Reds walk off Merrill to stay in good position

DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL

The Whittlesey Reds walked away with a Dairyland League win Sunday afternoon, capping a 3-2 win over Merrill with Cody Loertscher’s tie-breaking single in the bottom of the ninth.

Loertscher’s liner over the head of shortstop Trevor Asmundson brought in Tyler Thicke with the winning run. Thicke led off the inning by reaching on a misplayed infield pop-up. He moved to third when Merrill misplayed Jeff Kraschnewski’s fly ball to right and turned it into a single, though Kraschnewski wound up getting thrown out trying to advance to second when the Rangers threw the ball through to third base.

Still, that left Thicke in prime scoring position with one out and Loertscher came through, improving the Reds’ league record to 7-3.

With Saturday’s home game with 1-8 Interwald still to play, Whittlesey is now back in position to earn a share of the 2021 league championship. Everest is the current leader at 8-2, but a loss to Rib Lake on Sunday reeled the Merchants closer to the four teams who can still tie them in the upcom- ing final weekend of league play.

Everest has clinched a title share and holds a one-game lead over the Reds and a 1.5-game lead over 6-3 Marshfield, Minocqua and Wausau. Marshfield’s hopes took a big hit Tuesday night when the Chaparrals gave up three unearned runs in the top of the ninth and lost at home to Merrill 7-6.

Everest’s final game is a tough one with the Wausau River Hawks Friday night. But, with a win, the Merchants would clinch the outright title. If the River Hawks win, things get interesting.

Marshfield is at Medford (4-6) Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and hosts Interwald Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and would tie for first with two wins and an Everest loss.

Wausau needs to beat Everest Friday and win at Westboro (1-8) Sunday to earn a piece of the title. Minocqua needs an Everest loss and wins over visiting Westboro Saturday in a noon game and visiting Pittsville (2-7) on Sunday to get its share.

Everest, Marshfield, Whittlesey, Minocqua, Wausau and Merrill are assured of winning records in the 12-team league and are all in the mix to receive bids for this year’s expanded 36-team Wisconsin Baseball Association post-season tournament, which starts Friday, Aug. 13.

Rib Lake and Tomahawk sit at 5-5 and are still in consideration. Merrill and Tomahawk meet Saturday at 6 p.m. A Tomahawk win would put the Titans into playoff consideration. Rib Lake would have an argument as well if it can win Saturday afternoon in Pittsville in those teams’ first-ever league matchup.

Reds 3, Rangers 2

As for this past Sunday’s game in Whittlesey, the Reds’ Cade Alexander, Brandon Loertscher and Thicke held the potent Rangers’ offense in check, allowing the Reds to scratch out just enough offense to win it.

Nick Meyer singled and scored as the Reds’ first four hitters reached base against Merrill starter Shawn Schultz in the first inning. The Reds didn’t score again until the seventh, falling behind 2-1 in the third on an RBI single by Casey Smith and a sacrifice fly by Garrett Pagel.

The Reds actually let a chance to break the game open in the seventh get away. Darren Leonhardt greeted reliever Chase Bonnell with an opposite-field double to the leftfield corner and Meyer reached on an errant throw on his sacrifi ce bunt. Thicke and Kraschnewski walked to force in a run and keep the bases loaded with no outs. But Bonnell finally found his groove, striking out two hitters and getting Taylor Reinhardt to pop up and keep the game tied for the time being.

Thicke got the win by pitching a scoreless ninth. Bonnell took the tough-luck loss as his defense let him down in the ninth.

Meyer was two for four, Kraschnewski was three for three with a walk and was hit by a pitch and Cody Loertscher was two for four.

This Saturday’s home game with Interwald starts at 2:30 p.m.

Medford 9, Interwald 0

In the lone matchup of the weekend between local squads, Brett Paul threw eight shutout innings and launched a three-run homer to lead the visiting Moondogs to a 9-0 win late Sunday afternoon over Interwald in Rib Lake.

Paul allowed just four hits from the Woodticks, struck out eight, walked none and never allowed more than one base runner in an inning.

The Moondogs scratched their way to a 3-0 lead before breaking it open in the top of the fifth. Justin Janikowski hit a one-out single off Interwald starter Pete Devine and Seth Mudgett reached on an error. Trenton Woebbeking singled to plate Janikowski. After a Mike Delzer fielder’s choice Paul launched his home run to extend the lead to 7-0.

Michael Quednow hit a two-run single in the second to get Medford on the board. Mudgett tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the third. Janikowski doubled and scored on Delzer’s single in the seventh and Delzer’s ninth-inning single knocked in Mudgett.

Janikowski was two for four out of the ninth spot in the order, Mudgett was two for five out of the top spot and Paul was two for four.

Rib Lake splits

The Rib Lake Osprey split its weekend games with Dairyland contenders at Tannery Creek Park. First, the team lost 5-2 to Wausau Friday in the make-up date of a July 10 postponement.

The Osprey won in exciting fashion Sunday, beating Everest 6-5 in 10 innings on Austin Zondlo’s walk-off walk.

Rib Lake improved to 5-5 after starting 0-3 in league play.

Pittsville 4, Westboro 0

In Westboro Sunday, the host Trojans outhit Pittsville 7-4 but the River Bandits turned three of the 12 walks it received into runs in their 4-0 win.

Nathan Dupee scored two of the runs and walked five times as the Bandits won their second league game of the season. Dupee scored on a Ryan Schwanebeck single in the fifth for the game’s first run. Justin Rayburn’s single knocked in two in the sixth and an unearned run in the eighth closed the scoring.

Rayburn threw the shutout, striking out three and walking none. Brant Johnson was three for four for Westboro, while Derek Niemi was two for four.

Cole Loertscher raises his arm in celebration while Tyler Thicke scores the gamewinning run on Loertscher’s single in the bottom of the ninth inning in Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Merrill.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS