Westboro’s offense surges late to secure 11-7 win at Rib Lake

DAIRYLAND LEAGUE SMALL

What started as a low-scoring, defensively- driven contest Friday turned 180 degrees in the late innings into a game where outs were hard to get. The Westboro Trojans took better advantage of those opportunities and outscored host Rib Lake 11-7 to improve to 2-0 in the Small Division of the Dairyland Baseball League.

Rib Lake broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth, then the teams traded the lead before Westboro took the lead for good with three runs in the top of the eighth, making it 7-5. The Trojans sent 10 men to the plate in the top of the ninth and scored four runs to go up 11-5 before surviving a bases-loaded threat by the Osprey with minimal damage in the bottom half.

Rib Lake fell to 0-2 with the loss. Westboro outhit Rib Lake 15-10, getting nine of those hits in the last three innings.

Rib Lake seemingly grabbed the momentum in the sixth. The Osprey and pitcher Bryant Konieczny got out of a second-and-third, no-out jam to keep the game tied and then loaded the bases on walks with one out in the bottom half. Austin Edwards singled in the tie-breaking run, but Austin Ewan was thrown out at home by centerfielder Klay Ellenbecker for the second out of the inning. A pop-up got Westboro reliever Willy Johnson out of the inning and gave Westboro a spark.

The Trojans loaded the bases with one out in the seventh and got a game-tying single from Dustin Freeman. Two runs scored on an error on a ball hit by Dakota Willemssen to give them a 4-2 lead. But back came the Osprey after the seventhinning stretch with a two-out RBI single by Levi Ewan and a two-run single on the infield by Steve Mann that bounced to no-man’s land after a diving attempt by shortstop Tucker Kraemer. That gave Rib Lake a 5-4 lead.

But the Trojans took the lead for good in the top of the eighth. Connor Westfall led off with an infield hit and was bunted to second by Johnson. Braxton Weissmiller smacked a triple to deep center to drive in the tying run. Kraemer’s infield hit knocked in Weissmiller with the goahead run. After a couple of errors and a fielder’s choice, Freeman chased home Ellenbecker with a two-out single.

Johnson’s single drove in a run in the ninth, two scored on an error on a ball hit by Ellenbecker and Willemssen was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to widen the lead to six.

Rib Lake loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half, but Marshall Westfall retired Mann on a shallow fly ball to center. An error on a ball hit by Edwards and a Konieczny single drove in single runs, but Westfall got a pop-up to finally end it.

Westfall got the relief win while covering the last 2.1 innings. Butch Wiegel started for Westboro and pitched the first five innings, allowing just one run on six hits. Austin Ewan’s sacrifice fly scored Rib Lake’s first run in the fourth.

Westboro had taken the lead in the top half on Connor Westfall’s two-out RBI single. Konieczny went 6.1 innings for Rib Lake and got a no-decision. He struck out six, hit two and walked one while allowing eight hits. Edwards took the loss while throwing the last 2.2 innings for the Osprey.

Kraemer, Freeman, Wiegel, Marshall Westfall, Connor Westfall and Johnson had two hits apiece for Westboro. Seth Mudgett, Jeff Ziembo, Edwards and Konieczny had two hits each for Rib Lake.

Westboro will look to go 3-0 in the division when it hosts Abbotsford Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Rib Lake makes the very short trip north to Spirit, also with a 1:30 p.m. first pitch.

Spirit dropped its division opener Sunday at Pittsville 12-1. Pittsville (1-1) is in Rib Lake to face the Interwald Woodticks Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Interwald improved to 1-1 by easily handling Medford Saturday night in the Moondogs’ Dairyland and home opener for 2023.

Medford is at Tomahawk Saturday for a 6 p.m. start. The Titans went to 2-0 with a 10-3 win at Abbotsford Sunday.