ELMWOOD — It was a steamy morning UFO Days rivalry between Plum City and Elmwood Sunday, with the Blues picking up a road win after a game that included an ejection and a scary injury in the ninth inning.

Elmwood’s starting pitcher Eli Ponath is always tough to hit off, but the Blues are no stranger to facing off against him. They pounced early, scoring a run in the top of the first on a Cody Brunkow single. For the Blues, it was Connor Ducklow who got the ball on the mound. He faced some trouble, with Expo runners getting into scoring position in each of the first three innings. Ducklow escaped each time though, including once on a throw to the plate to gun down a runner from left field after Tom Sauve lined a single to left in the bottom of the second with two outs.

In the fifth, a Brunkow walk got a runner on for the Blues, who would be singled home by Ducklow with two outs. Elmwood stopped the bleeding when Ponath picked up a bases-loaded strikeout.

“He’s a really good pitcher,” Ducklow said. “His curveball, when it’s there, is disgusting.”

Ducklow said sometimes against Ponath you just need to throw your bat out and try to poke one when he is at his best.

Plum City picked up where they left off in the sixth, with Miles Kralewski singling to score Madox Stewart. Lance Johnson then singled to bring Kralewski in for a 4-0 lead, prompting a pitching change. A sacrifice fly in the seventh brought the score to 5-0.

“We waited him out, made him throw strikes. We laid off his curveball as much as we could and fought off the changeup. We were trying to make him throw fastballs so that we could get good pitches to hit,” Blues Manager Tony Garner said. “We had pressure on him almost every inning.”

In the bottom of the seventh, Elmwood’s Tyler Churchill showed some frustration with a strike call, to which he was warned by the umpire. After being rung up two pitches later, Churchill let the umpire hear his frustrations and was swiftly ejected. Churchill left the dugout, but not before letting a bucket of balls rain onto the field.

The game got out of hand in the eighth, started by a Kralewski single, a Noah Gansluckner hit by pitch and a Mitch Thomas walk to load the bases with one out. Brunkow was hit by a pitch to bring in a run, then a bobbled ball on a Ducklow grounder to third scored another. Two more runs came in when the Elmwood second baseman lost his footing and misfired a throw, 9-0.

Just when everything was looking up for the Blues, Johnson took a tumble with what appeared to be a serious leg injury when running to first base in the ninth. Johnson was carted off the field. Johnson is a catcher and top hitter for the Blues team, and also one of the team leaders in the dugout.

“We lost [Tyler Kiboten] on Friday night and today we lost Mitch, so it’s going to be tough,” Garner said.

It was one of the cleanest games Plum City has played all year, and Elmwood struggled in the field with six errors.

Cody Holden drove in Elmwood’s lone run in the ninth on a single to center. Spencer Trainor had a big day with the bat for the Expos, reaching base three times.

“We made the plays finally, and they had timely hitting,” Garner said. “It’s always nice to beat our rival, even though they were shorthanded. They were missing guys too.

“If we don’t make the playoffs, it’s always nice to finish with a W going into next year,” Garner said.

Ducklow finished with six shutout innings before Brett Breidung came in and finished the job.

“Just playing relaxed,” Ducklow said. “I could throw a lot more strikes, that would help me out, especially when it’s hot.”

As the regular season comes to a close and teams await the announcement of which teams made the playoffs, Plum City and Elmwood are two teams hoping to hear their names called.

“It’s pretty reassuring. It’s been a rough season, and the fellas are finally starting to play some really solid baseball when it matters,” Ducklow said. “These Elmwood boys, we love playing against them, we love hanging out with them. This is always an anticipated game for us.”