Jul. 6—EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — With hits from seven players, the Willmar Stingers’ offense shined in a 9-2 Northwoods League victory over the Eau Claire Express on Monday at Carson Park
Willmar snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory.
The Stingers put together three runs in the first inning. The first came on a bases-loaded walk that brought home Daniel Walsh. Steve Ramirez III had a sacrifice fly that plated Grant Kerry. Drey Dirksen scored the final run of the inning after racing home on a wild pitch.
Two more runs came in for Willmar in the second. Walsh had an RBI single to score Brady Hill. Kerry added a run on a sacrifice fly from Josh Fitzgerald to make it a 5-0 lead.
Hill, a sophomore from Washington State, finished 2-for-5 with a double, a run and an RBI. Ramirez, a junior from Purdue, was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run. He hit a solo home run in the ninth inning.
Kerry wrapped up the night with a 1-for-3 outing, driving in two runs and scoring another. A redshirt freshman from Nazarene University (Idaho), Kerry is batting .333 with seven RBIs and five runs scored in nine games with Willmar.
Securing the win for the Stingers was Tanner Brown, a junior from Augustana. Locking up his first ‘W’ of the summer, Brown struck out five, allowing one run (unearned) with three hits and three walks over five innings. George Arias, a sophomore from Arizona, got the save after four innings of relief.
Carter Graham was the Express’ top hitter. A freshman from Stanford, Graham went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Willmar begins a two-game road series Tuesday against the La Crosse Loggers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
Willmar 9,
Eau Claire 2
Willmar 320 011 101-9 8 2
Eau Claire 000 100 001-2 5 3
Hitting — Willmar: Daniel Walsh 1-3 r rbi bb hbp sb, Grant Kerry 1-3 2b r rbi-2 bb sf, Drey Dirksen 1-4 r-2 hbp, Asa Awbrey 1-2 r rbi bb-2 hbp, Steve Ramirez III 1-3 hr r rbi-2 bb sf, Brady Hill 2-5 2b r rbi, Carter Howell 1-2, Brady Counsell 0-3 r bb, 0-3 r hbp-2 … Eau Claire: Nick Marinconz 1-4 r, Alejandro Macario 1-4 r, Carter Graham 2-4 2b rbi, Max Blessinger 1-4, Omar Gastelum 0-2 rbi bb sf
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Willmar: Tanner Brown (W, 1-3) 5-3-1-0-3-5, George Arias (Sv, 1) 4-2-1-1-0-4 … Eau Claire: Eddy Pelc (L, 0-4) 1-0-3-3-3-1, Trevyn Badger 3-2-2-2-1-5, Robert Hogan 3-5-3-2-2-2, Jace Kressin 2-1-1-1-0-2
Sunday
Eau Claire 4,
Willmar 1
Three pitchers for the Eau Claire Express combined to hold the Willmar Stingers to four hits in a Northwoods League victory at Carson Park.
Ryan Lin-Peistrup, a senior from the University of Illinois-Chicago, went 2-for-3 with two runs and two stolen bases for the Express. Nick Marinconz, a freshman from Cal Poly, drove in two runs, going 2-for-4. The winning pitcher was Garret Reisz. The Creighton University (Nebraska) sophomore got his first win of the year after striking out seven through five innings.
Carter Howell, Kaden Hopson, Brady Hill and Grant Kerry accounted for all four of the Stingers’ hits. Willmar’s lone run came in the top of the fifth inning when Hill scored on a Daniel Walsh groundout.
Despite taking his first loss of the year, Ryan Watson struck out eight, giving up one run in six innings. The Georgia State redshirt sophomore is 3-1 this summer with a 1.66 ERA over 38 innings.
Willmar 000 010 000-1 4 3
Waterloo 200 010 01x-4 9 1
Hitting — Willmar: Carter Howell 1-4 bb sb, Kaden Hopson 1-3 2b bb, Brady Hill 1-3 r bb, Grant Kerry 1-1, Daniel Walsh 0-3 rbi bb … Eau Claire: Eddie Park 1-5 2b r, Ryan Lin-Peistrup 2-3 r-2 bb sb-2, Nick Marinconz 2-4 rbi-2, Anthony Chavez 1-3 hbp, Robert Hogan 2-4, Connor Burns 1-4, Alejandro Macario 0-3 r rbi bb sb
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Willmar: Ryan Watson (L, 3-1) 6-9-3-3-1-8, Jon Mocherman 1-0-0-0-1-1, Jacob Webb 1-0-1-0-1-2 … Eau Claire: Garret Reisz (W, 1-2) 5-1-1-0-5-7, Alec Baker 3-2-0-0-1-1, Luke Trahan (Sv, 1) 1-1-0-0-0-0
Saturday
Waterloo 9,
Willmar 5
Leading 5-4 through six innings, the Waterloo Bucks put up four combined runs in the seventh and eighth innings to pull away from the Willmar Stingers for the win at Riverfront Stadium.
Garrett McGowan, Joshua Kasevich and Liam Critchett each had two hits for the Bucks. Critchett, a freshman from Loyola Marymount University (California), was 2-for-2 with a double, three runs and an RBI. Duncan Davitt, a redshirt sophomore from the University of Iowa, got the win after notching six strikeouts over six innings.
Josh Fitzgerald and Asa Awbrey both finished with two hits for the Stingers. Fitzgerald, a redshirt freshman from Kirkwood Community College (Iowa), was 2-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs and a run. Awbrey, a sophomore from the University of Montevallo (Alabama), went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs.
In the top of the fourth, Willmar’s Grant Kerry, a redshirt freshman from Northwest Nazarene University (Idaho), hit a two-run home run.
Willmar 001 210 001-5 6 0
Waterloo 003 020 13x-9 11 0
Hitting — Willmar: Josh Fitzgerald 2-4 3b r rbi-2 hbp, Carter Howell 1-5 sb, Grant Kerry 1-3 hr r rbi-2 bb, Asa Awbrey 2-3 2b r-2 hbp, William Hamiter 0-2 r rbi bb-2 sf … Waterloo: Jalen Smith 1-3 r-2 rbi bb, Garrett McGowan 2-4 2b rbi-3, Joshua Kasevich 2-4 2b r rbi, Max Jung-Goldberg 1-4 2b r rbi, Ryan McNally 1-4, Mike Capagna 1-4 r, Liam Critchett 2-2 2b r-3 rbi bb-2, Sam Biller 1-4 sb, Chris Seng 0-3 r rbi bb sf
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Willmar: Logan Schmitt (L, 0-4) 5-5-5-5-3-2, Kenten Egbert 3-6-4-4-1-3 … Waterloo: Duncan Davitt (W, 2-1) 6-4-4-4-1-6, Zach Carrell 1-0-0-0-0-0, Aaron Treloar 1-0-0-0-2-2, Zach Button 1-2-1-1-0-1