By Hub City Times staff

MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Chaparrals are headed to postseason play as third-place finishers in the Dairyland League, coming off a regular-season finale loss to first-place Everest on Aug. 2 in Schofield. The Chaps lost to the Merchants 4-3, as Everest completed a season sweep of Marshfield.

Marshfield took a 2-0 lead in the third inning, on a two-run double by Sam Schwanebeck, after Kyle Westhuis and Shawn O’Connell led off the inning with back-to-back base hits. Everest got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Kranz, scoring Sam Nelson, who led off the inning reaching on one of three Marshfield errors.

The Chaps added to their lead with a run in the fifth inning, when Schwanebeck drove in another run on a base hit. Everest tied the game with two runs in the seventh, and then won the game when Nelson delivered a game-winning walk-off double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Bobby Pilz gave up that run and took the loss for Marshfield.

The Chaparrals finished at 9-3 in the Dairyland League, and that qualifies them for the Wisconsin Baseball Association playoffs. Marshfield plays in the Altoona semi-finals this weekend.

Marshfield faces the Spring Valley Hawks on Aug.10 at Cinder City Park in Altoona, coming in as the No. 2 seed. The game begins at 3 p.m.

Should Marshfield win that contest, the Chaps will play Aug. 11 at 3 p.m. If the Chaps win that game, they will head to the state tournament Aug.16-17 in Menomonie. The Chaparrals finished the regular season with a win-loss record of 10-9.