Late homer caps comeback by Westboro; Interwald loses to Abby

DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL

Dustin Freeman’s three-run homer highlighted a four-run eighth-inning rally that capped Westboro’s comeback from a 4-1 deficit and gave the Trojans a 7-5 win over Pittsville in Sunday’s season- opening game in Dairyland League Small Division play.

Freeman’s blast followed a leadoff walk by Tucker Kraemer and a base hit by Marshall Westfall and put the host Trojans ahead 6-4. Butch Wiegel doubled and scored on a two-out base hit by James Holiday to tack on an insurance run going into the ninth.

The River Bandits threatened in the ninth by loading the bases against Westfall, who relieved Weigel after he started and pitched seven innings. Pittsville loaded the bases with one out and got a run with two outs, but Westfall got a strikeout to end it.

The strikeout was Westfall’s fourth in his two innings as he picked up the relief win.

Wiegel helped keep Westboro in the game after the River Bandits jumped ahead quickly. Evan Haley walked and scored on Dawson Luther’s double right out of the gate and Dylan Luther’s double made it 2-0. The Trojans got one run back with a two-out uprising in the bottom of the first. Freeman doubled and Dakota Willemssen singled him in. Westboro left the bases loaded after a walk and hit batter.

Pittsville made it 4-1 in the fourth, keyed by an RBI double from Dylan Luther.

Holiday walked to lead off the bottom half for Westboro and scored on a base hit by Braxton Weissmiller. Javon Penney’s double scored Weissmiller to cut the deficit to one. That’s where the game stayed until Westboro took the lead in the eighth.

Freeman was two for three with two walks, two runs scored and three driven in. Willemssen and Wiegel both went two for three. Westboro had 11 hits off two Pittsville pitchers.

Wiegel struck out three batters in his seven innings and Pittsville only had four hits for the entire game. Dylan Luther had two of them. The Trojans worked around 11 walks issued and one hit batter to keep it close and eventually win it.

Westboro is at Rib Lake for a 7:30 p.m. game on Friday. The Osprey dropped their Small Division season opener at Tomahawk Saturday 10-5.

In Rib Lake Sunday, host Interwald loaded the bases five times but only got one big inning out of those chances and lost 8-5 to Abbotsford in its Small Division opener.

The Merchants, back in the league after withdrawing in 2020, got their first league win since a 12-11 win over Minocqua on July 24, 2019.

Single runs in the third and fourth innings plus two more in the fifth put the Merchants up 4-1. Dalton Strebig singled and scored on Craig Scheithauer’s twoout double in the first for Interwald, who left the bases loaded in that inning as well as in the third.

In the fifth, the Woodticks loaded them again and, this time, it paid off. Matt Mohr singled, Scheithauer reached on an error and Carter Scheithauer was hit by a pitch from Abbotsford starter JV Castillo. An error on a ball hit by Nick Gerstberger scored Mohr. Another error when Abbotsford tried to turn a double play on a grounder hit by Logan Blomberg scored two more and tied the game

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

at 4-4. But that’s as far as the rally got after a fly ball and a strikeout.

Abbotsford immediately took the lead back with an unearned run in the sixth, got an RBI double from Hunter Soyk in the eighth and then scored two big insurance runs in the ninth. Aaron Morrow doubled and scored on an error on a ball hit by Chance Clement. Castillo’s double to the gap in right-center scored Clement.

Interwald, who left the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth inning, started the fourth by getting runners on an error and a walk, but only got a run on Strebig’s groundout.

Mohr had three hits for the Woodticks, who will be at Medford Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. first pitch. The Moondogs’ scheduled opener at Spirit Sunday was postponed to July 9.

In the Large Division, Whittlesey’s game with Marshfield was postponed to July 8 and will be played in Marshfield.

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

The Rapids Redhawks got two wins over the weekend, beating Minocqua 3-2 in 10 innings and Rhinelander 7-6 move into second place behind Everest, who stayed unbeaten with an 8-6 win at Minocqua Sunday.

Everest hosts Whittlesey Friday at 7 p.m., then the teams will play in Whittlesey Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Interwald first baseman Nick Gerstberger smothers a ground ball hit by Abbotsford’s Hunter Soyk and gets the unassisted out to end the top of the ninth inning in the team’s 8-5 loss Sunday in Rib Lake.BY MATT FREYSPORTS EDITOR

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS Westboro outfielder Tucker Kraemer gets the ball back to infield on a first-inning double by Pittsville’s Dylan Luther.