By Reagan Hoverman

The Elmwood Expos and Ellsworth Hubbers played in an instant classic on Friday, July 22. The late regular season contest featured both teams trading leads back and forth, costly errors in the field, heated exchanges with the umpire behind home plate, and a late-inning rally that punched Elmwood’s ticket to the playoffs.

Few summer town ball games have stakes as high as that of the Friday night game between the two local rivals. The situation was the same for both teams – win and get into the postseason, or lose and fight for playoff contention in the final week of the regular season.

With one on and two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Ellsworth player/manager Jeremiah Paulson roped an RBI single to left

field to take a 1-0 lead over Elmwood. Then in the bottom of the second inning, an errant throw by Elmwood in the field allowed an other Ellsworth run to score making it 2-0 in favor of the Hubbers.

The Expos didn’t get on the board until the top of the fifth inning when Tim Green reached on an error. Two batters later, Spencer Trainor ripped an RBI double to right-center making it a 2-1 contest. Elmwood’s offense continued to have success in the top of the sixth inning when Mason Dado tied the game 2-2 with an RBI single.

Later in the inning with one on base and two outs, Wyatt Sundby hit a two-run home run over the left field wall to give Elmwood a 4-2 lead. The Hubbers quickly battled back in the bottom of the sixth inning and scored two runs to tie the game 4-4.

See EXPOS, Page B-2

Elmwood Expos starting pitcher Trevor Miller delivers a pitch during the road game against the Ellsworth Hubbers on Friday, July 22. Miller pitched seven great innings against Ellsworth which helped secure an 8-6 victory and a playoff berth. Photo by Reagan Hoverman

Ellsworth starting pitcher James Georgakas throws a strike during the home game against the Elmwood Expos. Georgakas pitched the entire game and is one of Ellsworth’s top pitchers in the rotation. Photo by Reagan Hoverman Expos

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Because of the game’s high stakes, both teams threw the best pitchers on their roster. For Elmwood that was Trevor Miller and for Ellsworth it was James Georgakas. Despite giving up runs, both pitchers put together quality performances through the first seven innings of the game.

Miller pitched the first six innings of the game before being pulled in favor of relief pitcher Mason Dado. While Dado dealt during his relief appearance, Georgakas remained on the mound into the top of the ninth inning with the game tied 4-4.

Georgakas walked the first batter who then advanced to second base on a wild pitch to the ensuing batter. That’s when the aforementioned Green gave Elmwood a 5-4 lead after he sharply hit a ball that forced an error in the field.

Two batters later, Trainor reached first base on an infield hit. The Ellsworth fans and Georgakas thought that the runner was out, but Trainor was ruled safe at first base. While visiting Elmwood fans applauded the call, Georgakas got rattled by the call and began jawing at the ump.

Multiple errors in the field on the follow ing plays allowed Elmwood runners to get on base and then ensuing batters began driving in runs against Georgakas. As each run scored, Georgakas became more frustrated about the ostensibly blown call earlier in the inning.

By the time Ellsworth recorded the final out in the top of the ninth inning, Elmwood had scored four runs and taken a commanding 8-4 lead. The Hubbers mustered two runs in the bottom of the ninth but ultimately came up short and suffered an 8-6 loss. Elmwood player/manager Tom Sauve spoke about the win after the game.

“This was one that we needed to win to get into the playoffs – we’re in now,” Sauve said. “We had one of our best lineups of the year here, we went for it and we used our best two pitchers. We felt like in a game like this, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs at this field historically. We just wanted to stay calm and I think we did a pretty good job of that.”

While the bats certainly helped get the win, solid pitching and throwing strikes have been a key for Elmwood this season. Throughout the year, Sauve has spoken about how his en- tire pitching staff is under 25 years old, which is rare for amateur baseball. Throughout the year that rotation has developed and it’s leading to wins for the Expos.

“Right now we’re throwing a lot more strikes,” Sauve said. “The kid who threw tonight (Miller) threw last week and beat Hudson and the reliever tonight (Dado) threw pretty well against the Spring Valley Hawks. When we can have those two go back-to-back they’re pretty tough.”

As Elmwood feels ready to face any team in the upcoming playoffs, Ellsworth will continue to battle for a chance at the postseason. After the loss, Paulson spoke about how the tempers ran hot during the game against Elmwood.

“Our teams had the same record coming into tonight and we weren’t guaranteed a playoff spot yet, we’re just competitors on both sides,” Paulson said. “You can’t blame things on the umpires. I think we lost sight of that when things fell apart in the ninth inning. We’ve got to work on the next pitch and focus. That doesn’t always happen because you’re competing hard.”

Throughout the game, both teams made multiple errors in the field. For Ellsworth, those errors were costly, especially in the ninth inning because those errors led to Elmwood runs that eventually decided the game.

“The message all season long when you have good pitching is to just make the play in front of you,” Paulson said. “You don’t have to make the SportsCenter play. Just make the play in front of you and we had three plays in front of us where guys have it and something doesn’t go right. That’s growing pains and understanding the situation.”

That Friday night game against Elmwood was arguably the Hubbers’ most pressure- packed game in several years. Throughout the last couple of seasons, Ellsworth had been eliminated from playoff contention early, meaning the games at the end of the year were just for fun.

Now in the 2022 season, the final games of the regular season are filled with pressure and Ellsworth has made mistakes in the field with the stakes being so high. For Paulson, that often happens with young teams that haven’t played in big moments at the amateur level.

“We’ve got to be better at making that play in front of us,” Paulson said. “Again, we’re a young team. This is the first time in six years we’ve had seven wins. Now, we have to learn how to make those plays when it matters. This time of the year for the last five years, those plays didn’t matter. We’ve got to learn from that and make those outs because they’re the hardest outs to make.”

Ellsworth continues to battle for playou contention in its next game on Wednesday, July 27, on the road against Osceola, and then on Sunday, July 31, on the road against Bay City. The Bay City game is slated to begin at 1 p.m. and Osceola is slated for a 7:30 p.m. first pitch.