Tough weekend for local baseball teams in the Dairyland League

DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL

Local teams struggled against out-ofcounty opponents over the weekend in Dairyland League baseball.

In a Saturday afternoon game featuring upper-division teams in the standings, the Marshfield Chaparrals nickeled and dimed their way to a 6-2 win over visiting Whittlesey at Jack Hackman Field. Using 15 hits –– all singles –– the Chaps built a 4-1 lead with four single-run innings and then put the game away with a two-run eighth after the Reds had pulled within 4-2.

Marshfield improved to 4-1 to stay among the league leaders, while Whittlesey slipped to 4-3.

Whittlesey got just six hits off Marshfi eld pitchers Bobby Pilz and Caleb Krommenakker with just one going for extra bases. That was Nick Meyer’s double to lead off the game. He scored on a sacrifi ce fly by Brandon Loertscher to give the Reds a short-lived 1-0 lead. Marshfield tied it in the bottom half on Luke Wirtz’s RBI single. Isaiah Baierl gave the Chaps the lead with an RBI single in the fourth.

Nathan Krommenakker singled in one in the fifth and two singles led to Riley Boushak’s RBI fielder’s choice in the sixth. Jeff Kraschnewski and Cade Alexander drew one-out walks in the eighth for Whittlesey. Kraschnewski scored on an errant throw as the Chaparrals tried to turn a double play. But that was the only run the threat produced.

Marshfield loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth and got a sacrifice fly from Jake Earll and a runscoring fielder’s choice from Baierl to close out the scoring.

Whittlesey got two hits apiece from Cody Loertscher and Derek Nichols. Brandon Loertscher got the start on the pitching mound and went 4.2 innings, allowing three runs, 12 hits and four walks while striking out three. Alexander covered the final 3.1 innings, allowing three runs, three hits and three walks while striking out one.

Wirtz was four for four at the plate for Marshfield.

The teams also played a seven-inning, non-league game to complete a doubleheader. Whittlesey won that one 7-1 be- hind the one-hit pitching of Nick Retterath, who worked around six walks and struck out four in five innings. Baierl got the only hit off him, leading off the bottom of the first. Meyer closed things out, striking out two and walking one while allowing an infield hit to Baierl in the seventh.

Whittlesey took the lead when Nichols drew a bases-loaded walk in the third. Singles by Retterath and Jon Laher led to RBI singles by Meyer and Tyler Thicke in the fourth. Nathan Krommenakker’s sacrifice fly put Marshfield on the board in the bottom of the fourth, but Whittlesey sealed it with a four-run seventh. Thicke singled and Cody Loertscher walked. Thicke scored when the Chaps threw the ball away on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Nichols. With one out, John McMurry singled in a run. Laher and Darren Leonhard drew bases-loaded walks.

Thicke had three of Whittlesey’s 11 hits. Meyer, Laher and Retterath had two each.

Whittlesey is at Rib Lake for a key league contest Friday at 7:30 p.m. and then is at Medford for a 1:30 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.

Merrill 5, Westboro 4

A four-run second inning put Merrill ahead, then the Rangers had to hold a depleted but determined Westboro squad 5-4 on the Trojans’ home field Sunday.

Butch Weigel’s three-run homer well over the rightfield fence on a 2-2 pitch from Merrill’s Spencer Schneider drew the home team within one. Westboro got the tying run on in the ninth but was unable to advance a man past first and fell to 1-6 in league play.

Merrill stayed among the leaders by improving to 5-2.

Wiegel and the Trojans recovered after a rough second inning to make a game of it. Schneider singled to lead off the second, Clay Schult doubled and Chase Bonnell drove in Schneider with a ground ball. An error on a ball hit by Trevor Asmundsen scored a run. Peyton Becker’s two-out, two-run double capped the inning.

Westboro worked out of jams in the third and fourth innings and got on the board in the fifth when Cameron Diedrich doubled and Tucker Kraemer singled. Casey Hoffman’s two-out RBI singled in the sixth put Merrill back up by four. Marshall Westfall got Westboro’s seventh-inning rally started with a single and Kraemer added his third hit of the day before Wiegel homered.

Wiegel went the distance on the hill, working around 13 hits and one walk. He struck out one. Diedrich added two hits.

Westboro is at Everest Friday at 7 p.m. In another scheduling note, Wausau announced it will host a make-up game with the Trojans on Sunday, Aug. 1.

Minocqua 8, Interwald 3

A six-run rally in the sixth broke a 2-2 tie and sent the Minocqua Wood Ducks to an 8-3 win over host Interwald Sunday afternoon.

Interwald tied the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. Dalton Strebig walked and Matt Mohr singled. Two errors and a single by Nick Gerstberger brought the runners around.

But Minocqua (5-2) took over in the sixth, starting with base hits by Trevor Roszczewski and Tom Lorenzen. With two outs, Zach Peterson was hit by a pitch to load the bases and a throwing error on a ball hit by Ben Tilley scored two run. Nathan Hopkins singled in two more. After Willy Augustyne doubled, Peter Aerts blooped a single into right to score the last two runs of the inning.

Left-handers Peterson, who went five innings, and Hopkins limited Interwald to five hits and five walks. Gertsberger had three hits, including a seventh-inning double that drove in Strebig, who had reached on an error. Strebig had a hit and drew three walks while reaching base all five times he batted. Peter Devine went six innings and took the loss. Jerod Arkola pitched three scoreless relief innings allowing a walk and two hits while striking out one.

The Woodticks are at Tomahawk Saturday for a 6 p.m. first pitch.

Tomahawk 6, Medford 2

Medford got a first-inning run Saturday night but couldn’t do any more damage against starter Eli Wurl, who led the Tomahawk Titans to a 6-2 home win over the Moondogs at Kahle Memorial Field.

Mike Delzer’s single drove in Seth Mudgett for the game’s first run in the top of the first. Wurl threw six scoreless innings after that. Caleb Armstrong covered the last two innings and allowed a ninth-inning run that was too little, too late for Medford, who fell to 3-4 in the league standings.

Tomahawk got an RBI single from Jacob DeMeyer in a two-run third that put the Titans in front for good. Jacob Jarvensivu’s two-run single in the seventh was the clinching shot as the Titans improved to 4-4 to remain in the middle of the Dairyland pack.

Medford is scheduled to host Minocqua Friday at 7:30 p.m. before hosting Whittlesey on Sunday.

Westboro rightfielder Derek Niemi catches a fly to retire Merrill’s Casey Hoffman and end the top of the fourth inning in Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the Rangers.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS