Westboro scores first but never again
DAIRYLAND LEAGUE DIVISION B
The Westboro Trojans scored first and held a 1-0 lead for three innings before the Merrill Rangers caught them and eventually passed them in a 4-1 final Sunday afternoon in Westboro.
The loss combined with a forfeit to the first-place Rapids RedHawks put Westboro at 2-10 in the final Division B standings of the Dairyland League for the 2022 season. That slots the Trojans into the sixth-place game of this weekend’s Dairyland League crossovers, where they were scheduled to play at Medford.
Westboro got six hits off Merrill’s top pitcher, Spencer Schneider, and had one other scoring chance in the sixth that went unfulfilled. Four of the team’s six hits came in the first and sixth innings.
In the first, Tanner Hraby lined a ball to the gap in right-center and raced to third with a one-out triple. He scored on Dustin Freeman’s ground ball to shortstop. Butch Wiegel reached on an error and Matt Krueger singled after that, but no more runs were scored.
With the game tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Westboro got singles from Hraby and Wiegel but couldn’t get a third hit to push the go-ahead run across.
Merrill tied the game by turning an error and a Chase Bonnell double into a run in the top of the fifth. The Rangers broke the tie in the seventh, loading the bases with two outs for Brad Kanitz, who came through with a two-run double. Merrill added an unearned run in the eighth and improved to 9-3 in the division, good for a second-place tie with Whittlesey.
Merrill will play in the third-place crossover game against either Wausau or Minocqua this weekend.
Merrill had 10 hits off Westboro pitchers JV Castillo and Hraby, who combined to strike out six batters and walk eight. Connor Westfall and Colby Elsner added hits for the Trojans.
Also in Division B last weekend, Whittlesey clinched its second-place spot with an 8-0 shutout win at Pittsville Sunday. The Reds will host the second-place crossover game against Minocqua on Saturday afternoon. Rapids clinched a 12-0 run through the division in its debut season in the Dairyland League with an 11-6 win at Marshfield (5-7) Sunday.
