Late offense keeps Interwald atop division
Peter Devine limited Westboro to seven hits in eight innings and Interwald’s offense finally broke through with a sixrun rally in the bottom of the sixth inning Sunday to drive the Woodticks to a 10-0 win in Rib Lake.
The win kept Interwald atop the Small Division of the Dairyland League at 4-0, a game ahead of Rib Lake and Tony, who are both 3-1 after Rib Lake handled the host Hayshakers 10-3 on Sunday afternoon.
Devine struck out three and, as he usually does, limited the free passes with one walk and one hit batter. He and Westboro’s Butch Wiegel matched zeros through five and a half innings.
The Trojans, who fell to 1-2 in the division, stranded two runners in the first and third innings, while Interwald had left six runners on base through five innings before the scoreless tie was broken bigtime in the bottom of the sixth.
Logan Blomberg opened the inning with a base hit. A wide throw on a sacrifice bunt by David Fliehs and a bunt single down the third-base line by Talon Scheithauer loaded the bases with no outs.
A 3-2 pitch got a piece of Sam Gumz to drive in the first run and Michael Borchardt walked to force in another. Dalton Strebig singled up the middle to drive in two and an errant throw back into the infield moved Borchardt and Strebig to third and second base.
That knocked Wiegel out of the game and, with one out, Nick Gerstberger put the exclamation point on the inning with another two-run single off reliever Brayden Frahmann.
Two walks led to an unearned run in the seventh for Interwald. The Woodticks then ended the game in the eighth with three more runs. Jerod Arkola was hit by a Nick Pittman pitch and Seth Borchardt drew a one-out walk.
With two outs, Gumz singled to load the bases. Michael Borchardt drove in two with a base hit to left. After Dalton Strebig walked to re-load the bases, an error on Matt Mohr’s grounder brought in the game-ending run.
Strebig was three for four at the top of Interwald’s lineup, while Michael Borchardt was two for three with three RBIs at the bottom of it. In the middle, Blomberg was two for five out of the fivespot. Interwald had 11 hits overall.
Marshall Westfall and Braxton Weissmiller both went two for four to lead Westboro offensively. The Trojans had seven hits.
Wiegel allowed seven hits and six earned runs while striking out three, walking two and hitting three batters. Frahmann walked two, struck out one and allowed one unearned run and two hits in two innings. Pittman allowed two hits and three runs, two earned, while walking two and hitting one in two-thirds of an inning.
Interwald hosts Tony this Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in Rib Lake.
Rib Lake will try to keep pace at the same time Sunday when it visits Spirit. The Twins fell to 0-3 with an 11-0 loss to the Tomahawk Titans this past Sunday. Rib Lake also will make up an early-season rainout by hosting Westboro Friday, July 18 at 7 p.m.
Also in the Small Division, Medford scored two late runs on Saturday night to get past visiting Pittsville 3-2 and improve to 3-2 in the Small Division. The Moon Dogs host Westboro this Saturday at 7 p.m.
A schedule change for Sunday, July 27 also has been announced. Pittsville will play two games in Rib Lake that afternoon, first facing Interwald at noon to make up an earlier and then playing Rib Lake at 3 p.m., instead of the teams’ originallyscheduled July 25 date.
