Reds cruise to victory and secure tourney’s third seed
WHITTLESEY 7, MINOCQUA 1
The Whittlesey Reds flooded the base paths with runners and did enough to get seven of them home and earn a comtually manding 7-1 win over the Minocqua Wood Ducks Saturday afternoon at Mike Roiger Stadium.
The win locked up the third seed in the upcoming Dairyland Baseball League tournament for the Reds, who finished the abbreviated regular season at 4-2. Whittlesey will host sixth-seeded Pittsville (1-5) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. The winner advances to a Sunday semifinal matchup against either seventh-seeded Merrill (0-5) or second-seeded Marshfi eld (5-1).
Whittlesey beat Pittsville 12-3 on July 19, lost to Marshfield 12-2 on July 12 and beat Merrill 16-1 on June 14 in the regular- season matchups.
Whittlesey collected eight hits and drew 14 walks against Wood Duck pitching Saturday to put up scoring threats in every inning. The Reds wound up leaving 14 runners on base in eight offensive innings, but they did enough to lead throughout.
Cade Alexander and the Reds’ crew of relievers controlled things from the pitching standpoint. Alexander went five innings to get the win, allowing an unearned run in the second. The righthander struck out four, walked two and allowed just three hits. Minocqua hitters struck out 11 times and picked up just four total hits.
The Reds jumped ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the first. Nick Meyer walked and John McMurry singled to put runners on the corners. Meyer scored on a wild pitch and McMurry wound up scoring as well after walks were issued to Brandon Loertscher and Ben Meyer.
Alexander singled in the second and later scored on a Thomas Mildbrand single for a 3-1 lead.
Jon Laher and Tyler Thicke walked with two outs in the fifth and Laher even- scored on a defensive miscue by Minocqua. Nick Meyer and McMurry doubled to bring in a run in the sixth, making it 5-1. Walks to McMurry and Taylor Reinhardt in the eighth led to runscoring hits by Ben Meyer and Thicke in the eighth.
McMurry and Thicke each went two for four to lead Whittlesey offensively. Nick Meyer and Brandon Loertscher each drew three walks. Reinhardt and Laher both drew two free passes from Minocqua pitching.
The Wood Ducks (2-4), who had a chance to force a tie for third place with an upset, fell to the fifth seed and will visit fourth-seeded Medford in their tournament opener.
