MONTAGUE — Montague locked up at least a share of the West Michigan Conference Lakes Tuesday by defeating Oakridge 4-3 in the second game of a doubleheader.
Oakridge won the first game of the twinbill 12-3.
The Wildcats (15-8, 9-1 WMC Lakes) can secure the league title outright by winning either of its next two games when Orchard View visits Tuesday.
All the runs of the second game were scored in the first inning before the pitchers dominated the rest of the way. The Wildcats got things rolling with consecutive walks, followed by an Oakridge error that brought in two runs. Fletcher Thommen had an RBI single in the next at-bat, and Kyle Earnest came across the plate on a pitch that got to the backstop later in the inning.
Oakridge struck back with three runs, getting four hits after pitcher Eli Petersen retired the first two hitters. However, that was the last time Petersen gave up a hit in what was otherwise a dominant performance. He didn't walk a batter and struck out nine, being charged with two earned runs. It was also his hard-hit ball that led to the error that brought in two runs for Montague.
The Wildcats were in command of game one for the first three innings before the Eagle bats exploded to life in the fourth, scoring three times. Oakridge added three more runs in the fifth and buried Montague with a six-run outburst in the seventh.
Petersen tripled in the first to score Bryton Belinger and stake his team to an early lead. Ryver Jarka later laced a two-run home run to center field to briefly get Montague back into the game in the fifth inning, making the deficit 6-3. Jarka had two hits in the game.
Montague made four errors in the opener, leading to five unearned runs.
