Northwoods League: Stingers shut down St. Cloud, 5-1
Aug. 6—WILLMAR — The St. Cloud Rox came into Bill Taunton Stadium with the best overall record in the 22-team Northwoods League.
St. Cloud won the first-half Great Plains East Division title and are well on their way to the second-half crown as well.
But the Willmar Stingers at least slowed St. Cloud down for one night, beating the Rox 5-1 before 967 fans.
Willmar (13-12 second half, 29-32 overall) did it by getting two runs in the first and three more in the fourth, then relying on strong pitching performances by Sascha Jabusch, Damon Rademacher and Dylan Matela.
Jabusch started and got the win to boost his record to 3-3. The left-hander from Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho went five innings, striking out one, walking three and scattering six hits and one earned run.
Next up was Rademacher, who tossed three scoreless innings. The right-hander from Princeton and Gustavus Adolphus College struck out one and didn't allow a hit or walk.
Finishing up was Matela. The right-hander from Georgia State University struck out one and also didn't allow a hit or walk.
Meanwhile, Grant Kerry and Christopher Campos each had two hits and Drey Dirksen smacked a home run and drove in two.
Dirksen is a Willmar Senior High graduate who plays for Augustana. He now has six home runs and 26 RBI with a .250 batting average (36 of 144) with a .315 on-base and a .424 slugging percentage, good for a .738 OPS.
St. Cloud (20-7 second half, 44-15 overall) and Willmar continue their series at 7:05 p.m. Friday at Bill Taunton Stadium.
Willmar 5, St. Cloud 1
St. Cloud 001 000 000-1 6 1
Willmar 200 300 00x-5 9 0
Hitting — St. Cloud: Andrew Pinckney 1-5 sb, Brice Matthews 1-4, Otto Kemp 1-2 r hr rbi bb-2, Bobby Goodloe 0-3 bb, Jack Steil 1-4, Justin Kirby 1-4, Peter Abinanti 1-3 hbp ... Willmar: Carter Howell 0-3 bb, Jakob Newton 1-3 r 2b rbi bb-2, William Hamiter 1-4 r bb, Grant Kerry 2-4 rbi hbp, Derek Hackman 0-5 rbi, Christopher Campos 2-4 r, Drey Dirksen 1-4 r hr rbi-2, Jorge Lucero 1-3 bb, Brady Counsell 1-3-r bb
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — St. Cloud: Zach Gagnon (L, 3-1) 4-6-5-5-3-2, Max Rippl 3-2-0-0-2-5, Owen Leonard 1-1-0-0-1-0 ... Willmar: Sasha Jabusch (W, 3-3) 5-6-1-1-3-1, Damon Rademacher 3-0-0-0-0-1, Dylan Matela 1-0-0-0-0-1
