DAIRYLAND LEAGUE SMALL DIVISION - Late surge gives Interwald a win; Westboro gets a weekend split
For the second straight game, the Medford Moon Dogs carried a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning of a baseball matchup in the Dairyland League’s Small Division, but Friday’s game also marked the second straight time that lead got away.
The Interwald Woodticks put together a two-out, two-run rally to snatch the lead away and added two more runs in the ninth to secure the 5-2 win in the rescheduled date of a June 14 rainout. The win at Medford’s JC Field put Interwald at 2-0 and among three teams still unbeaten in the Small Division. Rib Lake, who rallied to beat Medford 7-2 on June 21, is also 2-0 and league newcomer Tony is off to a 3-0 start.
The Moon Dogs did earn a split of their weekend games, outscoring the host Tomahawk Titans on Saturday night to go to 2-2 in the division.
Friday’s game featured a good pitcher’s duel between Interwald’s Peter Devine and Medford’s Brett Paul, though neither wound up getting the win. That went to Interwald reliever Logan Blomberg, who got the last seven outs for the Woodticks, striking out three and walking one without allowing a hit.
Paul went the distance for Medford and didn’t allow an earned run until the ninth. Interwald broke a scoreless tie in the sixth when Jackson Blomberg singled, stole second, moved to third on a ground ball by Matt Mohr and scored on bad throw on the infield.
Interwald, however, was even more generous in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs and nobody on, Landon Penk reached on an error that gave Medford an opportunity. Josh Turner singled and Bryce Connor was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Trent Klemm came through, dumping a two-run single into leftfield to give the home team the lead.
With two outs and no one on in the top of the eighth, Dalton Strebig was hit by a Paul pitch and advanced two bases on wild pitches. Jackson Blomberg walked and took second on defensive indifference. A throwing error on a ball hit by Matt Mohr scored both runners to give Interwald a 32 lead.
Interwald then loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth and got a sacrifice fly from Talon Scheithauer and a two-out RBI infield single from Jackson Blomberg.
In 6.2 innings, Devine struck out six, walked five, hit three batters and allowed just five hits. Paul struck out eight Woodticks, walked three, hit one and gave up five hits, three to Jackson Blomberg, who also doubled in the third inning.
Interwald faces Rib Lake tonight, Thursday, at 6 p.m. in the annual prefireworks battle in Rib Lake. Medford is off this weekend before hosting Pittsville on July 12.
Westboro goes 1-1
The Westboro Trojans finally got their first two league games and home games of the summer played and came away with a split.
The win came Sunday, a 6-4 victory over the Pittsville River Bandits. Westboro scored five runs in the first two innings and rode a solid start from left-hander Dawson Grunseth to the win. Grunseth went all nine innings without walking a batter. He struck out seven and worked around 13 Pittsville hits. Three of the four runs were earned.
He outdueled Pittsville’s Sam Schwanebeck, who struck out 10, allowed nine hits and also walked nine hitters.
In the bottom of the first, Westboro loaded the bases with no outs, but two outs later, Pittsville was nearly out of the jam. An error on a ball hit by Grunseth, though, scored one and Brayden Frahmann drew a walk to force in the second run of the inning.
In the second, Westboro again did some work with two outs. Brant Johnson and Tucker Kraemer led off the inning with walks. After a flyout and a groundout, Connor Westfall singled in Johnson. Dayne Marlenga was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Grunseth’s hit drove in a pair, even though he was tagged out trying to stretch it into a double. The Trojans added an unearned run in the fifth after Pittsville had scored two runs in the top half on an error and an RBI single by Justin Rayburn.
The River Bandits closed within 6-3 in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Evan Haley and Dylan Luther. The ninth got interesting. Luther led off with a hit and Daryn Luther added a one-out single to bring the tying run to the plate in Brady Withers. He singled to drive in a run. But Grunseth got Corbin Leigh to ground into a fielder’s choice and he struck out Jake Mancl to end it.
Kraemer and Marlenga had two hits apiece for Westboro. Dylan Luther was four for five and Brody Withers was three for five for Pittsville.
On Saturday, Westboro lost a lengthy battle 26-15 to Tony in a game that took nearly four hours to play.
The Hayshakers outhit the Trojans 2214, but Westboro had its chances thanks to 18 walks issued by Tony pitching as well as four hit batters and four errors. Westboro left 22 men on base in nine innings.
Westboro plated five runs in the first inning to take a 5-2 lead. Marlenga hit a two-run double and Nick Pittman belted a two-run homer in the inning. Tony tied it with a three-run fourth, but Westboro got the lead back in the bottom half with two unearned runs.
But the game turned with a 10-run fifth inning from the Hayshakers with the key hits being a two-run double from Bryce Meverden, a two-run single from Jackson Summerfield, a two-run single from Tanner Nelson and a two-run single from Ben Kopacz.
Trailing 16-8, Westboro almost wiped out the deficit in the bottom of the sixth and seventh. Five bases-loaded walks helped make it 16-14 in the sixth and Dustin Freeman’s solo homer in the seventh made it a one-run game.
But Tony got a two-run single from Kopacz and a two-run double from Meverden in a four-run eighth and put it away with a six-run ninth. Kopacz hit another two-run single and Andy Meverden had one as well.
Freeman was three for six, while Pittman was three for four with a double and four runs batted in. Kopacz was three for seven with seven RBIs for Tony. Summerfield was five for seven with four RBIs. Nelson was five for seven with three RBIs and scored four runs.
