Northwoods Baseball: Stingers slip past Cats 3-2
Tribune Staff Report
WILLMAR -- Steven Brault drove in the eventual game-winning run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly and the Willmar Stingers climbed back to the .500 in the Northwoods League's North Division with a 3-2 win over Thunder Bay on Thursday at Bill Taunton Stadium.
Tied 2-2, the Stingers loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and Brault lifted a fly ball to left that gave teammate Zach Benson just enough of an edge to tag at third and slide under the tag of Thunder Bay catcher Matt Jones.
Stingers' pitchers had a strong outing. Kyle Fischer worked 7.1 innings, striking out eight and only walking two. Fischer allowed one earned run on six hits but did not factor into the decision.
Andre Wheeler picked up his first victory of the season with one scoreless inning of relief, and Brady Anderson got the final two outs for his second save of the season.
Trailing 1-0 in the second, the Stingers' Hunter Dozier hit a solo homer to lead off the inning. It was his second homer of the year and his 11th RBI. The Stingers took the lead one inning later when J.D. Dorgan led off with a single and scored two batters later on Forrestt Allday's RBI ground out.
Willmar plays Thunder Bay today at 7:05 p.m.
