 8-6) outlasted the Willmar Stingers (28-21, 8-6) by a 9-7 final on Wednesday night at Knute Nelson.

With the win, Alexandria pulled back into a second-place tie in the North Division, 1.5 games behind first-place Duluth, and evened their three-game set with the Stingers at a game each. The teams will play a rubber game at 7:05 Thursday in Willmar.

The Beetles went down early on a solo shot in the first from Mitch Rowan and a two-run homer in the second off the bat of Dillon Haupt, but Alexandria answered back with a pair of runs in the second and one in the third to draw level.

In the second, Jimmy Pickens roped a leadoff double to right and, after advancing to third on a Will Fulmer sacrifice, scored on a Matt Beaty groundout to light the board. The next batter Ryan Padilla drilled his sixth home run of the year to center field and the Beetles trailed by just one.

In the third, Matt Lowenstein came around to score after a leadoff walk on a Ben Moore groundout.

The back-and-forth affair swung to the Stingers again in the fourth on their third bomb of the night, this to left off the bat of Kenny Roberts for his Northwoods-leading 12th of the year, but Alexandria rallied for another pair in the bottom of the inning. A Beaty double, Padilla single, and Lowenstein single led to run one with Josh Guerra driving in the second on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze.

After Lowenstein's go-ahead single, the Beetles never trailed, though the Stingers came back to tie in sixth with a Max Kuhn sacrifice fly off reliever Michael Reed.

But the Beetles made Reed the winner when they scored three in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for good. Alexandria batted around, with Fulmer doubling to lead off the inning to extend his hitting streak to 19 and on-base streak to 32. Beaty doubled home Fulmer, and bunts from Lowenstein, on a sacrifice, and Vavra, on an infield single, scored the other two runs.

Willmar put a pair on the board against Alex Guilford in the seventh to get back within one at 8-7 with Robert Case providing the insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on a two-out double to make the final score 9-7.

Anthony Bazzani earned his 10th save of the season shutting the door in the ninth.

With two hits, Lowenstein now has multiple hits in 12 of his 16 games with the Beetles this summer.

• Discuss this story on the Northwoods League message board...

Northwoods League Stories from July 18, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Alexandria Beetles Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central