July 24, 2008
Interwald puts a pair in the win column
The Interwald Woodticks earned their second Dairyland League win in three days Sunday, getting several clutch hits in a 12-2 win at Spirit in seven innings.
The trend of hitting in the clutch started right away in the top of the first inning when Erik Kozey hit an RBI single with two on and two out. After Kyle Stibbe walked, Dan Fliehs came through with a two-run single to make it 3-0.
Craig Scheithauer drove in one with a second-inning single, then Kozey made it 6-0 in the third inning with a two-run homer.
B.J. Wiegel got Spirit on the board with a two-run double in the bottom of the third. It stayed that way until the sixth when Ryan Scheithauer cracked a two-run homer to put the Woodticks up 8-2.
The guests put it away in the seventh on RBI singles from Pat Fliehs and Craig Scheithauer and a two-run double by Marcus Klemm.
Spirit had a chance to extend the game in the bottom of the seventh when it loaded the bases with two outs, but Craig Scheithauer struck out Wiegel swinging to end the game due to the 10-run rule.
Spirit fell to 1-9 in league play and will finish its league season Saturday when it hosts Wausau at 1:30 p.m. Interwald improved to 3-7 and will head to Rib Lake Saturday for its 2008 Dairyland League finale. Game time is 7 p.m.
At Abbotsford Friday night, Interwald came back from a 3-0 deficit and beat the home team 5-3 in a seven-inning game that had to go one extra inning.
Abbotsford scored twice in the first when Trevor Kattre doubled and scored on a passed ball and Cody Soyk added an RBI single. The team later added another run to go up by three.
But Interwald finally got something going in the top of the sixth. Kozey drew a one-out walk, Vance Grubbs singled and Craig Devine walked. That set the table for Jeff Yanko, who doubled to clear the bases.
Abbotsford unraveled in the extra inning as two hit batters, a walk a wild pitch and a fielder’s choice got the go-ahead runs across.
Peter Devine picked up the win for Interwald, who broke a six-game losing streak in league play.
Abbotsford, who was in sole possession of second place in the league less than two weeks ago, finished at 6-5 thanks to a four-game losing streak. That streak continued Sunday with a 5-0 home loss to Rib Lake. Rib Lake enters the final weekend of the regular season in a three-way tie for second place with Whittlesey and Merrill at 7-3.
Whittlesey earned a forfeit over Wausau (3-7) Sunday. That was the third game the Riverhawks have forfeited this month.
