Lakers ousted from WBA playoffs

HAYWARD -- The Superior Lakers were eliminated from the Wisconsin Baseball Association playoffs with a 12-2 loss to the Menomonie Eagles Sunday afternoon at Larry Somerville Field in Hayward.

The Lakers advanced to the “Sweet 16” with a 7-3 win over the Minocqua Wood Ducks Friday night in Hayward.

Superior’s season ends with an overall record of 14-3. The Lakers also won the Upper 13 League regular season championship with a 10-1 record.

Menomonie, which advanced to play Superior with a 7-6 win over Wausau, will now play the winner of Osceola and La Crescent in the quarterfinals of the WBA State tournament at 10 a.m. Saturday in Osseo.

The tournament also features three other Upper 13 League teams in the 32-squad field — the Duluth Padres, Twin Ports North Stars and Ashland C&S Design Protractors.

The WBA consists of 62 teams in six leagues and the top 32 teams qualify for the playoffs. The semifinals are being held through Sunday at four sites in Rib Lake, Hayward, Haugen and Osceola.

Eagles 12, Lakers 2, 8 innings

Thanks to just five hits, four errors, three hit batters, three wild pitches and Zach Watkins’ two-run home run, the Eagles took a 10-0 lead on the Lakers in the first inning.

Dan Nelson took over in the second inning for Superior and didn’t allow a run until Menomonie ended the game via the 10-run rule with a pair of runs in the eighth inning.

Superior’s first run came on Adam Zwak’s RBI ground out in the third inning.

The Lakers scored again in the fifth when Nelson singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Superior also got singles from Kellen McCoshen and Stocke.

Menomonie had 13 hits, led by Matt Guida, who was 4-for-4 with two doubles. Jake Lunow added a pair of RBI singles and Santiago Morales singled twice and knocked in a run.

Tyler Hamann was the winning pitcher, allowing five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.

Stocke and Nelson pitched for the Lakers, finishing with two strikeouts and three walks.

Menomonie advanced to the Superior game with a 7-6 win over Wausau on Saturday afternoon.

Lakers 7, Wood Ducks 3

Zwak was the winning pitcher in Friday’s win over Minocqua, tossing a three-hitter and striking out 18 batters in nine innings. Zwak also had two hits, including a two-run single. McCoshen chipped in a two-run single of his own, and Orry Engebretsen went 3-for-4 with two doubles. All three players are Minnesota Duluth baseball players.

Superior took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Kyle Hoffman’s RBI single scored Engebretsen, who walked, stole second and moved to third on Taylor Olson’s ground out.

The Lakers took a 5-0 lead in the sixth inning with four unearned runs and them made it 7-2 in the eighth on Zwak’s two-run single.

The Wood Ducks scored twice in the eighth inning and once in the ninth.

Zwak struck out the side in the first, second, sixth, seventh and ninth innings. All three runs he allowed were unearned. The only trouble he got into was in the eighth inning when Minocqua scored on a bases-loaded hit by pitch and a sac fly.

In other action:

The Whittlesey Reds defeated the Duluth Padres 12-8 and Haugen downed Ashland C&S Design 15-1.

Winners of Sunday’s games advance to the eight-team WBA Finals, being held Aug. 17-19 at Osseo.

Visit the WBA website at www.wisconsinbaseball.org for more information.

Hayward 10, Twin Ports 2

Aaron Martin struck out 14 to lead the Hawks past the North Stars Saturday night in Hayward.

Both Twin Ports run came unearned in the first inning, while the Hawks had eight hits, including five for extra bases, and drew nine walks.

Connor Sabin and Kyle Cummings each had three RBIs for the Hawks (20-9), who went on to lose to Prescott on Sunday.

Reds 12, Padres 8

The Padres led 4-1 early against the Reds, but Whittlesey scored three runs to tie it in the third and plated five runs in the fourth to take the lead for good. Duluth, down 12-5, rallied for three runs in the ninth inning.

Duluth finished the season 12-15 overall.

Wisconsin Baseball Association

State Tournament

At Osseo

Friday, Aug. 17

Whittlesey Reds vs. Haugen Knights, 6:30 p.m.

Chaseburg-Coon Valley Blues vs. Prescott Pirates, 9 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 18

Osceola Braves vs. Menomonie Eagles, 10 a.m.

Everest Merchants vs. Ellsworth Hubbers, 1 p.m.

Whittlesey-Haugen winner vs. CCV-Prescott winner, 4 p.m.

Osceola-Menomonie winner vs. Everest-Ellsworth winner, 7 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 19

Championship Game

Semifinal winners, noon

Wisconsin Baseball Association Playoffs

At Osceola

Friday’s Result

Osceola Braves 1, Spooner Cardinals 0

Saturday’s Game

Lacrescent Cardinals 3, Whitehall Wolves 1

Sunday’s Game

Osceola 1, Lacreseent 0

At Haugen

Friday’s Result

Haugen Knights 15, Ashland C&S Design 1

Saturday’s Game

Hallie Eagles 6, La Crosse 35ers 2

Sunday’s Game

Haugen 8, Hallie 7

At Hayward

Friday’s Result

Superior Lakers 7, Minocqua Wood Ducks 3

Saturday’s Game

Menomonie Eagles 7, Wausau River Hawks 6

Sunday’s Game

Menomonie 12, Superior Lakers 12, 8 innings

At Rib Lake

Saturday’s Games

Whittlesey Reds 12, Duluth Padres 8

Sparta Millers 7, Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks 5

Sunday’s Game

Whittlesey 14, Sparta 3

At Osceola

Saturday’s Games

Ellsworth Hubbers 8, Eau Claire Bears 3

River Falls Flying Fish 12, Bruce Belters 2

Sunday’s Game

Ellsworth 5, River Falls 4, 10 innings

At Haugen

Saturday’s Games

Tilden Tigers 5, Brill Millers 2

Chase-Coon Valley Blues 18, New Richmond Millers 4

Sunday’s Game

CCV 4, Tilden 3

At Hayward

Saturday’s Games

Prescott Pirates 12, Taylor County Sausage 2

Hayward Hawks 10, Twin Ports North Stars 2

Sunday’s Game

Prescott 8, Hayward 3

At Rib Lake

Friday’s Result

Cumberland Lumberjacks 3, Rib Lake Lakers 2, 12 innings

Saturday’s Game

Everest Merchants 15, Osseo Merchants 5

Sunday’s Game

Everest 11, Cumberland 0