Wood Ducks win Battle of Breweries, shot down by Everest Sunday

The Minocqua Wood Ducks amateur baseball team won a 14-4 contest for its third-straight game in the annual Battle of the Breweries with the Tony Hayshakers last Saturday before being shot down by the Everest Merchants 5-2 Sunday in Minocqua.
“Saturday was a fun day to be at the ballpark. The annual non-league game with Tony is one most guys don’t want to miss,” said Wood Ducks Manager Doug Etten. “We took care of business pretty easily against a much younger and inexperienced Tony squad. Sunday’s game versus Everest was another battle with one of the best teams not just in the league, but in the state. We were able to take advantage of an early error on their part to get ahead 2-0, but we just simply weren’t able to muster any more offense than that.”
Landon Hoeft was the big bat in the Battle of the Breweries annual contest. He went 2-4 at the plate and helped the offense by driving in four runs and scoring three.
Peter Aerts got the scoring started in the bottom of the first with an RBI single as the team got ahead 3-0 quickly.
The Hayshakers tied the game at 3-3 over the next two innings before Minocqua scored at least one run in the next six innings. It became an 8-4 game before five runs crossed in the bottom of the seventh. Hoeft sent a ball over the right field wall with two on and one out in that seventh inning to extend the lead out to 11-4.

Dustin Hoeft joined Landon with two hits on the afternoon to lead a lineup that collected 10 hits.
Hoeft (Dustin) grabbed the win after throwing five strong innings for Minocqua. He allowed just three hits, two runs and struck out one. Owen Will got the start for the Wood Ducks and worked the first two innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out one.

League loss
In a game that had implications for second place in the Dairyland League Large Division, Minocqua’s coaching staff had to shuffle through the lineup during Sunday’s game.
“We were down a bit on pitching due to the Legion schedule this week. Only being able to throw Landyn two innings and staying away from throwing Jon Miller was something we knew we were going to have to just deal with,” explained Etten. Bradley threw really well and did a good job not giving in on a lot of close pitches. Pete then just brought a different pace and did well also, but we just couldn’t get them the run support they needed.”

After two scoreless innings, Minocqua broke the ice and scored twice in the bottom of the third. Hoeft (Landon) opened the inning with a double and Jacob Hodgdon was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Jonathan Miller reached first on an error and both Hoeft and Hodgdon scored to make it a 2-0 game.
From there, Minocqua’s pitching threw well and the difference in the game was a five-run inning by Everest in the fifth. The Wood Ducks’ offense didn’t register another hit until the eighth inning.
Hoeft (Landon) pitched a clean first two innings before Bradley Stephens got through the third and fourth innings and got pulled with two outs in the fifth during the big Everest inning. Two singles, a hit by pitch and a walk scored the five runs for the Merchants.
Peter Aerts finished the game with four and one-third innings of work, collecting nine strikeouts and allowing only four hits.
Minocqua moved to 7-5 overall and 6-5 in league play, which puts it in third place in the league. The regular season concludes this upcoming weekend as the Ducks have two league games to close. They will travel to the league-leading Wisconsin Rapids Redhawks Saturday before being back home Sunday to clash with the Marshfield Chaparrals.
The seeding meeting for the state playoffs is set for Tuesday, July 29.