Northwoods League: Willmar Stingers bounce back to split with Mankato MoonDogs – West Central Tribune

WILLMAR — Gabe Swansen belted a two-run home run to help Willmar defeat the Mankato MoonDogs on Sunday.

The Stingers beat Mankato 5-3 and avoid being swept for the first time this season. Willmar is 15-3 and holds the best record in the Northwoods League.

“I like to not think of it as avoiding the sweep. I like to see it as a bounce-back game,” Stingers field manager Freddy Smith. “We were a little bit on our heels the first couple of innings, but this team’s ability to punch back is unreal. We saw that a lot with last year’s team and that’s why they were special. I think our returners are a big part of it, but these guys have shown a lot of resilience through the few struggles we’ve had this year.”

The MoonDogs tied the contest at 3-3 in the top of the eighth inning off a Ryan Nicholson RBI sacrifice fly, which scored Kai Roberts.

Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune

Swansen only needed to see one pitch in the bottom of the eighth.

Swansen, a sophomore at the University of Nebraska, hit his first home run in a Stingers uniform to give Willmar a 5-3 lead.

“Anytime you can hit a home run, it’s something that’s pretty satisfying,” Swansen said, “So being able to hit my first one today was pretty important to hopefully get it started the rest of the season.”

Tyler Bryan entered the game in the ninth inning for the Stingers. The freshman from Northwestern State University struck out one batter to earn his first save and cement Willmar’s comeback victory.

Willmar’s Mitch Gutknecht got the start. He went five innings with five strikeouts and one walk. He allowed seven hits and two earned runs.

Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune

Alex Clemons earned his first win of the season in relief of Gutknecht. He pitched three innings with four strikeouts and one walk, allowing zero hits and one earned run.

“The last week-and-a-half the pitching has been absolutely lights out,” Smith said. “When I say lights out, it doesn’t mean they’re throwing no-hitters. It just means they’ve been able to keep us in games.”

Mankato jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Nicholson hit an RBI single to score Roberts in the first inning. Max Williams hit an RBI single to score Nolan Tichy to extend the MoonDogs’ lead to 2-0 in the top of the second inning.

Willmar battled back, scoring three unanswered runs.

A sacrifice fly from Aidan Byrne scored Graysen Tarlow to give Willmar its first lead in the sixth inning, 3-2.

Sean Rimmer’s second home run of the season tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth. His first came in Game 1 of this series on Saturday.

Rimmer, a junior from the University of Hawaii, is batting .250 with nine hits and seven RBIs in 10 games.

Willmar cut Mankato’s lead in half in the bottom of the second. Jack Hines hit an RBI single and Byrne reached home safely.

“We’re just relentless,” Swansen said. “Everytime we get knocked down, we get back up. I feel like we have a pretty tough team this year, so we’ll see if it continues throughout the season and I hope it does.”

The Stingers take on a four-game road trip to Minot. Game 1 is set for 6:35 p.m. on Monday, followed by a doubleheader at 9:05 a.m. and 6:35 p.m. Tuesday and the finale at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday.

“We can’t take our foot off the gas pedal because no lead is safe in that ballpark,” Smith said. “They have some good starting pitching. The key is for us is just to get in that bullpen early like we always do and execute our plan.”

Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune

Mankato   110   000   010-3   7   1
Willmar     010   101   02x-5   7   0
Hitting – Mankato: Kip Fougerousse 1-4, Kai Roberts 2-3 r-2 sb, Brendan Hord 1-3, Ryan Nicholson 1-3 rbi-2, Nolan Tichy 1-4 r r 2b, Max Williams 1-4 rbi … Willmar: Graysen Tarlow 1-3 r-2 2b bb, Gabe Swansen 1-4 r rbi-2 hr, Sean Rimmer 2-4 r rbi, Aidan Byrne 2-2 r rbi sb, Jack Hines 1-2 rbi sb
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Mankato: RJ Elmore 6-5-3-3-0-4, Breck Bradshaw (L, 0-2) 2-2-2-2-1-3  … Willmar: Mitch Gutknecht 5-7-2-2-1-5, Alex Clemons (W, 1-0) 3-0-1-1-1-4, Tyler Bryan (Sv, 3) 1-0-0-0-0-1

Willmar’s nine-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of the Mankato MoonDogs.

The MoonDogs got out to a quick start, scoring two runs in the first and second innings, en route to their victory before 1,296 fans at Bill Taunton Stadium in Willmar.

Mankato outhit the Stingers 10-2. Kip Fougerousse helped lead the MoonDogs’ offense. He went 2-for-4 with a home run, one run, an RBI and a walk.

Willmar’s two hits came from Sean Rimmer and Zach Stroh. Rimmer went 1-for-3 with a home run in the fifth inning, adding a walk. Stroh was 1-for-3.

Mankato   220   000   001-5   10   4
Willmar     000   010   000-1   2   1
Hitting – Mankato: Dustin Crenshaw 2-5 rbi, Kip Fougerousse 2-4 hr r rbi bb, Kai Roberts 1-4 2b r bb, Max Williams 1-4 rbi bb, Ariel Armas 1-5 rbi, Brody Harding 1-4 2b, Hunter Faildo 1-2 r bb-2, Mikey Gottschalk 1-4 r, Ty Rumsey 0-2 r rbi hbp sf sb … Willmar: Sean Rimmer 1-3 hr r rbi bb, Zach Stroh 1-3
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Mankato: Derrick Smith (W, 2-0) 5-2-1-1-0-1, Jack Anker (Sv, 1) 4-0-0-0-2-4 … Willmar: Ryan Wiltse (L, 1-1) 5-6-4-4-2-2, Ben Irsfeld 2.2-3-0-0-1-3, Andrew Baumgart 0.2-1-1-1-0-0, Chris Rofe 0.2-0-0-0-2-0