LAKE MILLS — The Warriors, who trailed by three runs on two separate occasions, rallied late to keep their conference championship aspirations intact.
Leadoff man Cooper Brakmanis singled home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning as Lakeside Lutheran’s baseball team staved off visiting Lake Mills 7-6 in Capitol North play on Thursday.
“Cooper has been a huge spark at the top of our order and came through in a big way today,” Lakeside baseball coach Jake Ziel said.
“Both times we went down by three our kids battled back. The resiliency we showed today was outstanding, and that is what I am most proud of, we continued to battle back.”
Owen Marty drew a seven-pitch walk to open the Warriors’ sixth. Aidan Berg, on a full count, doubled on a line drive to left field for his third hit. After a pop out in foul territory, Brakmanis singled up the middle, plating Marty and Berg without a play at the plate after the ball was slightly bobbled in the outfield.
Phil Becraft pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to earn the save for the Warriors (15-4, 5-2 in conference).
The L-Cats (11-12, 3-5) loaded the bases to start the game, aided by singles from Ty Schaefer and Cooper Murphy. Mason Flood drove in a run on a ground out. Lake Mills’ next two runs came via separate errors in the infield.
Crandon Dwyer doubled to lead off the Lakeside second. He took third on a wild pitch and scored on Berg’s single to left. Brakmanis added a run-scoring sacrifice fly before Tyler Chopp’s RBI single made it 3-all. Chopp finished 3-for-3.
Lake Mills put together its second three-run rally in the fourth. Alex Parys’ sac bunt plated Max Stelter. Schaefer followed with an RBI single and scored on Brody Henderson’s line-shot triple to center, which made it 6-3.
“Brody was having a good night seeing the ball,” Lake Mills baseball coach Adam Hosey said. “He had the timing down there in his third at-bat and was able to give us a good pop there to get that extra run scored.”
Berg hit a first-pitch solo shot to left field with one out in the Lakeside fourth.
“It’s no secret that Aidan has been struggling at the plate,” Ziel said. “He has worked incredibly hard to get out of his funk and came through in a huge way tonight. I am super happy for him.”
In the fifth, the Warriors got within 6-5 on Nolan Meis’ RBI single. A line drive double play ended the frame.
Berg pitched six innings, allowing six runs (one earned) on five hits with four strikeouts, two walks in the decision.
Henderson allowed five runs on nine hits with five strikeouts, three walks in 4 1/3 innings. Hunter Frohmader took the loss, allowing two earned on three hits in 1 2/3 frames.
“Lakeside did a great job of getting a base runner on in every inning,” Hosey said. “Lakeside was putting it where we weren’t and I give them props for that. They did a good job of putting it in play and working counts.”
The plot now thickens for Lakeside, which takes on Columbus in the resumption of a rescheduled game on Monday needing a win to clinch a share of the league crown. The Warriors lead 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning.
”We said in the team huddle as that game was suspended that we needed to make the reschedule count,” Ziel said. “We have done that and given ourselves a chance. It certainly wasn’t easy, but we look forward to that opportunity on Monday.”
The L-Cats, 4-1 winners on Tuesday, hope to carry the positives from these two rivalry games forward.
”We’re right there and in the mix,” Hosey said. “We are putting ourselves in positions to win a game against a top team like this on the road is a good gauge of where we’re at. Some of the pitching we have faced and defensive situations with guys on base we’ve seen is beneficial.
”We capitalized on their mistakes, which is something we’ve been trying to push. We are seeing strikeout numbers drop too. I feel like we’re right there and ready to give the playoffs the best run we can. This group is in a great spot. Keeping confidence pushed through them is big.”
LAKESIDE 7, LAKE MILLS 6Lake Mills 300 300 0 — 6 5 1
Lakeside 030 112 x — 7 12 3
Leading hitters — LM: Schaefer 2x4, Henderson (3B); LL: Chopp 3x3, Meis 2x4, Berg 3x3 (2B, HR), C. Dwyer (2B).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — LM: Henderson 4.1-9-5-4-3-5, Frohmader L; 1.2-3-2-2-1-0; LL: Berg W; 6-5-6-1-2-4, Becraft 1-0-0-0-0-0.
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