BELLEVILLE — After an 8-7 win over Belleville on Tuesday, New Glarus completed the season sweep with a 7-6 win on Thursday, May 4. Each team pounded out 10 hits, and the Wildcats left the tying run on second base in the bottom of the seventh with their leadoff batter up to bat.

“It’s Belleville and New Glarus. They’ve all been tight games. It’s a rivalry,” New Glarus head coach Christopher Rear said.  “Kids compete and they don’t give up. Every pitch matters, every out matters, every run matters. We just happen to get lucky today to come up with the big hit and they didn’t.”

Owen Palmer’s RBI single proved to be the game winner, as he scored Ethan Friedrich who led off the inning with a hit by pitch.

“I didn’t do great until that last at-bat — I didn’t even do great in that at-bat. I was just trying to protect myself,” Palmer said. “The rest of the team did amazing — pitching was great.”

Neither team scored until the second inning, though, as Zander Hauser hit a bloop single that scored Patrick Alt.

New Glarus’s defense nearly kept the bottom half of the frame clean, as it executed a sacrifice bunt for the first out. With a runner on third, Brennan Keyes grounded to third baseman Alt. Brett Olson ran on contact and was thrown out in a pickle. Starting pitcher Leyton Mihlbauer induced a grounder to end the inning, but Alt bobbled at third, allowing Brennan Keyes to score. In the next at-bat Kaden DeSmet lined an RBI single to center.

The Knights regained the lead in the top of the third with a two-out double from Easton Dreyfus, followed by an RBI single from Alt. The lead didn’t last long though, as Belleville tied the game at three with an RBI double from Logan Derke.

After a quiet fourth inning, New Glarus took a 6-3 lead in the fifth. Leyton Mihlbauer led off the inning with a single. Ashlin Mihlbauer then moved him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, and Dreyfus and Friedrich came through with RBI singles.

The Knights traded outs for a run in the fifth, as Devin Frydenlund scored on a grounder to Alt. Belleville tied the game at six in the bottom of the sixth, though. Relief pitcher Matt Roth walked Isaac McKinley and DeSmet reached on an outfield error. Aidan Keyes then lined an RBI single to left. He got caught in pickle trying to extend his single to a double, which distracted the Knight defense, allowing DeSmet to scamper home.

With a tie game, going up for its last at-bats, the New Glarus offense came up big. Friedrich was hit by the pitch, sending Palmer to the plate. His first two attempts to lay down a sacrifice bunt went foul, but he still delivered a two-strike RBI single to right. The Wildcats limited the damage, escaping the inning with a 5-3-4 double play.

Belleville drew two walks in the bottom of the seventh, putting the tying run in scoring position, but leadoff hitter DeSmet lined out to center to end the game.

Each team tallied 10 hits, with three total extra-base hits. The box score looked similar to Tuesday, where Belleville recorded 13 hits to New Glarus’s eight. Knight starting pitcher Leyton Mihlbauer anticipated a big game, and his instincts proved right.

“I knew it was going to be a battle,” Leyton Mihlbauer said. “I knew I had to bring my best stuff. I had a lot of trust in my guys to make plays behind me, which they did. I was proud of them. I knew I could throw any pitch I needed to to strike them out or make them ground out or fly out.”

Leyton Mihlbauer pitched five solid innings in his start, giving up four unearned runs on eight hits. At the plate, he led the offense, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Dreyfus and Hauser also recorded a multiple hit game, while Roth collected the win.

For Belleville, DeSmet, Frydenlund and Olson had two hits each. Frydenlund suffered the loss.

With the win, New Glarus moved to 5-1 in the Capitol South, while Belleville fell to 2-4.

“To win the week and take two from a conference rival when you’re in the hunt for a conference title is huge,” Rear said. “We finished 4-1 in the first half of the conference season and started the second half 1-0. It’s a good stepping stone. We have a big week ahead of us.”

New Glarus faces Cambridge, who is also 5-1 in conference, twice this week. Rear knows his offense is more than capable of winning games, but he knows his defense could improve.

“We are still looking to grow,” Rear said. “The focus from here on out is defense. Defense has given us some issues and is keeping teams in games.”