Stingers Finish up Historic Regular Season in Style
August 12, 2018 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Willmar Stingers News Release
Thunder Bay, Ontario- On Sunday, the Willmar Stingers took on the Thunder Bay Border Cats to conclude the 2018 regular season schedule. For Willmar much was on the line, as the Stingers entered Sunday one-half game ahead of the Mankato MoonDogs for first place in the Northwoods League North Division's second half.
Willmar put Jonathan McKinney (Georgia-Gwinnett) on the hill to take on Thunder Bay in this must-win contest.
McKinney was very good for the Stingers going five innings of shutout baseball, allowing just two hits and striking out three.
Offensively, the Stingers were hot. The third inning saw the Stingers put up six runs thanks in large part to two swings of the bat. After two quick outs, the Stingers put three men aboard with Eric Yang (UC-Santa Barbara) coming to the plate. Yang, with the bases loaded, saw a pitch he liked and blasted his second homer of the season over the left field wall giving Willmar a 4-0 lead. The grand slam marked the second one for the Stingers in as many days and Willmar's second of the season. Later in the inning, Matt Rudick (San Diego St) made it 6-0 ripping a single that scored two more Willmar runs.
That was all Willmar needed as they cruised to a 7-1 victory.
With the victory, the Stingers clinched the second half crown and the number one seed in the North. The win also marked the Stingers 48th win, which is the best record the club had had in the history of their franchise, surpassing 2015's total of 47 victories.
The 2018 Stingers season is presented by Marcus Construction. For more coverage of the Stingers visit the West Central Tribune online at www.wctrib.com.
CDI Player of the Game
Tonight's Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Eric Yang. CDI is your local medical imaging provider. It's your choice where you go for medical imaging, for MRI, CT, mammograms and pain injections, choose CDI. Visit online at myCDI.com/CentralMN.
Eric Yang - C
UC Santa Barbara
1-4 vs. Thunder Bay
Grand Slam, 4 RBI
Northwoods League Stories from August 12, 2018
- Woodchucks End Season with a Win - Wausau Woodchucks
- Rafters Win Season Finale - Wisconsin Rapids Rafters
- Kalamazoo Growlers End Season with Rivalry Cup Win - Kalamazoo Growlers
- Bullfrogs Fall to Rafters in Season Finale - Green Bay Rockers
- Stingers Finish up Historic Regular Season in Style - Willmar Stingers
- Rox Finish 2018 Season with 9-2 Win - St. Cloud Rox
- Mallards Set Single Season Record with 49th Win - Madison Mallards
- Duluth Knocks off Bismarck to Finish Regular Season - Duluth Huskies
- Dock Spiders Fall in Final Regular Season Meeting to Mallards - Fond du Lac Dock Spiders
- Bucks End Season with 6-4 Loss to Honkers - Waterloo Bucks
- Stingers Playoff Tickets on Sale - Willmar Stingers
- Honkers End Season on High Note - Rochester Honkers
- Rivets Lose Season Finale - Rockford Rivets
- Northwoods League Announces 2018 Postseason All-Star Team - Wisconsin Rapids Rafters
- Rafters Close Season in Green Bay - Wisconsin Rapids Rafters
- Two Rox Pitchers Voted Postseason All-Stars, Hughes Named Announcer of Year - St. Cloud Rox
- Northwoods League Announces 2018 Postseason All-Star Team - Northwoods
- Stingers Defeat Border Cats to Start Final Series of the Season - Willmar Stingers
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