WIOTA — Jared Baumgartner lined a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Wiota Indians walk off with a 5-4 victory over the Shullsburg-Benton Fever in their Home Talent league finale Aug. 16 at Wiota Park.
The Fever loaded the bases in the top of the ninth inning, but couldn’t snap the 4-4 tie as Wiota pitcher Cade Janecke recorded a clutch strikeout for the final out of frame.
Fever reliever Jim Pavlik got the first Wiota batter to ground out in the bottom of the ninth, however he hit Andy Cochran with a pitch and walked Barry Schliem to put the go-ahead run into scoring position.
A wild pitch moved the runners up a base and took off any double-play opportunity, then Baumgartner calmly lined a single to left-center allowing Cochran to trot in for the winning run.
The Fever looked to take the lead early when clean-up hitter Tom Behrens blasted a drive over the Wiota right fielder’s head with runners on first and second base. The Indians got the ball in quick with a pair of on-the-mark relay throws and were able to cut not one but two runners down at the plate as catcher Matthew Riedl slapped the tag on a sliding Connor Crotty for the second out of the inning and then alertly got up and tagged Pavlik — who was right on Crotty’s heels around the base paths — for the third out.
The Fever grabbed the lead in the second inning when shortstop Brooks Tiedeman scored on Nolan Strang’s infield single, then tacked on two more run in the fourth on back-to-back bases-loaded walks by Jeremy Miller and Nathan Hendrickson.
The Indians rallied to even the score at 3-3 in the home-half of the sixth inning. Rooney Janecke plated Baumgartner with a RBI-single, then Tyler Torstenson-Harris followed with a double to plate both Janeckes and tie the game on a fielder’s choice by Mitch Cernek.
The Fever regained the lead in the top of the seventh at 4-3 when former Wiota player Jayson Haldiman walked and scored on a single by Fever starting pitcher Nathan Mowry.
Wiota answered back with a run in the eighth to deadlock the score once more as Baumgartner walked and later scored when Pavlik plunked Cernek with a pitch with the bases loaded.
Cade Janecke earned the win on the mound after working five innings in relief of Baumgartner, allowing a run on four hits and five walks with six Ks. He also went 2-for-4 with a double and a run, while his father, Rooney Janecke, was 2-for-4 with a run and a RBI for the Indians.
Baumgartner finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and the game-winning RBI, and Cernek drove in two runs for the Indians.
Mowry was 2-for-5 with a run and a RBI for the Fever, while Strang went 2-for-3 with a run and Behrens went 2-for-4 at the plate. The Fever walked 13 times in the game with two of those base-on-balls driving in runs and two others coming around to score runs, but they wound up stranding 16 runners on base in the game including three innings where they left the bases loaded.
Mowry gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks with three strikeouts over seven innings of work. Pavlik took the loss in one and a third innings of relief, allowing two runs on a hit, two walks and two hit batters.
