The Merchants took advantage ….

The Merchants took advantage of the visitor’s mistakes, making the most of the 10 free passes issued by Moondogs’ pitching, as well as the four errors committed by Medford’s defense.

JV Castillo started the game on the mound for Abbotsford. He struck out three batters in four innings of work and held the opposing lineup to just three hits. Two runs scored under his watch, but neither were earned. Aaron Morrow collected the win after stepping up to finish the fifth inning on the mound, giving up one hit and striking out two.

Reed Knecht led the team with three hits on the day, driving in two and scoring three times. He also had a stolen base and a walk. Marco Olvera had a basesclearing double, the team’s only extra base hit, in the fifth inning to plate a team-high three runs while scoring two runs himself.

Morrow and Chance Clement both went 2-for-3, with Morrow driving in two runs and scoring one himself while Clement collected one RBI and one run. Neal Hogden went 1-for-1 with two walks and two runs scored, Trevor Stuttgen had one hit, drew two walks and stole a base and Blake Bargender had two RBIs, two runs, and a stolen base on one hit and a walk. Castillo helped his cause by taking two walks, driving in two runs and swiping two bases in the contest.

Merrill, 10-6 An eight-run fifth inning turned out to be Abbotsford’s undoing in their exhibition match-up with Merrill last Wednesday. Inclement weather cut off any hope of a Merchants’ rally, ending the game 10-6 in the sixth inning.

The hosting Abby squad built a small lead over the first four innings, putting up single runs in the first, second and fourth innings. Meanwhile, starting pitcher JV Castillo and the Merchants defense rendered Merrill bats relatively quiet through the opening few frames, with a single run in the first being the only damage ceded by the home team. Heading into the fifth inning, Abbotsford had taken a 3-1 lead and had, up until that point, held relative control over the proceedings.

However, that small advantage would be quickly undone as the Merrill lineup finally broke through in the fifth. The visitors would get to Castillo and his replacement Payton Schreiber, notching eight-runs in the top half of the inning and completely changing the dynamic of the game. Abbotsford started to make a run towards righting the ship by scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth but thunderstorms rolling into the area saw the game conclude before the Merchants could complete the comeback effort, falling 10-6.

Castillo was saddled with the loss, going four-and-a-third for Abbotsford. He struck out four while walking three and giving up seven runs on six hits. Six of those runs were earned. Schreiber followed by going oneand- two-thirds innings giving up three runs on two hits and two walks.

Blake Bargender led the Merchants’ offensive efforts by going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk while driving in three of Abbotsford’s six runs. Hunter Soyk was a perfect 2-for-2 with an RBI and Evan Reis recorded a triple with a run scored. Castillo also had an RBI and a run scored while stealing a base.

The Merchants will wrap up their regular season play with two final home games over this week. They have a tentavive exhibiition game against an opponent to be determined this Friday at 7:00 p.m. and will face their final Dairyland Small opponent, Rib Lake, on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. They currently sit in third place behind Westboro (51) and Interwald (4-1) in the conference.