Wausau closes in on second place; tough weekend for local teams

DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL

Rib Lake’s Legion baseball team did not score until the final inning of the night and was swept in a home doubleheader with Marathon last Thursday. Marathon took the seven-inning opener 7-0 behind six shutout innings from Tyler Underwood and three-run rallies in the first and third innings. Marathon won the five-inning second game 9-2, thanks to a seven-run first-inning rally. Brady Heiser’s two-run single in the fifth accounted for Rib Lake’s offensive production. Left: Rib Lake catcher Jordan Yanko can’t quite come up with a foul pop-up hit that drops right along the fence near the first base dugout during game two. Above: After taking over for starter Logan Blomberg, Dalen Gebauer delivers a pitch during the sixth inning of game one. Rib Lake is scheduled to play at Merrill tonight, Thursday, and then end the summer season Tuesday by hosting Spencer at 6 p.m.

The Wausau River Hawks put themselves in position to lock up a top-two finish in Division A of the Dairyland League baseball standings with an 8-1 win over Rib Lake Sunday at Wausau West High School.

Adam Bever hit a two-run homer late for the River Hawks, John Roberts hit two run-scoring doubles and Jordan Huehnerfuss pitched eight strong innings to push Wausau to a 7-2 league record and a 1.5-game lead over 6-4 Rib Lake in the division.

It was Wausau’s second win of the weekend. The River Hawks also beat Spirit 12-1 in seven innings on Saturday.

Everyone in the division continues to trail the Everest Merchants, who went to 8-0 with a 12-1 win over visiting Interwald Friday night.

Rib Lake hung close with Wausau until the bottom of the sixth. Wausau took the lead on a run-scoring single by Huehnerfuss in the third, but the Osprey tied it in the fifth. Tucker Phillips bunted for a one-out hit, moved to second on an errant pickoff throw and scored when Levi Ewan dumped a double into rightcenter, just out of the reach of Wausau centerfielder Wes Sneieder.

The tie didn’t last long. Wausau forged back ahead 3-1 in the bottom half on Roberts’ first double and an RBI single by Travis Lang. Ewan relieved Rib Lake starter Bryant Konieczny in the bottom of the sixth and was one out away from getting out of a jam, but a wild pitch scored a run, Roberts drilled his second double with this one hitting the top of the fence in right and an errant throw on a stolen base brought in the third run to make it 6-1. Bever hit his homer in the eighth.

Huehnerfuss struck out 11 Osprey hitters, walked only one and allowed six hits. Roberts struck out three and allowed an infield hit to Tucker Phillips in the ninth.

Konieczny went 5.1 innings for Rib Lake and was charged with the loss. He allowed six hits and three earned runs. He struck out seven, walked two and hit one. Ewan struck out three, walked four and allowed three hits and four runs in 2.2 innings.

Jeff Ziembo was two for two with a double for Rib Lake, who finishes divisional play with two key games this weekend. First, Rib Lake goes to Everest for a 7:30 p.m. first pitch on Friday.

Wausau is in Rib Lake Sunday to play the Interwald Woodticks (5-6) first at noon, followed by a rematch with Rib Lake.

Everest and Wausau still have a game to make up. Everest also hosts Medford at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The Moondogs (3-8) had a tough day Sunday, falling 14-1 and collecting just one hit in a seven-inning loss at Minocqua (6-5).

In Division B, Wisconsin Rapids locked up first place by improving to 10-0 and beating Pittsville 6-3 on Sunday. The RedHawks also beat the River Bandits 1-0 on July 13. Rapids and Westboro postponed their Saturday game.

Merrill routed Tomahawk 15-5 in seven innings Saturday to tie Whittlesey for second place at 8-3. Whittlesey did not have a league game, but did beat Minocqua 11-3 in a non-league game Saturday. The Reds are at Pittsville (2-9) Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Westboro (2-8) is scheduled to host Merrill Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Once all the divisional games are played, hopefully by the end of the weekend, divisional crossover matchups will be determined for Saturday, July 30. The results of those games will determine the seeding order of the Dairyland teams that will qualify for the Wisconsin Baseball Association tournament.

Like last year, the tournament will start with 36 teams placed in 12 roundrobin pools of three teams each. District play will take place at six sites –– Marshfi eld, Merrill, River Falls, Ellsworth, Haugen and Tilden. There are 54 teams playing this summer in the six leagues that make up the WBA.

Chippewa River Baseball League As of July 17 Tilden 15-2 Osseo 12-2 Eau Claire Bears 11-5 Chippewa Falls 10-6 Eau Claire Cavaliers 9-7 Jim Falls 8-7 Eau Claire Rivermen 7-9 Cadott 3-12 Beef River 3-14 Bloomer 1-15 Independent League As of July 17 Spooner 7-1 Hayward 5-3 Brill 5-4 Haugen Knights 4-6 Haugen Hornets 1-8 St. Croix Valley As of July 17 River Falls 11-2 Prescott 10-4 Hudson 9-5 Plum City 9-5 Ellsworth 8-6 Elmwood 7-6 Spring Valley 6-7 Osceola 5-7 Bay City 2-13 New Richmond 1-13 Upper 13 As of July 17 Tony 7-1 Glidden 5-3 Lake Superior 3-2 Washburn 4-3 Ashland 4-4 Tri-County 3-3 Iron City 2-6 Grand View 1-7 Mississippi Valley Some results missing from last week Holmen 10-0 Sparta 5-2 LaCrescent 5-5 Viroqua 4-4 Norwalk 4-4 La Crosse 3-6 Bangor 0-10