Northwoods League: Stingers' bats help rout Rox, 12-4
Jul. 27—ST. CLOUD — The Willmar Stingers' offense kept clicking Thursday night, pumping out 12 hits, including a pair of home runs, in a 12-4 victory over the St. Cloud Rox.
The game was called after seven innings because of rain.
The Stingers lead the Northwoods League with 461 runs scored. They are second in the league with 48 home runs and a .281 batting average. Duluth leads the league with 50 home runs and a .301 batting average.
Thursday, Willmar got home runs from Andrew Sojka and Stone Miyao to reclaim sole possession of first place in the Great Plains West Division for the second half of the season. Willmar (14-7, 40-15) won the first half. St. Cloud (13-8, 34-21) is right behind. The Rox finished second in the first half as well.
Sojka, a junior at California State University-Northridge, went 4-for-4 with four runs, two RBIs, a hit-by-pitch and a stolen base. He is hitting .349 for Willmar (29 of 83) with 30 runs, four homers, 19 RBIs and 19 stolen bases.
Miyao, junior at the University of Hawaii, went 2-for-3 with three runs, two walks, three RBIs and two stolen bases. He's batting .318 (54 of 170) with a home run, 35 RBIs and 19 stolen bases.
Chris Rofe, meanwhile, went five solid innings to get the win. The right-hander from Mount Marty College is 5-0 with a 1.91 earned-run average.
Willmar concludes its series with the Rox at 7:05 p.m. Friday at St. Cloud's Joe Faber Field.
Willmar 200 043 3-12 12 2
St. Cloud 000 103 0-4 9 4
Hitting — Willmar: Andrew Sojka 4-4 r-4 hr rbi-2 hbp sb, Stone Miyao 2-3 r-3 hr rbi-3 bb-2 sb-2, Kevin Fitzer 2-4 r rbi-3 sb, Dallas Duarte 2-4 rbi sb-2, Luke Williams 2-3 r bb sb-2, Kristofer Hokenson 0-3 r b, Kyle Payne 0-3 r-2 bb ... St. Cloud: Haiden Hunt 3-3 rbi sb-3, Anthony Mata 1-3, Jose Gonzalez 1-3 r 2b bb, Jackson Hauge 1-4 rbi, Kevin Butler 1-2 r bb-2, Daniel Caylor 0-4 r, Michael McNamara 1-2 r bb, Chipper Beck 1-3 rbi-2
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Willmar: Chris Rofe (W, 5-0) 5-5-1-1-5-4, Jonathan Zayas 2-4-3-2-1-2 ... St. Cloud: Piercen McElyea (L, 5-1) 4.1-8-6-5-2-6, Cade Lommel 1.2-0-3-1-2-1, Alex Ramos 1-4-3-3-1-2
