Jul. 8—The Eau Claire Cavaliers took a 19-game win streak into Wednesday night’s battle of Chippewa River Baseball League division leaders.
Now they’ll need to try to start a new one.
The South Division-leading Osseo Merchants pulled away in the middle innings to defeat the North Division-leading Cavaliers 8-3 at Carson Park.
It snapped the lengthy win streak for the Cavs, and avenged a 10-1 loss the Merchants suffered at the hands of their Eau Claire foe on June 30.
Logan Boettcher turned in a strong start on the mound, working seven innings for the Merchants. He allowed three runs and struck out seven, holding the Cavs to four hits.
Osseo led 3-2 after Cooper Kapanke’s two-RBI single for Eau Claire in the bottom of the third, but took control from there. Tanner Marsh’s RBI single in the fourth put Osseo ahead by two, and the Merchants added another run on a Cavaliers error in the frame.
A couple of RBI hits in the fifth stretched Osseo’s lead to 7-2, and Marsh belted a solo home run to right field in the eighth for good measure.
Gabe O’Brien hit a run-scoring single for the Cavaliers in the seventh.
Eau Claire still sits atop the North Division at 13-1 in league play, while Osseo moved to 13-2 in the CRBL.
The Cavaliers travel to take on Tilden in an important doubleheader on Sunday. The Tigers trail Eau Claire by one game in the North.
Likewise, Osseo has a doubleheader against the second-place team in its division on Sunday. The Merchants host the Eau Claire Bears, who sit 2.5 games back in the South.
Osseo 8, Eau Claire Cavaliers 3
Osseo 021 220 010 — 8 13 1
Cavs 002 000 100 — 3 4 2
WP: Logan Boettcher (7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 7 K, 5 BB). LP: Paul Petit (2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 K, 0 BB). Leading hitters: Osseo: Tanner Marsh 2-5 (HR, 2 RBI), Nolan Matson 3-5 (2 2B, R), Dakota Clouse 2-5 (2 R, RBI), Storm Standiford 2-3 (2 R, 2B, 2 RBI), Joe Zawacki 2-4 (R, RBI). CRBL records: Osseo 13-2, Eau Claire 13-1.