By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports Editor
Not much changes when it comes to Land ’O Lakes Southwest Division rivalries – especially when it comes to the Burlington Rotary Barons vs. the Waterford Rivermen.
The Rivermen earned their second win over the Barons in a week’s time Sunday, downing the Barons 6-3 in a LOL Southwest playoff game at Tom Malison Field in Waterford.
The win propelled Waterford into the Southwest title game, which the Rivermen will now host after Rome picked up its second upset in two days, beating Oconomowoc 6-4.
The two teams will play in Waterford Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
It was a close affair through most of Sunday’s game between the Rivermen and Barons. After stranding baserunners in the first and second, the Rivermen got on the board first with a solo homer by Jason Morgan in the bottom of the third.
The Rivermen looked like they might add a few more when Adam Brechtl singled and Waterford drew a pair of walks, but Brad Nowicki flew out to right to end the inning.
The Barons bounced back with two runs in the top of the fourth. Landon Tenhagen hit a hard double to lead off the inning, and Paul Archambault sacrificed him to third. Ryan Hoffman then singled to score Tenhagen.
T.J. Floyd doubled to put runners at second and third, and another ground out, this time by Justin Molle, made it 2-1 Barons.
The score stayed the same until the bottom of the fifth, when Brechtl tied the score with a home run to left center.
After Bart Nowicki walked and Jason Jacobsen flew out, Brad Nowicki lined a shot off the glove of Archambault at third, putting runners at second and third.
An error on Ben Korman’s grounder made the score 3-2 before Tommy Behrens struck out.
Burlington would not lead again. The Rivermen scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, and an additional run in the seventh on an error. The Barons added a run in the top of the eighth after two outs and an error, but that would be as close as they would get.
Rivermen pitcher Andy Stohls pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth for the complete-game victory. The game ended on a Dylan Friend fly ball to center, which Morgan grabbed as one of several key plays by him in the game.
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