By Jacob Tellers

NORTHWOOD — It may have been an unusually chilly evening in June, but the Lake Mills batters were anything but cold, combining for 23 runs in five innings.

The Bulldogs opened their game Thursday at Northwood-Kensett by scoring seven runs in the top of the first inning en route to a 23-8 victory.

Lead-off batter Josh Peters scored the first run and drove in the last run of the inning to help the Bulldogs take a 7-0 lead.

“I liked our aggressive approach to the game,” said Lake Mills coach Jason Blaser. “We talked about that before the game, trying to hit quality pitches and making sure we’re not chasing balls, and I thought we did a good job with that.”

The Vikings responded with two runs in the bottom of the first. A sacrifice bunt gave them their first score of the game. The Vikings then took advantage of a Lake Mills error to score another run before the inning ended with a groundout to first.

Despite falling behind 8-2 after the Bulldogs added one run in the second, Northwood-Kensett put together a string of runs with the bases loaded to cut their deficit to one run, 8-7.

While the Vikings batters cooled off after the second inning, the Bulldogs kept going strong and added seven runs in the fourth and eight in the fifth.

“I thought we did a good job of hitting the ball hard and down,” Blaser said.

The Lake Mills coach said the team had been working in batting practice on being careful with pitch selection, and he thought that preparation showed.

Junior Matt Throne led the Bulldogs at the plate by going 3-for-4 with a double, four RBIs and three stolen bases.

Sophomore Grant Boehmer made his first varsity appearance in relief of starting pitcher Matt Scholbrock at the beginning of the third inning.

Boehmer didn’t know he was going to be called up to pitch as he was scheduled to play in a JV game the next day, he said.

“Nerve wracking” was the phrase Boehmer used to describe his first varsity action, but it may have been the opposing batters who should have been nervous as he recorded six strikeouts in three innings and gave up two hits and one unearned run.

“He did an excellent job for us,” Blaser said. “He came in and threw strikes.”

Next, Lake Mills will play at Osage 7:30 p.m. today. Northwood-Kensett will play at West Fork at 7:30 p.m. today.