Northwoods Baseball: Stingers bounce back to clip Rox
ST. CLOUD -- Willmar's power returned Sunday night with four home runs, including back-to-back homers by Brennan Moore and Forrestt Allday, to fuel a 7-5 victory against the St. Cloud Rox at Joe Faber Field.
With the win, the Stingers moved back into first place by a half-game. Willmar now has a 13-9 record in the second half, while the Duluth Huskies are 13-10. All eight teams in the North Division are within four games with 13 remaining.
Dillon Haupt, Mitch Rowan, Moore and Allday all went deep in the contest to give the Stingers 55 home runs this year, which is five away from setting a Northwoods League record for most by a team in one season. St. Cloud hit 59 in 1997. The Stingers have hit 39 of their 55 home runs on the road this year.
Michael Hahn earned the victory with five strong innings in his first start, surrendering only two runs on three hits. Brady Anderson notched his 13th save of the season by recording the final two outs.
Phil Imholte hit a solo home run for St. Cloud in the third inning to cut the Willmar lead to one, 3-2, but the Stingers quickly responded with a two-run fourth that included an RBI single by Rowan.
Willmar hosts Rochester today at 7:05 p.m.
Saturday's Game
St. Cloud rallies past Stingers, 4-2
WILLMAR -- Two runs in the second inning marked the only offense for the Willmar Stingers on a night where St. Cloud scored in four different frames to win the contest 4-2 Saturday at Bill Taunton Stadium.
St. Cloud took the early lead in the second on an unearned run, but Willmar came back with two in bottom half to take a 2-1 lead. Hunter Dozier walked with one out and Kenny Roberts singled before Phil Pupillo and Forrestt Allday hit back-to-back two-out RBI singles to put the Stingers in front.
That ended the scoring for the Stingers, however. St. Cloud tied the game in the fourth on an RBI base hit by Phil Imholte, who struck again in the sixth with an RBI triple to right-center to score Elvin Soto and give the Rox a 3-2 lead.
Pupillo went 2-for-3 in the contest with a double and his first RBI as a Stinger.
