• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Evansville Jays win in ninth inning

The Evansville Jays were flying high Sunday in Home Talent League baseball.

With a 6-3 win that featured a three-run ninth inning, visiting Evansville knocked Lodi out of a tie for West Division lead in the Southeast Section.

Evansville turned its hard-luck season around, at least for day, by breaking a 3-3 tie in the ninth at Lodi.

Winning pitcher Matt Drefahl provided the ninth-inning spark with a leadoff hit and advanced to second on Kendall Buttchen’s sacrifice. Drefahl scored what proved to be the winning run when Jeremy Rasmussen was safe on a two-base error.

Jon Frey also was safe on an error, which scored Rasmussen. After a single by Josh Copeland, Jerod Steindl singled home the final run.

Steindl was 3-for-4, and Ramussen was 3-for-5 to lead a 10-hit attack that helped lift Evansville to 3-7 in the West. Copeland also had two hits for the Jays.

-- Albion 5, Stoughton 1—Aaron Laskowski led off the game with a triple to ignite Albion’s domination at Stoughton, giving the Tigers (7-3) the West Division lead.

Laskowski scored when Ethan Vaade hit into a fielder’s choice, and Jason Millar’s single gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Millar also drove in Vaade with a sacrifice fly in the third, then picked up his third RBI with a fifth-inning single that gave Albion a 4-0 lead.

Laskowski led off the ninth with a single, stole second and scored the final run when Vaade’s pop-up dropped in for a hit. Mike Nanstad’s complete-game, eight-hit pitching took care of the rest for the Tigers.

Vaade went 3-for-5, while Millar, Jesse Appel and Laskowski each had two of Albion’s 10 hits.

-- Utica 5, Orfordville 1—Alex Pratt, Pat Moore and Zach Jones shared the duties in pitching a four-hitter for Orfordville, but the Orioles (4-6) couldn’t overcome visiting Utica’s two-run rallies in the seventh and ninth innings.

Pratt singled and scored on B.J. Cook’s double to lift Orfordville into a 1-1 tie in the third. Utica finally grabbed the lead for good on Micky Ramsden’s two-run triple in the seventh.

The Orioles then loaded the bases in the eighth but couldn’t score.

-- Fort Atkinson 5, Lake Mills 0—Dan Dean struck out 17 in silencing Lake Mills on three-hit pitching. Brian Wallace had a single, double and two RBIs to spark the Fort Atkinson offense.

-- Jefferson 9, Whitewater 1—Chris Folbrecht doubled in a five-run fifth inning and had four RBIs for the day as Jefferson (8-3) stayed 12 games behind Fort Atkinson in the East. Tom Klug pitched a five-hitter for the victorious Blue Devils.