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Unlucky 13th does in Wiota in NL playoffs
HTL Wiota
Wiota’s Jesse Sturtz hammers one of his six hits during Sunday’s doubleheader against Ridgeway. He drove in seven runs, scored four times and earned a pitching victory in game two as the Indians grabbed sole possession of first-place in the Home Talent Western Section South Division with wins of 18-8 and 8-4 over the Cardinals at Wiota Park on July 15. - photo by By Thomas Gunnell

WIOTA — Thirteen was an unlucky number for the Wiota Indians Home Talent League baseball team on Thursday night.

Sauk Prairie scored three runs in the top of the 13th inning to snap a 3-3 tie and held on to defeat the host Indians, 6-4, in a Night League playoff game at Wiota Park on Aug. 9.

The Twins (7-4 Night League) opened the 13th with back-to-back singles by Jacob Pape and Alex Mayer, and then ended a seven-inning scoreless streak on Sam Koenig’s two-run double. Koenig later scored on a groundout by Dylan Slotty to put the guests ahead 6-3.

The Indians (16-12 overall, 7-4 NL) made things interesting in the bottom of the 13th with Matt Keister reaching on an error and scoring to cut the deficit to 6-4. A single by Ben Muhlstein brought the tying run to the plate with just one down, but Twins’ reliever Lucas Koenig got the next two batters on a groundout and a strikeout to end the Wiota threat and the Indians’ season.

Wiota went up 1-0 in the first when Hayden Hardyman singled in Will Schwartz to open the scoring on the night. The Indians added a run in the third with Tyler Torstenson-Harris coming in on an error to extend the lead to 2-0.

The Twins tied the game with two runs in the fourth and plated the go-ahead run in the top of the fifth, but the Indians came back with a run of their own in the home-half of the fifth to deadlock the score at 3-3. Schwartz walked and scored on another Twins’ error to even up the game.

It was nothing but goose eggs for both teams over the next seven innings as neither could put a run across the plate. The Indians stranded the bases loaded in the sixth and had the winning run in scoring position in the seventh to no avail, and then left runners in scoring position in the ninth and 10th innings.

The Indians wound up leaving 15 runners on base for the game, while the Twins left 20 runners on the base paths.

Lucas Koenig picked up the win after allowing one unearned run over the final four innings on one hit with four Ks and no walks. Four Twins pitchers combined to fan 13 Wiota batters in the game.

Tommy Meier (3-1) suffered a tough loss for the Indians, yielding three runs on seven hits over seven and two-thirds of relief work with five walks and three strikeouts.

At the plate, Hardyman finished 3-for-5 with a RBI and Muhlstein went 2-for-6 with a double for Wiota. Brad Solberg added two hits with Schwartz scoring twice and Keister drilling a double for the hosts.

Mayer and Keith Kraemer had two hits apiece for Sauk Prairie.