WBA FINALS - Woodticks win in extras, but Expos’ late rally sinks them

WBA FINALS

The Interwald Woodticks outhit Elmwood 13-7 Saturday afternoon, but the Expos had the biggest hit, a three-run eighth-inning home run by Spencer Trainor that gave them a 6-4 lead and ultimately led to them winning the Wisconsin Baseball Association Division B semifinal contest in Rib Lake by a score of 9-4.

Trainor’s blast followed a double by Mason Dado and a walk to Cody Holden to start the eighth inning. It erased a 4-3 lead Interwald had held since the fifth inning. The three insurance runs by Elmwood in the top of the ninth made sure Interwald’s solid season, which included a 5-2 mark in the Dairyland League’s Small Division, ended at 6-3.

Elmwood, the third seed in the eight-team Finals tournament, went on to lose to its St. Croix Valley League rival, fourth-seeded Osceola, 11-6 in Sunday’s championship game at Whittlesey.

Interwald, the second seed in the Division B finals, took its 4-3 lead with a three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth, answering a two-spot Elmwood put up in the top half of the inning. Two-out walks to Wyatt Sundby and Adam Churchill led to an RBI single by Dado and a successful double steal that also scored a run for Elmwood in that top half.

In the bottom half, Jackson Blomberg hit a leadoff single and moved to second on a Nick Gerstberger groundout. Walks to Craig Scheithauer and Seth Borchardt loaded the bases for David Fliehs, who kept a ground ball just fair down the leftfield line to score two runs. After Logan Blomberg lined out to center, Michael Borchardt’s base hit drove in Fliehs with the go-ahead run.

Interwald had taken a quick 1-0 lead on singles by Jackson Blomberg, Gerstberger and Craig Scheithauer in the first inning. Elmwood tied it with an unearned run in the third.

Elmwood loaded the bases on walks in the ninth and got an RBI groundout from Cody Holden, a single for Trainor for his fourth RBI of the game and a run-scoring groundout from Tyler Churchill. Trainor finished three for five.

Eli Ponath joined Trainor as Elmwood’s stars of the game as he pitched four scoreless innings in relief of starter Cody Holden and got the win. Ponath struck out six, walked one and allowed two hits. Holden was touched for 11 hits and four earned runs while striking out three and walking two in a five-inning start.

After picking up a relief win for Interwald in its first game of the day, Jackson Blomberg covered the first five innings and allowed three hits and three runs, two of which were earned, with six strikeouts, three walks and a hit batter.

Logan Blomberg took the loss. In four innings, he allowed six earned runs on four hits, six walks and three strikeouts.

Jackson Blomberg was three for five, while Dalton Strebig, Scheithauer, Fliehs and Michael Borchardt had two hits apiece.

10-inning win

Craig Scheithauer’s base hit to right through a drawn-in infield finally ended an exciting back-and-forth quarterfinal battle Saturday morning in Whittlesey where the Woodticks escaped with an 8-7, 10-inning win over seventh-seeded New Richmond.

The game wasn’t particularly sharp with a combined 12 errors between the teams, but it was entertaining as both teams had their chances to win it before the game went to an extra inning.

If New Richmond had committed seven errors, the Millers very well may have won 76, but their eighth error, which came in a hotly-debated eighth inning, was a costly one.

The debates wound up canceling each other out. With one down, Jackson Blomberg reached first base on an obstruction call when the throw from third baseman Dan Ragsdale took first baseman Ethan Cook into Blomberg’s path to the base. But Blomberg, after a long discussion amongst the umpires, was ruled out trying to steal second while the Woodticks argued he jumped over the attempted tag by second baseman Corbin Reiling.

Now with two outs and nobody, Interwald kept battling. Talon Scheithauer, in for the injured Matt Mohr, singled and Gerstberger reached on an errant throw by the pitcher on his tapper. Craig Scheithauer walked to load the bases for Carter Scheithauer, who grounded to shortstop Tommy Grygienc. His routine throw to Reiling for a forceout was dropped, allowing the tying run to score. Pitcher Austin Juhl averted further damage by getting Fliehs to hit a grounder to short. This time, the Millers made the force play.

Each team stranded a runner in the ninth. Jackson Blomberg retired New Richmond in order in the 10th, then Talon Scheithauer started another threat by getting hit with a pitch. After failing to get a bunt down, Gerstberger instead cracked a double to the gap in left-center to put the winning run at third base. Instead of an intentional walk, New Richmond chose to face Craig Scheithauer and he pulled a hard-hit grounder past Reiling to win it.

The game started as a pitcher’s duel with Interwald leading 2-1 through five innings. Craig Scheithauer drew the fourth walk issued in the first inning by New Richmond lefty Brayden Cunningham to drive in the first run of the game. Juhl’s two-out RBI single tied it in the top of the fourth and Strebig gave Interwald the lead right back with an RBI double in the bottom half.

The Millers got three hits off Interwald’s Peter Devine in the sixth with Tate Magnuson’s hit driving in a run to tie it. Interwald then seemingly took command with a four-run bottom half. Carter Scheithauer reached on an error, Fliehs walked and Logan Blomberg’s single loaded the bases. After a strikeout, Strebig’s grounder drove in a run, Jackson Blomberg’s double knocked in two and another error on a ball hit by Gerstberger made it 6-2.

New Richmond came right back in the seventh to grab its only lead. Aided by two Interwald errors, the Millers scored five times. Noah Towberman drove one in with a single and Magnuson added a two-run single.

Jackson Blomberg covered the last 3.2 innings to get the win. He struck out four, walked three and allowed four hits and one run. Devine went 6.1 innings in a no-decision, allowing eight hits, six runs, two of which were earned and a walk while striking out two. Interwald had nine hits from eight players with Fliehs going two for four.

Juhl took the relief loss. In three-plus innings, he allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits and a walk. He struck out four and hit one. Cunningham lasted four innings after his wild start. He finished with five walks, two runs and two hits allowed while striking out one. Jacob Hasapopoulos allowed four unearned runs in two innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out two.

Magnuson was two for four with three RBIs. Mark Albright, Towberman and Juhl each had two of New Richmond’s 12 hits.

Interwald pitcher Peter Devine has his eyes on the target set by catcher Jackson Blomberg during the fifth inning of Saturday’s WBA matchup with New Richmond played at Whittlesey. The Woodticks outlasted New Richmond 8-7 in 10 innings to reach the semifinal round of last weekend’s Division B championship tournament. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS