The Lake Mills baseball team built a 4-0 lead after the third inning in its first round Class 2A district playoff game against Central Springs and looked like things were going to continue its way.

But the Bulldogs had a tough time getting the final out in the third and fourth inning and the Panthers grabbed 8 runs in the two innings for an 8-5 win.

In the bottom of the third, Lake Mills decided to walk Spenser Popinga, the No. 4 hitter for Central Springs, and pitch to Tyler Young to avoid giving Popinga anything to hit with a runner in scoring position. The plan backfired and Young blasted a three-run homer to left field to put the Panthers within a run at 4-3.

The Bulldogs (20-14) added a run in the fourth, but Central Springs continued to battle after starting pitcher Nolan Zobel recorded the first two outs in the fourth inning.

The Panthers rattled off five consecutive hits and scored five runs to take a 8-5 lead they wouldn’t give up.

“Our game plan coming in was if we couldn’t score first we at least wanted to keep them within a run or two,” Lake Mills head coach Jason Blaser said. “We had a big third inning and jumped out to the lead. Things just didn’t go our way in that fourth inning. Groundball to second base and we don’t get the call. If we get that you don’t know how the game is going to turn out, but you can’t rely on the call from an umpire.”

Central Springs’ Max Lund was called safe sliding into second on a close call and the Panthers rolled adding two runs after that play.

“They hit the ball when they needed to and one call in the fourth inning probably turned the game,” Bulldogs shortstop Chris Throne said. “They’re a good hitting team and it shows when you put the bat on the ball and make the other team make plays.”

The first five hitters for Central Springs did the majority of the damage on offense, collecting 10 of the team’s 11 hits scoring all but one of its runs.

Zobel handled the bottom of the order and allowed one hit to the Nos. 6-9 hitters.

“Nolan pitched a heck of a ballgame,” Blaser said. “He would like two pitches back. Obviously the homerun was a 1-0 pitch that he was trying to throw a strike but you still want to get it on the corner, it was middle half of the plate. You have to give the kid credit he hit it where it was pitched.”

Zobel did his part at the plate going 2-for-3 with three RBIs, including a double.

The offense took advantage of a pair of Panther errors in the third inning, but went hitless over the final three innings.

“We stranded too many runners early on,” Blaser said. “It would have been nice to push a few more runners across when we had the opportunity.”

Lake Mills left the bases loaded in the first inning and left two on in the third inning, leaving a total of eight runners stranded on the night.

It was an early exit for a team that won 20 games on the season, its most since 2000.

“They set the new standards for wins in a season,” Blaser said. “Hopefully each class coming up as a group of seniors feels like they have that to live up to.”

Central Springs 8, Lake Mills 5

Lake Mills – 004 100 0 – 5 10 0

Central Springs – 003 500 x – 8 11 2

WP – Corey Smith 4 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

LP – Nolan Zobel 3 2/3 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 4 K