The Dodgeville Knights welcomed pitcher Peerson Kephart back by building a 6-1 lead over his six strong innings on the way to a 6-5 win in Western Section HTL play Friday.
But no one told the Argyle Beavers it was game over. The Beavers came back, scoring four runs in a walk-filled seventh inning that also featured two hit batters then they added a run in the ninth to pull within one. If that wasn’t enough of a challenge the Beavers also had the tying run on third and the winning run on second when reliever Jack Graber induced a hard grounder that first baseman Grant Roh smothered and turned into the final out to preserve the win.
The Beavers closed the gap by scoring on a walk, a hit by pitch, a walk, and a hit by pitch.
The Knights took a 1-0 lead in the first after Justin Baehler singled in Sean Reilly who tripled the batter before. Baehler drove in a pair of runs for the Knights while Graber and McCoy Miles each drove in one.
Bachler went 3×3 while Graber and Leyton Bowers both doubled. Graber and Ty Palzkill both went 2×5.
Kephart earned the win for the Knights. He gave up three hits and one run (zero earned) over six innings, striking out eight and walking five.
Max Godfrey took the loss for Beavers. The southpaw went nine innings, giving up six runs (five earned) on 10 hits, striking out 11 and walking five.
Dom McVay and Jack Graber each appeared in relief for the Knights with Graber earning the save.
Defensively the Knights turned two double plays in the game.
Cale Weeden drove in two runs for the Beavers. The catcher went 1-for-4 on the day. Jake Roth led the Beavers in hits with a 2×4 performance. Max Godfey’s hit rounded out their four hit attack.
The Knights survived 11 walks, four hit batters and two errors to hold on for the win.
