PRINT ADS

Oliver Ballinger had the game-tying RBI and scored the game-winning run, helping the Onalaska Junior Legion baseball team complete its regular season with a 4-3 win over Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Monday.

Onalaska trailed 3-2 heading to the bottom of the fifth inning, before Ballinger registered the game-tying RBI. He scored later in the inning to produce the final margin, making a winner out of Brandon Hernandez.

Sam Green finished with two hits, including a double. The Legion threw seven pitchers one inning each, with Tony Vieaux, Green, Tyler Adams, Chris Cayler and Tony Tweten also each getting an innning.

Onalaska was coming off getting swept 9-2 and 5-3 in a doubleheader at Prairie du Chien five days earlier. Green took the loss in game one despite allowing two earned runs over six innings, with Legion head coach Charlie Alexander saying Green combined well with batterymate Cayler.

Vieaux took the game-two loss despite allowing just three earned runs over five innings. Prairie broke a 3-3 tie through five innings with two runs in the sixth, with Onalaska not posing a threat in the seventh.

The Legion opened the regional Thursday at 5 p.m. at home against Holmen (after the Community Life deadline). Onalaska hosts the six-team, double-elimination regional.

The winner of that game plays the winner of Thursday's game between Viroqua and the La Crosse A's. The loser plays the winner of Thursday's game between Prairie du Chien and Westby.

The winner of the regional advances to state July 24-28 at Prairie du Chien. As the state host, Prairie automatically receives a bid to state. If Prairie wins the regional, the second-place team advances to state. Onalaska is 0-2 against the La Crosse A's, whom Alexander thought entered as the regional favorite.

“Our team has come a long way since the beginning of the summer,” Alexander said. “We've got a shot to make a run.”

The Legion's scheduled game at Holmen July 10 was rained out, while their Saturday game with Bi-State was cancelled when the Bulldogs lost seven players due to weddings and injuries.