Northwoods Willmar Stingers

Unbeaten No More: Stingers Upend Mankato, Hand MoonDogs First Loss

Published on June 7, 2016 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Willmar Stingers News Release


MANKATO, Minn. - The Mankato MoonDogs started out the night Monday unbeaten, but the Stingers made sure it didn't stay that way for long.

Willmar (3-4) scored three times in the first two innings, and Corey Binger (Nebraska Omaha) tossed 7 2/3 solid innings to send the MoonDogs (5-1) to their first loss of the season with a 6-4 win at Franklin Rogers Park.

The Stingers had the MoonDogs on their heels from the start, as they scored in the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead.

After Mankato tallied a run in the bottom of the first, Willmar came back with one of its biggest responses of the game. The Stingers put two more runs on the board in the top of the second, and never trailed the rest of the way.

It required just one hit to get the two runs, as Travis Wacker led the second off with a single. He went to second on a walk by Cole Gray, and then moved to third on a Brandon Perez fly out to center. Billy Quirke reached on an error to keep the inning alive, a play that allowed Wacker to score. Gray then scored a batter later on a wild pitch to make it 3-1.

With the lead back, Binger found his grove on the mound. He allowed runs in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings, but kept the damage to one each time, fanning eight total in the start.

The Stingers continued to respond with offense for Binger, and put up another pair of runs in the fifth following the MoonDogs run in the bottom of the fourth. Greg Lambert (Southern Illinois) and Jack Schmidt drove in the runs in the inning.

Mankato trimmed the Stingers lead to one after the eighth, but again the Stingers had more offense in them. Billy Quirke singled with one out in the ninth, Quincy McAfee walked after him and then Danny Pardo singled to right to make it a 6-4 lead.

Jacob Rothwell (Daytona State), who had taken over for Binger with two outs in the eighth, finished the game off in the ninth for his second save of the season.

The Stingers now return home for a brief three-game homestand, starting with Community Christian School Night presented by North American State Bank on Tuesday.

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