WILLMAR— The Willmar Stingers came into Friday’s game against the St. Cloud Rox in high spirits after earning a 5-1 win over the top team in the Great Plains West division on Thursday.

It left Bill Taunton Stadium on Friday with an 8-1 loss and with a 1-1 split against St. Cloud.

In front of 967 spectators, the Stingers took a one run lead in the bottom of the first before St. Cloud tied the game in the top of the second and closed out the night with seven combined runs from the sixth to eighth innings.

Jakob Newtown brought some excitement to the fans and the Stingers’ dugout after reaching home in the bottom of the first off an RBI by Grant Kerry. Newton, the junior from Florida Institute of Technology, was one of four Stinger batters to record one hit.

From then on, St. Cloud controlled the game.

After tying the game at one on an RBI single by Jack Steil in the top of the second, the Rox scored four runs in the top of the sixth, two coming off a double by Andrew Pinckney.

St. Cloud scored once more in the top of the seventh before scoring twice more in the top of the eighth.

In the bottom of the ninth, Asa Awbrey began the inning with a single, his fourth hit of the night, before the Stingers went down to close out the inning and the ball game.

Awbrey, the sophomore from University of Montevallo, went 4 of 4 and was the only Stinger to have a multi-hit game.

Rhy Stevens was charged with the loss. The right-hander pitched 5 ⅓ innings before being replaced by University of Arizona right hander George Arias in the sixth inning.

Right-hander Chris Rofe closed out the night on the mound for the Stingers by pitching the final two innings.

The Stingers drop to 13-13 in the second half of the season and 29-33 overall.

The Stingers host the Mankato Moondogs at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday and 5:05 on Sunday.

St. Cloud 8, Willmar 1

St. Cloud 010 004 120-8 12 0

Willmar 100 000 000-1 9 0

Hitting - St. Cloud: Andrew Pinckney 2-5 r 2b, Peter Abinanti 1-4 rbi bb, Otto Kemp 1-5 r 2b rbi, Caleb Ricketts 3-5 r rbi, Jordan Barth 1-4 r hbp, Bobby Goodloe 2-4 r-2 rbi hbp sb-2, Easton Waterman 0-3 bb, Jack Steil 1-3 r rbi bb-2, Jordan Schulefand 1-3 r bb-2 sb … Willmar: Jakob Newton 1-4 r sb, William Hamiter 0-3 hbp, Grant Kerry 1-1 rbi, Jorge Lucero 1-3, Derek Hackman 1-4, Asa Awbrey 4-4, Tate Meiners 0-3, Matthew Enck 1-4

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) - St. Cloud: Hunter Dollander (W, 5-0) 6-8-1-1-1-6, Josh Gainer 2-0-0-0-0-3, Harrison Babbitt 1-1-0-0-0-2 … Willmar: (L) Rhys Stevens (L, 0-1) 5 1/3-6-4-4-4-6, George Arias 1⅔-3-2-2-1-1, Chris Rofe 2-3-2-2-1-2