Wisconsin Rapids and Eau Claire both held on to win tightly-contested division titles as the first half of the Northwoods League summer college baseball season drew to a wet and wild close on Tuesday.
Wisconsin Rapids (24-12) edged Battle Creek 1-0 and won the South Division with one game to spare over Madison (23-13), a 4-2 winner over Wisconsin. It's the first division title for Wisconsin Rapids, which joined the league in 2010.
In the North Division, the title wasn't actually decided until earlier today.
Eau Claire (25-11) clinched the title in the wee hours of this morning with an 8-3 win at La Crosse, after a nearly 3-hour rain delay. A loss would have cost Eau Claire the division title.
The game was tied at 3-3 in the seventh when the game went into delay at 9:15 p.m. Eau Claire scored two in the seventh and three in the eighth to break it open. The game ended at 12:50 a.m.
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St. Cloud (24-11) finished a half-game back with a 10-4 win at Rockford. The Rox would have won the division by a half-game had Eau Claire lost its game.
If the game had not been able to resume and Eau Claire and St. Cloud finished with the same record, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head play. Eau Claire won three of four games with St. Cloud in the first half.
For Eau Claire it's the first division championship since 2010 when it ultimately beat Rochester in the league championship series.
