After an extended mid-season break for the Wisconsin Baseball Association St. Croix Valley Baseball League, teams resume games this week as they push into the final three weeks of their seasons.

Currently sitting at the top of the standings are the River Falls Fighting Fish with a record of 6-1 on the season. The Fighting Fish dropped their first loss on the season at home against league opponent Hudson River Rats this past Thursday in a 17-9 final. The Fighting Fish also have the best overall record in the SCVL, standing at a solid 17-3 on the year.

Right behind the Fighting Fish are the Spring Valley Hawks, who have a 7-3 record against league opponents on the year. The Hawks had a 6-2 record for the month of June, winning five out of six games. The Hawks went into the mid-season break on a threegame win streak and will resume play on Friday against the Lyon’s Pub Warriors at home.

Sitting half a game behind the Hawks are the Prescott Pirates, who have a 6-3 record against St. Croix Valley opponents. The Pirates had gone 5-1 in the month of June and ended the month on a three-game winning streak as well. The Pirates resume play on Friday against league opponent Osceola at Oakey Park in Osceola.

The Elmwood Expos have not played as many games as the Fighting Fish, Hawks, or Pirates, but they still maintain a record two games below .500 with hopes to reach an even record this upcoming weekend. The Expos didn’t have the best month in June, finishing with a 2-5 record for the month. The Expos will resume play on Saturday on the road at Plum City for the first time this season.

The Ellsworth Hubbers did not have the best month in June, finishing with a 2-6 record on the month. However, they won their final game of the month 12-9 over Osceola on Wednesday, June 30.

Hubbers manager Jeremiah Paulson spoke on the team’s pulse for the season and what goals lie ahead for the Hubbers during the month of July.

“We were able to keep most of our roster from last year,” Paulson said. “Last year was a weird year and we've been adding some pieces this past week. Some of our players have been injured. And we're still learning how to play offensively in this league. We've had a couple games where we've scored in double digit runs, but we need to build some consistency there.

“Making sure the players are fresh, making sure that young guys have had reps at the plate, and meeting the field defensively. We’re getting ourselves ready for a stretch run here and see what we can do to mix and match our guys and see if we can put ourselves in a little better position offensively and defensively, because I think we've got enough arms where we can compete on the hill.”

The Hubbers resume play on Friday night against the Hudson River Rats at Bob Young Field in Ellsworth. They’ll be looking to start a winning streak for a better month in July.

Unlike other SCVL teams, the Bay City Bombers went into the break with a threegame losing streak to end June. Fortunately for the Bombers, they resume play on Friday on the road against the cellar dwelling New Richmond Millers who have the worst record in the league at 5-11.

Jordan Eggenberger, who is in his sixth season as the Bombers manger, 15th overall, spoke on the team’s hope to turn things around in July.

“Pitching wise, I got Noah Matzek on who's having a healthy year at the moment,” Eggenberger said. “I think he's got three wins for us so far this year. Batting wise our hottest batter right now is our catcher Thate Peterson. Carson Meyer, who's currently injured right now is out for a month, but he was on fire before he went on. He had a couple home runs stretch.”

Eggenberger continued, “Some of the challenges are just getting the nine best guys again at the time. We've had one game where we're up six nothing, and then ended up just having a really bad ending. Obviously, our goal for the month of July is win as many games as possible so we can to get into actual Wisconsin playoffs without having to go into the league tournament to try to get into the playoffs that way. I try to have it locked up before we go into that league tournament. Obviously add in a good number of guys to the game, just pitching well, and keep hitting the ball like we have as a team.”

The Plum City Blues fared better than some other teams during June, having a 2-3 record on the month. The Blues remain three games below .500 coming out of the break and have a chance to get themselves to a game below .500 if they win their two games this upcoming weekend.

Blues manager Tony Garner said the team hopes to turn its season around in July.

“We have six games left. Realistically, we should be able to win four out of those six,” Garner said. “It'll be difficult. But if we can do that, that should get us into the playoffs. I believe the WBA playoffs and then hopefully like last year, towards the end of the year, we just started hitting the ball really well and played good defense. Pitching is usually pretty solid. So our goal would be to get on a streak like we got on last year and play some good baseball. I would say Noah Gansluckner has hit the ball real well, Caleb Watkins is certainly at the ball real well. Lance Johnson, those guys have started to come around and are starting to put some good at bats together.”

The Blues resume play Saturday against the Expos at home and will be in River Falls to take on the Fighting Fish on Sunday.

Current Standings for the St. Croix Valley Baseball League Team Overall SCVBL River Falls Fighting Fish 17-3 6-1 Spring Valley Hawks 12-5 7-3 Prescott Pirates 9-4 6-3 Menomonie Eagles 7-6 6-5 Osceola Braves 5-7 4-5 Hudson River Rats 8-6 4-5 Elmwood Expos 5-7 3-4 Ellsworth Hubbers 4-9 4-6 Plum City Blues 4-7 3-5 Bay City Bombers 4-7 3-5 New Richmond Millers 5-11 2-6