Baseball: Early lead slips away as Wausau West falls at SPASH

The Wausau West baseball team was unable to fully take advantage of early opportunities and saw Stevens Point rally for a 6-2 win over the Warriors in a Wisconsin Valley Conference game at Bukolt Park on Tuesday night.

West took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 3rd inning when Carson Thurs singled to center field and scored Parker Helke and Marshal Helke. However, the Warriors could have taken a bigger lead except for stranding two runners in the 1st inning and stranding the bases loaded in both the 2nd and 3rd innings and two more runners in the 4th.

SPASH pulled within 2-1 in the bottom of the 3rd inning on an RBI single by Grant Jahnke and took the lead with a 3 run 4th. After a fielder's choice tied the game at 2, SPASH got a break that gave them the lead for good. With two out and a runner at 2nd, Gavin Thiel hit a towering pop up down the first base line. West catcher Rohen Robbins lost the ball and it fell in for a single that scored the lead run to make it 3-2. Jahnke then got his 2nd RBI single of the game to give SPASH a 4-2 lead after 4.

In the bottom of the 5th SPASH added two more runs on a solo home run by Kasen Saeger and an RBI single by Calvin Roth to finish the scoring at 6-2. Roth finished 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI while Brayden Marschke added 2 hits and was the winning pitcher in relief. Marschke went the final 4 1/3 innings and allowed no runs on 2 hits with no walks and a strikeout. He retired the last 12 batters he faced.

Carson Thurs was 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI for the Warriors. Ty Teske was the tough luck loser on the mound, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts. West falls to 5-11 overall and 2-8 in the WVC. The Warriors will host SPASH on Thursday in a game that will be broadcast live on the Wausau Area Sports YouTube channel starting with the pregame at 4:45 pm and the 1st pitch at 5.