Indees finish regular season with two wins, second in DC

The Independence/Gilmanton baseball team outscored two Dairyland Conference opponents a combined 19-2 as they closed the regular season with two wins and locked up a tie for second place in the conference standings.

The Indees were in control for most of both games as they beat Melrose-Mindoro, 6-1, on Monday and Pepin/Alma, 13-1, on Tuesday. That gave them a final regular season record of 12-7 and a conference mark of 13-5, tied with Whitehall — a team I/G beat twice this season — for second place.

A new season began for the third-seeded Indees on Tuesday of this week as they hosted (6) Port Edwards in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association regional semifinal. The winner of that game will likely play at (2) Pittsville in the regional final on Wednesday. 

The sectional round is set for this coming Tuesday at Blair-Taylor. DC champion Eleva-Strum is the top seed on that half of the sectional bracket, while Seneca is the highest seed on the lower half. 

I/G 6 Mel-Min 1

The Indees put the game away with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

I/G led throughout the game, scoring in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Nathan Pyka. Pyka brought home another run with an RBI groundout in the third and Hunter Guenther made the score 3-0 with an RBI groundout in the fifth.

The Mustangs got life with a run in the top of the sixth, but the Indees responded with three in the bottom half. The first was scored by Tyler Kingsbury on a passed ball then Carlos Montalvo scored on a groundout by Carlos Flores and Xavier Santillian scored on a groundout by Carson Rajkowski. 

The Indees had eight hits in the game as Guenther and Kingsbury both had two. 

Guenther was the winning pitcher, striking out 15 while allowing three hits and one walk. 

I/G 13 P/A 1

The Indees took an early lead then broke the game open with eight runs combined in the final two innings. 

Three straight hits helped the Indees get on the board in the second inning before Santillian doubled home two, making the score 3-0. Two more runs, including an RBI single by Eric Rojas-Lopez, scored in the fourth before A/P got on the board with one in the bottom half of that inning. 

Montalvo hit an RBI single in the fifth to start a four-run inning. Another run scored on a walk with the bases loaded before Rojas-Lopez doubled home two. The Indees put up four more runs in the sixth as Nathan Pyka singled in one and Santillian doubled in two.

Santillian finished the day with five RBIs on two hits. Rojas-Lopez bated in three runs on two hits while Brandon Sylla, Nathan Pyka and Kingsbury also had two hits. 

Sylla was the winning pitcher, striking out four while allowing one walk and four hits in the game.