ELMWOOD — With the sun showing no mercy on Elmwood, the Expos rallied back to take down the Bay City Bombers 8-6. 

Things did not start according to plan for the Expos, as the Bombers detonated for four runs, including a solo home run from Keegan Byrne, to burst out to a 4-1 lead entering the bottom of the fourth inning. It took little time for the Expos to flip the script on both sides of the game. 

“We did good, we just had to settle down,” Mason Dado, who had a strong performance at the plate and earned the save on the mound, said. “Everyone’s a little wobbly at the start of a game.” 

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the fourth, the Bombers made a pitching change from Carter Erikson, who had been solid up until loading the bases in the fourth, to Dryden Seeley. Seeley did his job, forcing a grounder to the left side of the infield, but a misfire home scored a pair to cut the lead to 4-3. A wild pitch after would score another to tie the game at four. Wyatt Sundby then launched a double to left-center field to take a 5-4 lead. 

The Elmwood squad was getting it done on the bases all day long, swiping 11 bases, which the team’s Facebook account called a “possible Expos record.” 

“There’s a lot of speed on this team. We want to beat a lot of teams by running the bases,” Dado said. “Some of that comes with being not so smart on the basepaths, which we’ve got to be better with.” 

In the bottom of the fifth, Kyle Trainor struck out, but a dropped third strike followed by a throw trickling into the outfield gave the Expos a 7-4 lead, which they would not give up. 

“We just had to fight as a team, had to come back and, more or less, play within ourselves,” Dado said. “We were beating ourselves at the start of the game.” 

Sundby and Dado were the stars of the show at the plate, getting on base in all nine of their combined appearances. For Dado, it is just about doing whatever is asked to get a win. 

“I need to do my part to help the team to contribute to a win,” Dado said. “Obviously winning is bigger than [playing for] yourself.” 

The batting rallies were backed by starting pitcher Eli Ponath finding a groove to the tune of seven innings, four runs allowed and 10 strikeouts. 

The Bombers put up a fair fight to get back into the game, including a two-run shot off the bat of Chase Snyder, but ultimately came up short. Dado locked things down, striking out all three batters he faced in the ninth, overpowering them with a fastball that brought about as much heat as the sun was bringing. 

Elmwood entered the Fourth of July break with a 5-5 record in league play, landing them in a tie for fourth place out of 10 teams. Dado said the team will need to limit mistakes and play to their strengths to rise rather than fall to finish the season. 

“Just playing within ourselves,” Dado said. “We can’t beat ourselves by errors or walks.” 

Elmwood takes on the Leinies Legends in Menomonie on Wednesday, and hosts Spring Valley and Ellsworth on Saturday and Sunday. Bay City eyes a bounce back week when they hit the road to take on Hastings on Friday and Osceola on Sunday. 

“There’s a lot of fight in this team. We want to win. We’re here to win every day,” Dado said. “We come here to play to win only.”