Tied 7-7, Clayton Wilmsmeyer led off the seventh inning with a double and Connor Wilmsmeyer delivered the 2-out go-ahead single in New Franklin’s 8-7 win over Sturgeon on Thursday.

Runs were hard to come by over the first three innings as Sturgeon led 1-0 heading into the fourth. Then the two teams had five ties and three lead changes as 13 runs were scored over the next three innings.

Caleb Hull, who started the game and pitched into the fifth inning, took the mound again in the seventh with an 8-7 lead. He struck out two and stranded a runner at second with a groundout to end the game.

“Grinded out another one,” coach Erich Gerding said.  “I’m very proud of these guys, great effort all around.

“It’s very difficult to pick out one specific at bat or hit because it was a collective effort throughout the entire game by all of our guys. And credit Sturgeon for coming back and coming back as well.”

Trailing 3-1, New Franklin opened the fifth inning with four consecutive singles. Tanner Bishop and Keaton Eads had the RBI hits to tie the game.

Eads took over on the mound after Sturgeon responded with four straight hits to begin the next half-inning. With two on and no outs, Eads got a strikeout, flyout and strikeout to keep New Franklin within a run.

Bishop would put New Franklin ahead again with a line drive double to center field, which scored two runs. Sturgeon took advantage of three walks and a hit batter to tie the game with two runs in the sixth, setting up Wilmsmeyer’s game winner.

Bishop finished 3-4 with three RBI. Eads was 2-4 with a double and Clayton Wilmsmeyer was 2-4 as well.

Hull and Eads combined to give up 10 hits and five walks, but also struck out 14 batters. New Franklin had 12 hits  in the win.

Prairie Home comes back to snap Bulldogs' streak

Prairie Home scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to surprise New Franklin 4-2 on Friday.

New Franklin left 11 runners on base while building a 2-1 lead over the first six innings. It came back to hurt the Bulldogs when two errors helped the Panthers take the lead in the final inning.

All four Prairie Home runs were unearned.

Tanner Bishop was 2-3 with a walk. Clayton Wilmsmeyer was 2-3 with  double, a walk and an RBI. Keaton Eads was 2-4 with an RBI.

Bishop made the start for New Franklin and allowed one unearned run on two hits and five walks. He struck out five over four innings.

The loss snapped a four game winning streak for New Franklin, who drops to 5-4.