Rib Lake knocks off Minocqua; Trojans, Woodticks have rough outings
THE STAR N EWS
DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL
MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
After a rough start to the Dairyland League baseball season, the Rib Lake Osprey are now rolling heading into their annual July 3 matchup with the Interwald Woodticks.
The Osprey improved to 3-3 in league play Sunday with a 3-2 win over Minocqua, who had entered the game tied for first with the Everest Merchants in the league standings at 4-1.
But the pitching of Austin Edwards and a three-run homer by Steve Mann were enough to knock the Wood Ducks off their perch. All three of Rib Lake’s wins have come against current title contenders. Merrill (4-1) and Marshfield (2-1) were Rib Lake’s other victims since the team’s 0-3 start.
Rib Lake is the home team when it faces Interwald at 6 p.m. Saturday in the annual pre-fireworks matchup which, of course, took a one-year hiatus last year.
Interwald fell to 1-3 with a 12-1 loss to visiting Merrill Sunday in eight innings.
Two big innings were the difference in that contest. Merrill led 2-1 when it scored five runs in the fifth on five hits and an error. A five-run eighth put it away, highlighted by a two-run double from Clay Schutt and a two-run single by Chase Bonnell.
Interwald scored its only run in the bottom of the first, tying the game at 1-1. Michael Borchardt led off with a walk and Matt Mohr and Zack Iverson both singled to load the bases. But Dalton Strebig hit into a double play, which scored the run, and the rally ended when Merrill pitcher Spencer Schneider got James Holliday to fly out.
Interwald left the bases loaded in the fourth as well.
Schneider went seven innings and allowed seven hits and the opening run to pick up the win. He struck out three and walked five. Pete Devine went six innings and took the loss. He struck out one. Jerod Arkola pitched a scoreless seventh before the rough eighth inning.
Peyton Becker and Bonnell each went three for five for the Rangers. Mohr was three for four for the Woodticks, while Jake Borman was two for four.
In the other game played locally Sunday, the short-handed Westboro Trojans were no match for the visiting Tomahawk Titans, who bolted out to an 11-0 lead through two and a half innings and rolled to a 16-2 win in seven innings.
Jacob Jarvensivu’s RBI single off starting pitcher Derek Niemi put Tomahawk on the board in the first. Westboro stranded two in the bottom half and then gave up a three-run double to deep leftcenter by Titan Nick Kahle to fall behind 4-0 in the second.
The Trojans had a chance to get out of a third-inning, bases-loaded jam but a dropped relay throw denied them off a third to home to first, inning-ending double play. Tomahawk made Westboro pay by unloading for seven two-out runs. Kahle drew a bases-loaded walk, Jared Jarvensivu singled in two, Jacob DeMeyer singled in another, Jacob Jarvensivu reached on an error to score one and Caleb Armstrong and Isaac Weber added RBI singles.
Westboro got single runs in the third and fifth innings, but that wasn’t nearly enough to get back in it.
Westboro, now 1-4, visits Medford for another pre-fireworks contest at 6 p.m. on Saturday. The 2-3 Moondogs did not play this weekend.
The Whittlesey Reds (3-2) also did not play. They host Tomahawk Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Westboro leftfielder Nick Steliga quickly gets the ball back to the infield after chasing down a double off the wall during the second inning of Sunday’s 16-2 loss to Tomahawk.
