Merrill rallies to beat Westboro; Everest tops Moondogs, Osprey to take ‘A’ lead

DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL

The Westboro Trojans’ 5-2 lead and potential first win of the year vanished in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday afternoon when the host Merrill Rangers put together a four-run rally that pushed them to an 8-6 win.

The win allowed Merrill to stay on Whittlesey’s heels in the Dairyland League’s Division B standings at 3-0. The Reds, who did not play this weekend due to a Sunday rainout in Pittsville, lead the division at 4-0.

Westboro, meanwhile, sits at the bottom of the division at 0-4.

The Trojans tied the game at 1-1 on Dayne Marlenga’s RBI groundout in the top of the third and then took the lead with a four-run fourth. Butch Wiegel singled, Tucker Kraemer walked and Marshall Westfall sacrificed the runners into scoring position. An error on a ball hit by Blake Bargender scored a run and errors on balls put in play by Nick Steliga and Colt Logan gave Westboro a 4-2 lead. Tanner Hraby drove in the fourth run of the inning with a fielder’s choice.

But the game turned in the sixth when Merrill turned a hit batter, two hits, a sacrifice, an error and three walks into four runs. Piersen Pyan’s two-run single was the key blow. An error allowed two more unearned runs to score in the seventh before Wiegel hit a leadoff solo homer to bring Westboro within two in the top of the eighth. The Trojans stranded two runners in the eighth and two more in the ninth.

Wiegel had three of the team’s four hits, going three for five and scoring twice. Westfall singled in the eighth for the other hit. Merrill had just five hits as well, with Pyan collecting two of them, but 11 walks created traffic on the base paths for the Rangers and they took advantage late. Westboro is at Whittlesey Sunday at 1:30 p.m. for its second meeting of the season with the Reds. Whittlesey won the first one 10-6 on May 22.

_ In Division A, Everest completed a two-win weekend on Sunday with a 6-0 win at Medford. The Merchants also took care of the Rib Lake Osprey Saturday night 10-1.

In Medford, Everest scored single runs in the first and fourth innings before breaking it open with Ryan Hubacek’s three-run homer. The Merchants tacked on a ninth-inning win on a wild pitch.

Braxton Weissmiller singled in the third for Medford’s only hit.

Everest is the current leader in the division at 3-0, a half-game ahead of 2-0 Wausau. The River Hawks outscored Interwald 11-7 Saturday afternoon in a good ball game played at Wausau West High School.

Rib Lake fell to 2-1 with its Saturday loss. The Osprey looks to get back on track Friday when they host Spirit Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Twins fell to 0-5 in league play with a 10-5 home loss to the Minocqua Wood Ducks (2-1) on Sunday.

Medford (1-2) does not play this weekend. Interwald hosts Minocqua Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Rib Lake.