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WILLMAR — Logan Samuels pitched the most innings he has in an outing all season to help fuel the Stingers to a 5-2 victory Monday evening to sweep the Mankato MoonDogs before 1,010 fans at Bill Taunton Stadium.
Samuels, who made his 10th appearance, went six innings. The right-hander from the University of Montevallo allowed four hits and two runs, striking out four and walking four, to earn his first victory this season.
The Stingers win was also fueled by a four-run second inning started by Zac Corbin. Corbin hit a single and later scored Willmar’s first run of the game after a throw got away from Mankato first baseman Derek Shoen. Aidan Byrne later found home plate on a Nick Terrell sacrifice fly.
Will Busch reached safely on an error and Dalton Pearson singled. Both scored on a Joey Walls two-out RBI single to put the Stingers up 4-0.
The MoonDogs fought back, scoring once each in the fourth and fifth innings. John Newman Jr. scored their first run on a sacrifice fly from Ariel Armas. Newman Jr. flipped the switch by bringing home Mikey Gottschalk on a putout.
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With Mankato building momentum, the Stingers had the last response. Corbin advanced to third base on a double from Byrne before he reached home for the second time on a groundout by Busch in the fifth inning.
Byrne went a perfect 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, a stolen base and a run.
Joe Ihli and John Klein, who earned his first save this season, combined for three innings in relief for Samuels, allowing four hits and no runs to cement Willmar’s victory.
The Stingers (4-2; 25-15) will host the Waterloo Bucks (1-3; 10-28) on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both games take place at 7:05 p.m. at Bill Taunton Stadium.
Willmar 5, Mankato 2
Mankato 000 110 000-2 8 3
Willmar 040 010 00x-5 7 1
Hitting - Mankato: Sean Ross 2-4 bb 2b, John Newman Jr. 0-4 bb r rbi, Boston Merila 1-4, Ariel Armas 1-3 rbi, Derek Shoen 1-3 bb 2b, Dustin Crenshaw 0-3 bb, Brendan Hord 1-4, Mikey Gottschalk 2-3 bb r… Willmar: Jakob Christian 1-4, Joey Walls 1-4 rbi-2, Zac Corbin 1-3 bb r-2, Aidan Byrne 3-3 bb 2b r sb, Will Busch 0-3 bb r rbi, Nick Terrell 0-3 rbi, Dalton Pearson 1-4 r
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) - Mankato: John Lundgren (L) 5-7-5-2-2-1, Thomas Bruss 1-0-0-0-0-2, Jakob Meyer 2-0-0-0-1-1… Willmar: Logan Samuels (W) 6-4-2-2-4-4, Joe Ihli 2-2-0-0-1-2, John Klein (SV) 1-2-0-0-0-0
