Beetles Victimized by Willmar Rally

August 8, 2012 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Alexandria Beetles News Release


Willmar, MN - When Rob Case drilled his seventh home run of the summer to put the Alexandria up 3-0 in the first inning, the Beetles looked primed to tie Willmar atop the North Division standings with five games to play.

But the Stinger pitching staff slammed the door over the final eight innings with Tanner Banks, Andre Wheeler and Brady Anderson combining to hold the Beetles off the scoreboard as Willmar (39-26, 19-11) came from behind to defeat Alexandria (30-35, 17-13) by a 5-3 final on Tuesday night.

The loss dropped Alexandria two games out of first with Willmar holding the tie-breaker with a 3-2 record against the Beetles in the second half. St. Cloud, with their sixth win in a row, leap-frogged Alexandria into second place in the Division.

With one out in the first, Tanner Vavra singled to center and Ben Moore walked and with two down, Case drilled his three-run shot to left-center to put Alexandria up before the Stingers had come to the plate.

After going down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first against starter Shawn Riesgraf, the Stingers lit the scoreboard in the second on a lead-off home run from Michael Suchy. An inning later, the Stingers took the lead with lead-off singles from Forrestt Allday and Brennan Moore, the second for an RBI, an RBI groundout from Mitch Rowan, and Suchy's second home run on a crushed liner over the right-center wall.

Though Alexandria threatened loading the bases in the third and the sixth and putting two on in the eighth, the best hitting team in the Northwoods League could not deliver another big blow against the Stinger staff.

Willmar tacked on an insurance run in the seventh inning to build the lead to 5-3 and Anderson came on to record the final five outs, striking out five in the process, including one on which a wild pitch allowed a man to reach, to pick up his league-leading 15th save of the year.

The Beetles return to Knute Nelson to begin their final home-stand of the summer against the Rochester Honkers with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 CDT.



Northwoods League Stories from August 8, 2012


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