Baseball: Wausau West splits a twinbill at Wisconsin Rapids on Tuesday.

Wausau West and Wisconsin Rapids played two in Wisconsin Valley Conference baseball on Tuesday, with both games airing on the Wausau Area Sports YouTube channel. In the opener it was Rapids winning a pitcher's duel 3-1 while the Warriors rallied from three runs down in the nightcap to win 6-5.

Gage Honeyager was the standout for Rapids in the opener, tossing 6 2/3 innings and allowing just one run on two hits while striking out 12 before hitting the 100 pitch limit just before he could complete the game. Ty Teske pitched well for the Warriors, going the all 6 innings on the mound while giving up 3 runs on 7 hits with 5 walks and 3 strikeouts.

West got on the board first on an RBI single by Keegan Kruzan that scored Teske in the top of the 2nd inning. The Red Raiders would respond in the bottom of the inning on a bases loaded walk to Jack Potter to tie the game at 1. Rapids then would take the lead for good in the 4th when Potter singled in a run and another run scored on a wild pitch.

West would not get a hit after the third inning as Honeyager appeared to get stronger as the game went on. After striking out 1 batter in each of the first two innings, Honeyager struck out two Warriors in each of the 3rd and 4th innings, strike out the side in the 5th and one more in the sixth.

In game 2 it appeared that Rapids might be on their way to a sweep after leading 4-1 after three innings. However, the Warriors would score twice in the 4th and 3 more times in the 5th to pull out a 6-5 win despite having just two hits in the game.

West scored in the first inning without benefit of a hit, taking advantage of two walks and a wild pitch that scored Kam Blasky. Rapids came back with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Owen Richardson and Brett Olds each had RBI singles and a third run scored on a wild pitch. In addition, West starting pitcher Joe Graveen limped off the field and left the game with an apparent injury. Olds would add another RBI single in the third to extend the Raiders' lead to 4-1.

West took advantage of a Rapids miscue to cut the deficit to 4-3 in the 4th. Ty Teske walked to lead off the frame and then Keegan Kruzan hit a grounder to 2nd. The toss to the bag at second base was dropped and West had runners on 1st and 2nd with no out. After a Rohen Robbins sacrifice bunt, Marshal Helke singled in Teske to make it 4-2. Carson Thurs followed with a sacrifice fly to right that made it 4-3.

Matthew Vollert hit an RBI triple in the bottom of the 4th to give Rapids a 5-3 lead but it was, at that point, that the game changed. With Vollert on third with none out, West pitcher Parker Monday was able to retire the next three hitters and strand Vollert to keep it 5-3. In the top of the 5th inning West would score three times to take the lead without the benefit of a hit. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases with nobody out. After a fielder's choice that kept the bases loaded with one out, Kruzan hit a slow roller that was picked up by the pitcher Connor Kronstadt. As Kronstadt tried to tag the runner, the ball came loose and all hands were safe on the error. A run scored to pull West to 5-4. The Warriors found another way to score as Kronstadt then balked in a run to tie the game at 5. Finally, Rohen Robbins grounded out and Teske scored to make it 6-5 Warriors.

Wisconsin Rapids had chances in both the sixth and seventh innings to tie or even win it. In the sixth, Monday walked Jack Potter and Vollert followed with a single to put runners on first and second with none out. However, Monday again got out of the jam by retiring the next three hitters. In the 7th with two out it looked like the Warriors won it, but a grounder to second was misplayed for an error and kept Rapids alive with runners on first and second. Monday then induced a grounder back to the mound by Ethan Dillingham to end it.

Monday got the win by throwing 4 innings and allowing just 1 run on 4 hits with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. The win was the Warriors first in the WVC as they improved to 1-4 in the league and 2-8 overall. Wisconsin Rapids is now 2-4 in the league and 4-8 overall. The teams will meet again on Thursday in Wausau.