Courtesy of Myron Fluegge

LEAVENWORTH — In a game between two undefeated teams in the Tomahawk East League, the Courtland Cubs won against the Leavenworth Orioles by a score of 9-2 on Wednesday evening in a TEL amateur baseball game.

Courtland now has a 1 1/2-game lead over St. James, the only other team in the TEL with no losses.

Fans from both sides were kept on the edge of their seats through the first seven innings with the score tied at 2-2. Ansen Dulas got his first start for the Cubs going six innings and giving up single runs in the second inning on a double by Mark Anderson and an RBI single by Dylan Hillesheim, plus a second run in the fifth on a throwing error.

Jaden Drill pitched the seventh inning for Courtland and got out a jam with the bases loaded. Josh Giefer, who had a solid performance at short stop for the Cubs, with six groundout assists and one double-play putout, came on in relief to pitch the final two innings, striking out four.

In the top of the eighth, the Cubs finally broke through with three runs of their own. Nolan Drill, who had singled, scored the first run on a ground out and then two more runs scored on a throwing error that got by the first baseman. In the ninth, Drill got his fourth hit of the game, a three-run homerun, to add insurance to the Cubs lead. Ethan Schmid, running for Teddy Giefer, who doubled, scored later to make the final score 9-2. Chase Meyer had two of Courtland’s nine hits.

Leavenworth had runners on base in every inning except the first, as they had 12 hits in the game and got five free passes, plus a hit batter. The Orioles stranded 16 runners, including ten in the last four innings. Anderson was 3 for 3 with a double, and two walks. Getting two hits each were Sam Piddle, Caden Evers, and Hillesheim.

Leavenworth’s Anderson pitched a solid seven innings, scattering five hits, striking out nine Cubs batters, including the last five batters he faced. Brandon Schmitz pitched the eighth inning, with further relief from Kaleb Wait and Zach Kelly in the ninth.

The next Courtland Cubs Tomahawk East League game will be on Wednesday, June 4, when they host the New Ulm Brewers in a 7:30 p.m. game on the Courtland diamond.