BENTON — Argyle defeated Shullsburg/Benton Fever on back-to-back days to knock the Fever out of their first-place tie atop the Western Section South Division in Home Talent Sunday League play.
Argyle edged the visiting Fever, 5-3, in a make-up game at the Beaver Dam in Argyle on Saturday, July 14, and then the Beavers traveled to Benton’s Swift Park on Sunday, July 15, to take down the Fever, 4-1, in extra innings behind a no-hitter by pitcher Hogan Edwards to move into sole possession of second-place in the South Division standings.
Wiota swept co-leading Ridgeway in a doubleheader on Sunday to remain alone atop the South at 8-5, while the Beavers jumped into second at 8-6. Shullsburg/Benton and Ridgeway both dropped from a tie for first to fourth at 6-7 as they fell behind Blanchardville at 6-6 with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
Edwards had himself quite a day in Benton on Sunday afternoon as he held the Fever hitless over 10 innings to earn the victory on the mound, and he secured the win for himself and the Beavers by blasting the go-ahead, two-run home run in the top of the 10th inning.
Edwards and his Fever counterpart, Nathan Hendrickson, were tossing donuts on the scoreboard to start the day as the two teams went into the ninth inning deadlocked at 0-0.
The Beavers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the ninth when Brent Ritschard singled home Alec Treuthardt, but the Fever (11-8 overall, 6-7 SL) struck back for a run of their own in the bottom of the ninth when Gage Lueder walked and came in thanks to a dropped third strike with two out to even the game at 1-1.
Drew Nafzger walked with one down to put the go-ahead run on base and Edwards followed with a dinger to put the Beavers into the lead to stay. Lance Rossing also scored for Argyle in the 10th to extend the lead to 4-1.
The Fever got a pair of one-out walks to bring the tying run to the plate, but Edwards coaxed a ground out and a pop out to end the game.
Edwards walked five batters and fanned eight in the no-hitter.
Rossing went 2-for-4 with a run for the Beavers.
Nathan Mowry (0-1) took the loss in relief for the Fever, allowing three runs on two hits with three walks and a strikeout in the 10th. Hendrickson surrendered just one unearned run on five hits over nine innings with eight Ks and a walk.
At Argyle on Saturday, Dylan Schwitz scored three runs and Edwards drove in two more as the Beavers nipped the Fever by a score of 5-3.
Schwitz tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nafzger to put the Beavers up 1-0 in the first inning, and then Edwards came through with a clutch two-run single with down in the third inning to lift the hosts into a 4-0 lead.
The Fever closed the gap to 4-3 after scoring twice in the fourth on a single by Lueder and once in the fifth on a RBI-double by Jayson Haldiman, but the guests could not get any closer as they stranded 10 runners on base in the game.
Treuthardt bunted in Schwitz for an insurance run in the seventh inning to make the final score 5-3.
Starter Kris Rieder earned the win after going six and a third innings to start the game and allowing three runs– one earned– on three hits with seven Ks and eight walks. Logan Weckerly notched the save with two and two-thirds perfect innings in relief.
Justin Crotty (4-4) took the loss for the Fever after yielding four runs on seven hits over six innings of work with eight Ks and one walk.
Schwitz, Rossing and Edwards each had two hits for Argyle.
At Benton, on Wednesday, July 4, pitcher Jacob Berendes struck out 11 batters en route to a complete-game shutout, while Jayson Haldiman drove in a pair of runs as the Fever remained atop the South Section Night League standings at 5-1 following a 4-0 win over Blanchardville.
Haldiman had a RBI-single in the first inning and drove in another run with a groundout in the fifth.
Chris Trejo added a RBI-single in the sixth, and Joey Hartwig has hit by a pitch and later scored on an error in that same inning to put the Fever ahead 4-0.
Joe Cox went 3-for-4 for the Fever. Drew Schliem doubled for one of the Bullets’ three hits.
Shullsburg/Benton heads to Wiota for a Night League contest on Thursday, July 19, starting at 7:30 p.m.
On Sunday, July 22, the Fever has a doubleheader scheduled at Ridgeway, beginning at 12 p.m.
