The Rib Lake Osprey rallied for a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to break a 3-3 tie and defeat the Tomahawk Titans 4-3 on Friday night. Rib Lake jumped out to an early 2-0 lead by scoring single runs in the first and third innings. Eventually the Titans got the bats going and scored a run in the top of the sixth. Caleb Armstrong and Jacob Jarvensivu drew back to back walks with one out and Armstrong came around to score on Randy Quade’s RBI single to right field. The Titans then tied the score at 2-2 in the top of the seventh inning. Andrew Cook led off with a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Jacob Demeyer’s RBI single to left field.
Tomahawk wasted a golden opportunity in the top of the eighth inning as they got runners to second and third with one out, but failed to score. Rib Lake regained the lead in the bottom of the inning as they used a leadoff walk, a sacrifice bunt, and a couple of rare Titans’ errors to push across the go-ahead run with two outs to make the score 3-2.
Isaac Weber led off the top of the ninth inning with a base hit to left field and Justin Jarvensivu followed with a walk. J. Demeyer delivered a line drive single to left field that was hit too hard for Weber to score so the bases were loaded with no outs. Caleb Armstrong stepped in and delivered a sacrifice fly liner to left-center driving in Weber and knotting the score at 3-3. Jacob Jarvensivu stepped to the plate and scorched a liner to center which appeared to be a sure base hit. However, the Rib Lake center fielder made a terrific diving catch to rob the potential game winning hit and then doubled up the runner at second to end the threat with the score still at 3-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, Ryan Beard came through with a clutch base hit to drive in the winning run for Rib Lake, making the final score 4-3.
Tomahawk outhit Rib Lake 11 to 8, but the Titans left 12 runners on base in the loss. Andrew Cook and Jacob DeMeyer each had two hits to lead Tomahawk’s offense.
The Tomahawk Titans lost another heartbreaker Saturday night as Dairyland League champion, Everest came from behind to get the 4-3 victory in 10 innings. Tomahawk held a 3-2 lead with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth before Everest scored to tie the game and send it to extra innings where they eventually would score again to steal the victory from the Titans.
The Titans outhit Everest 12 to 8, but left 11 runners on base in the defeat. J. DeMeyer went 3-for-3 on the night and Justin Jarvensivu, Kory Brietzke, Jacob Jarvensivu, and Caleb Armstrong each collected two hits.
With the loss, the Titans finish the regular season with a 6-6 record and will now have to wait until this Friday to find out if they qualify for the WBA playoffs.
“Despite losing both games this weekend, we are playing really solid baseball right now at the end of the season,” stated head coach Jack Jarvensivu. “We have proven that we can compete with the best teams in our league and we are anxious to participate in the WBA playoffs if we get a bid.”