Rother And Griffiths Lead Rox Past Stingers In Playoff Opener

The St. Cloud Rox beat the Willmar Stingers 7-3 at Bill Taunton Stadium on Sunday night in game one of the teams' best-of-three playoff series.

Colton Rother got the Rox on the board in the top of the first inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Aidan Mouton. St. Cloud's next batter, Brett Griffiths, then plated Tanner Recchio for an early 2-0 lead.

St. Cloud scored two more runs in the top of the third inning thanks to another Rother sac fly and a RBI single from Griffiths to take a 4-0 lead.

The Stingers scored single runs in each of the third and fourth innings to cut the Rox lead in half, but St. Cloud responded with another pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 6-2 lead. It was Rother plating another run with a single to start the rally and Griffiths plated Rother with a double.

Emerson McKnight earned the win on the mound for St. Cloud, allowing just two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts. Dylan Lewkutz and JR Tollett combined to finish the game out of the bullpen.

The Rox and Stingers will meet for game two of the series on Monday night at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. on AM 1390 and FM 93.9 Granite City Sports.