By John Rittenhouse
A possible win slipped away from the Hills Thunder when the local amateur baseball team played a road game in Pipestone Wednesday, June 20.
The Thunder played their way to a 3-0 lead through three and one-half innings of play against the A's.
Pipestone, however, trimmed the difference to one run by the end of the sixth inning and pulled out a 6-4 victory by scoring three times in the home half of the eighth inning.
Hills scored two runs in the first inning and one in the third to take a 3-0 advantage.
Jarud Lang was hit by a pitch before advancing to third base on Chris Putnam's double during the first inning.
After Lang scored on a passed ball, Matt Carroll singled home Putnam to give the Thunder a 2-0 cushion.
Eric Harnack singled in the third inning and scored when Chad Rauk singled to make it a three-run difference.
Pipestone scored twice in the fourth to make it a 3-2 game, but Wade Jellema tripled for the Thunder and scored on Matt Funke's single in the sixth to give Hills a two-run advantage.
Pipestone answered with one run in the bottom of the sixth to climb within one run (4-3) of Hills before erupting for three counters in the eighth.
Rauk, who was three-for-four at the plate, pitched for Hills. He recorded six strikeouts while walking four batters in the game.