Glenwood City baseball nips Prentice in final at bat to advance in tournament play
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GLENWOOD CITY — The Hilltoppers needed and got some seventh-inning heroics in last week’s baseball playoff opener.
Heading into its final at bat in the bottom of the seventh inning, Glenwood City (seeded eighth) trailed Prentice (the ninth seed) 5-2 in the pair’s WIAA Division 4 regional quarterfinal contest played on the Toppers’ home field Thursday, May 23.
Much to the delight of the partisan home crowd, the Hilltoppers bats came to life in that due-or-die situation collecting five of their nine game hits and five scores in that final offensive attack to nip the Buccaneers, who had tacked on three runs of their own in the top half of the frame, 6 to 5 to advance to yesterday’s regional semifinal.
Prentice (6-14), out of the Marawood North Conference, took a 1-0 advantage in the top of the first inning courtesy of back-to-back singles and the first of three Glenwood City errors in the game.
The score remained unchanged until the top of the fourth when the Buccaneers added another tally to make it 2-0.
Glenwood City, however, took that run back in its half of that same inning. Steven Booth led off with a base hit, stole second and then advanced to third and home with his team’s first score on back-to-back ground outs by Peyton Theune and Blake Fayerweather.
Theune, who started on the pitching mound and exited after the fifth, got a no decision despite gaving up just two runs on four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts.
Fayerweather took over the throwing duties and pitched a clean sixth inning getting a ground out and a pair of fly ball outs.
But, in the top of the seventh, Fayerweather issued a walk with one out which was followed by a Buccaneer hit and another free pass that loaded the bases. Consecutive errors by the Hilltoppers allowed Prentice to bring three runs to home plate and extended its lead to 5-2 before Fayerweather was able to retire the side with a strikeout and fly out.
With their backs against the proverbial wall in the bottom of the seventh, the Hilltoppers’ answered. Sam Cassellius singled to start the rally, but it looked as if he might be stranded when Caleb Klinger grounded out to short and Jake Wood flew out to left. Corey Strong, however, drew a two-out walk to keep hopes alive. Brock Wood singled to bring Cassellius home. Senior Steven Booth then lined a single to left. A Prentice fielding error on the play allowed both Strong and Brock Wood to reach home to pull the Topper within a run at 5-4. Theune was the next Topper batter and he sliced a double to the gap in right center that brought Booth to plate with the game-tying score. Fayerweather then drew a walk and Brody Riba ended the game with a single that sent Theune home for the 6-5 victory.
Brock Wood finished with three of the Hilltoppers nine hits and had an RBI and scored a run. Booth tallied two hits in four at bats and had a pair of RBIs and scored twice. Theune had that game-tying RBI double and Riba, Cassellius and Jacob Hager each had a single.
Fayerweather earned the pitching victory. He allowed just one hit but three runs, in part due to errors, walked two and struck out a pair.
Glenwood City played at top-seeded Rib Lake (15-5), the Marawood North co-champs along with Abottsford/Colby, in yesterday’s (Tuesday, May 28) regional semifinal. A year ago, the Hilltoppers ten-runned Rib Lake.