By Mike Ramczyk
One extra-inning thriller wasn’t enough.
The Burlington baseball team wanted more Tuesday night at conference-leading Wilmot.
Much like their victory last week at Waterford, the Demons squandered an early lead and went to extra innings, only to win it in the eighth, 3-2.
For their efforts, the Demons improved to 7-4 in conference and now sit one game behind Waterford (9-4) and a half-game behind Wilmot (8-4) for first place.
Burlington is 12-6 and 8-4 in the SLC after an 11-1 at Delavan-Darien Wednesday.
After pinch-runner Danny Peterson scored on a wild pitch to give the Demons a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth, Trent Turzenski survived a jam to slam the door.
Burlington head coach Scott Staude rushed out of the dugout and pumped his fist in celebration after the hard-fought, high-stakes victory.
“At the beginning of the year, I didn’t know how mentally tough we were, and I didn’t know how well we would compete,” Staude said after the game. “We needed to be in a game like this to find out who we are. They could’ve easily hit a bloop base hit to win the game. It was one of those games.”
“We just kept competing, and that’s all you can ask for.”
In the bottom of the sixth, Justin Paasch hit a two-run single off Trey Krause to tie the game at 2-2.
Wilmot threatened again in the seventh, but Turzenski struck him out to get it to extras.
Trey Krause led off the eighth with a bunt single, but pinch runner Joe Tully was thrown out trying to steal second in a close call.
But the Demons kept coming.
Turzenski walked, and Danny Peterson pinch-ran. He stole second and eventually got to third on a Tucker Strommen fielder’s choice, a slow ground ball where Riley Palmquist hustled ahead of the tag at second to load the bases.
That’s when the Wilmot pitcher skipped the ball past the catcher, and Peterson scooted in for the winning run.
Turzenski got two quick outs in the bottom of the inning, but he gave up a single, a line drive that nearly took him out, and a walk with two outs.
With the tying run on second, Turzenski induced a grounder to Palmquist, who fired a strike to an outstretched Krause at first for the final out.
In 2-1/3 innings, Turzenski, a tall, powerful right-hander, struck out six and allowed only one hit.
“I felt really good today,” Turzenski said. “I want to blow it by people, and if they’re catching up, I’ll mix in a slider.”
“I wasn’t nervous, I knew what I had to do and I executed. We’re playing as a team better. We’ve gotten better with experience.”
Krause went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, and he struck out nine in 5-2/3 innings.
Grant Tully and Christian Brenner each added two hits.
Burlington plays Delavan-Darien Wednesday before hosting Wilmot Thursday. Then, it’s Delavan again on Friday.
“We can be excited on the bus, but after that, we have to turn the page and be ready to go,” Staude said.
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