Olson, Stingers blank Honkers
WILLMAR -- Charley Olson gave up just two hits and struck out nine in eight scoreless innings Thursday to guide the Willmar Stingers to a 1-0 win over the Rochester Honkers in a Northwoods League game.
Olson, a right-hander who just completed his junior year at Georgia State, faced just four batters over the minimum and didn't allow a hit until Bryan Karraker singled with one out in the fourth inning. The Honkers got another single in the fifth, but Olson (1-2) then retired the last 11 batters he faced in order.
"I was able to locate my pitches well tonight and throw a lot of first-pitch strikes," said Olson, who was making his third start of the season. "I think I was able to keep them off-balance and got a lot of my strikeouts on curveballs."
Jayson Huett struck out the first two batters in the ninth before inducing a groundout to end the game and earn his second save of the season.
The Stingers, who moved to .500 at 7-7 with the win, collected 10 hits with Carlos Leyva, Mitch Delfino, Zach Rowles and Matt Serna getting two apiece. Serna drove in the only run with a single in the fourth that brought in Rowles, who had singled earlier and advanced to second base on a wild pitch from Rochester starter Mike Strong (2-1).
Strong struck out eight and surrendered eight hits before being pulled in the sixth inning.
The Stingers host Thunder Bay for a three-game series this weekend that begins tonight at 7:05 p.m.
Willmar 1, Rochester 0
Rochester Willmar
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Lippnctt 2b 4 0 0 0 Ballou cf 4 0 0 0
Karrakr cf 4 0 1 0 Leyva 2b 4 0 2 0
Waters lf 3 0 0 0 Gonzalez 1b 4 0 1 0
Elder rf 4 0 0 0 Smith rf 4 0 1 0
Dittman 1b 3 0 0 0 Delfino 3b 4 0 2 0
Thaut 3b 3 0 1 0 Rowles ss 3 1 2 0
Caster dh 3 0 0 0 Johnson c 3 0 0 0
Pellegrno c 2 0 0 0 Willson dh 2 0 0 0
Jimenez ss 3 0 0 0 Dwyer ph 1 0 0 0
Serna lf 3 0 2 1
Totals 29 0 2 0 Totals 32 1 10 1
Rochester 000 000 000--0
Willmar 000 100 00x--1
E--Elder 2 (2). LOB--Rochester 4, Willmar 10.
Rochester IP H R ER BB SO
Strong (L, 2-1) 5Zc 8 1 1 2 8
Kadish 2Xc 2 0 0 0 0
Willmar
Olson (W, 1-2) 8 2 0 0 2 9
Huett (S, 2) 1 0 0 0 0 2
WP--Strong.
T--2:13. A--1,481.
