The BABA South-Central Division championship has come down to Waupaca and Plover.
The teams will meet for the third time this season at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 17, in Plover in a division final matchup. The winner will move on to the third round of the BABA playoffs against the Eastern Division champion.
Waupaca opened the postseason Aug. 10 with a 5-0 win over Weymont, while Plover handed Scandinavia a 6-1 defeat.
Plover will host the game because the Pterodactyls received the top seed. The Lakemen are a No. 2 seed.
The Lakemen and White Bass combined for only nine hits in the game.
Lakemen pitcher Jeff Riddle got off to a shaky start by going to a 3-2 count on leadoff batter Eric Keenan before plunking him with a pitch. He then settled down and did not walk or hit a batter the rest of the game.
The next White Bass to reach base was Kyle Bosquez on an infield single in the fourth. The next man bounced to Luke Behm at third, but Behm’s throw to second to start a potential double play was high. A fly ball to right and a groundout to short ended that chance.
The second hit for Weymont did not come until the seventh, as Eric Hart lined a clean single to left with two outs. Wes Alix singled and brother Zach was credited with one on his bad-hop bouncer off the body of shortstop Wes Austin with two out on the ninth. With the tying run in the on-deck circle, Riddle got Hart to fly out to deep center field to end the game. Riddle struck out 12 batters, with his best streak coming with all three in the fifth and the first two batters in the sixth.
Wes Alix pitched the first five innings for Weymont and gave up two hits and six walks. He walked Riddle to start the Lakemen first inning, but Riddle was cut down trying to steal. Jason Wanty walked, but two strikeouts kept the scoreboard clean.
Behm led off the second and hit a long opposite-field home run onto the road in left center field to give the Lakemen a 1-0 lead.
Josh Peterson walked to lead off the third and was sacrificed to second by Riddle, but Alix got the next two in order.
The key inning turned out to be the bottom of the fifth. Peterson and Riddle worked Alix for one-out walks. Wanty grounded sharply, but Zach Alix at first dove to get it and toss to Austin for the out with the runners moving up.
David Yeska then hung tough with Alix as he fought off a couple of 1-2 pitches before lining a clean single into right center field that easily plated Peterson and courtesy runner Nate Nelson. That two-out blow gave a little more confidence to the Lakemen and took a bit of the wind out of Weymont.
Matt Brusewitz relieved Alix in the sixth and ended up finishing the game. He retired nine of the 11 batters he faced. Kyle Douglas singled sharply to right center field in the seventh and Andy Wanty, who came on to replace Peterson, doubled off of the left field fence to put two in scoring position. Riddle’s hard-hit sinking liner got under the glove of a diving left fielder for a two-run double. That proved to be the final baserunner of the game for the Lakemen, but the damage had been done.
Waupaca and Plover split their two games earlier this season, with the home team coming out on top.
Immediately following the game, the South-Central will award its trophies for top teams, best pitcher and leading hitters during the regular season.