By John Rittenhouse
The Hills Thunder posted the amateur baseball seasonÕs second win while dropping two games during a five-day stretch late last week.
Hills lost a 6-0 game in Wilmont Wednesday, July 3. The Thunder then beat Butterfield 8-0 in Luverne Sunday before dropping a 5-0 decision to Windom at Redbird Field later in the day.
Hills was limited to a pair of hits while taking a six-run setback in Wilmont July 3.
The teams battled to a scoreless draw through the first four and one-half innings of play, but Wilmont broke through for two runs in the home half of the fifth inning and added four more in the sixth to win handily.
Matt Wingate tossed all six innings for the Thunder. He recorded six strikeouts and surrendered four hits.
Eric Harnack and Wade Jellema both singled to account for Hills' two hits in the game.
Chad Rauk tossed a seven-inning shutout to lift the Thunder to their second win of the season Sunday in Luverne.
Rauk blanked Butterfield for seven innings during an eight-run win. Rauk walked four batters and fanned seven during his complete game performance.
Hills scored one run early in the game before plating seven runs in the final three frames to lock up the win.
Jarud Lang singled and gave the Thunder a 1-0 edge in the top of the first when he scored on Scott Harnack's fielder's choice.
Wingate and Derek Sammons drew fifth-inning walks for Hills before Wingate scored on a sacrifice fly by Jellema.
Sammons scored on a wild pitch as the inning progressed, and Kurt Bly and Lang drew walks before scoring on a two-run double by Eric Harnack to cap a four-run rally.
Cade Lang reached base on an error and scored when Hills pulled off a double-steal in the sixth to make it a 6-0 game.
Bly walked and scored on a double by Jarud Lang in the seventh. Lang then capped the scoring after Scott Harnack chased him home with a single.
Hills couldn't keep the momentum going when it played Windom during Sunday's second game in Luverne.
After neither team could produce a run in the first three innings, Windom plated a single run in the top of the fourth before scoring twice in the fifth and seventh innings to win by five.
Wingate took the pitching loss for the Thunder. He allowed seven hits and five runs while registering six strikeouts in seven innings.
Sammons, Jarud and Cade Lang all went one-for-three at the plate.
Hills, 2-12 overall, wraps up the regular season by playing a noon game in Heron Lake Sunday before returning home to play Hadley at 4 p.m. the same day.