WILLMAR – St. Cloud fans had a good trip and were loud from start to finish, whether it was with blaring vuvuzela sounds or a collective roar for the visiting team, there was a good reason for it.
The Rox went to Willmar and defeated the Stingers 11-2 in Game 2 of the Great Plains West Division series on Monday. The win evened the series at 1-1 on a nearly perfect night in front of 774 fans at Bill Taunton Stadium.
St. Cloud’s win forces a Game 3 finale at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at Bill Taunton Stadium. The winner will advance to face the La Crosse Loggers in the Great Plains Division championship game. La Crosse defeated the Duluth Huskies in the Great Plains East Division series.
The Rox got it going early, scoring seven runs in three innings. In three consecutive at-bats in the third inning, Kaden Amundson, Sawyer Smith and Tyler Bishop each scored a run. Amundson had an RBI single, followed by back-to-back RBI doubles from Smith and Bishop that gave St. Cloud a 7-1 lead.
St. Cloud scored three runs in the second to extend its lead to 4-1. Amundson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Bishop and RJ Stinson hit back-to-back RBI singles.
Michael Lyne/West Central Tribune
The two teams traded runs in the first inning. Stinson scored with a double steal in the top of the inning for the Rox. Max Buettenback tied the score at 1-1 with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning for the Stingers.
St. Cloud added four more runs in the eighth inning. Bishop scored on an error before Jackson Hauge, Carter Hanson and Braden Calise each hit an RBI single to make it 11-2.
Michael Lyne/West Central Tribune
Ty Bothwell got off to a great start for the Rox. The redshirt senior from Indiana University struck out 10 batters and walked one, allowing five hits and two earned runs in 7 2/3 innings. The left-hander threw 111 pitches in the win.
Brayden Hellum, a sophomore at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to cut Willmar’s deficit to 7-2. He finished the game 2 for 4.
Michael Lyne/West Central Tribune
Bishop, who started batting first, led the Rox with three hits. The redshirt sophomore from the University of Nebraska-Omaha batted 3-for-6 with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored.
Amundson, Calise, Hauge and Ben Higdon each scored twice for St. Cloud, which scored 11 runs on 14 hits and four errors by Willmar.
Michael Lyne/West Central Tribune
St. Cloud 133 000 040-11 14 1
Willmar 100 100 000-2 5 4
Michael Lyne/West Central Tribune
Beat – St. Cloud: Tyler Bishop 3-6 2b-2 r rbi-2, RJ Stinson 1-5 r rbi bb, Ben Higdon 2-4 r bb sb-2, Jackson Hauge 2-5 r rbi, Carter Hanson 1 -3 r-3 rbi bb-2 sb, Noah Greise 0-3 bb-2, Braden Calise 2-3 r rbi bb sac, Kaden Amundson 2-4 r-2 rbi-2 hbp, Sawyer Smith 1-5 2b r rbi … Willmar: Landen Lozier 1-4 r, Max Buettenback 1-3 rbi hbp, Dariel Osoria 1-4, Liam Bushey 0-3 bb, Brayden Hellum 2-4 hr r rbi, Hayden Lewis 0-4, Brock Larsen 0-3, Jack Taxdahl 0-2 bb, Jack Spanier 0-1, Jakob Cantor 0-2
Pitching (ip-hr-er-bb-so) – St. Cloud: Ty Bothwell (W) 7.2-5-2-2-1-10, Piercen McElyea 1.1-0-0-0-1- 0… Willmar: Hunter Possehl (L) 1.2-3-4-3-3-1, Aidan Gonzalez 5.2-8-6-6-4-5, Korey Dahlberg 1.2-3-1-1 -0-2
