The Lake Mills Bulldogs baseball team rallied from four runs down Monday for a 6-5 win at the rival Forest City Indians.

Trailing 4-0 entering the seventh inning, the Bulldogs scored four runs to push the game into extras and scored two runs in the top of the eighth to pull ahead 6-4.

Bulldogs (13-6, 5-3 North Iowa) pitcher Josh Zabel held the Indians to one run in the bottom of the eighth to secure the win.

“I can’t say enough good things about this group of players,” Bulldogs coach Jason Blaser said. “They never believe they are defeated, are always confident in their teammates and play with great effort every night out.”

After three scoreless innings opened the game, the Bulldogs had a chance to get on the board first after Royce Byrnes led off the fourth inning with a double and Zabel followed with a single. However, Zabel was caught stealing second and a strike out and infield pop up ended the inning and stranded Byrnes at third base.

The Indians opened the scoring with a two-out run in fifth inning and added three runs in the sixth before the Bulldogs staged their comeback.

In the top of the seventh, the Bulldogs’ Drey LyBarger hit a one-out double, followed by walks to Josh Peters and Tyler Rice to load the bases. Bryan Hengesteg hit a two-run single to right field, cutting the Indians’ lead in half 4-2, before Dylan Davis plated a run on a grounder to second base. Levi Dahle then tied the game on a single.

“The (Isaac) Tuttle kid from Forest City was very tough to hit tonight,” Blaser said. “Fortunately in the seventh inning he had some control issues and we capitalized on the opportunity.”

The Bulldogs added two insurance runs in the eighth inning when Alex Grunhovd knocked in Zabel and later scored on a throwing error by the Indians’ shortstop.

“The guys don’t always executed perfectly, but the desire to win is always present as it was tonight until the end,” Blaser said. “Zabel deserves a lot of praise for coming in to pitch in a tough spot and keeping us in the game until the offense could get going late and earn him the win.”

Grunhovd relieved starting pitcher Levi Dahle after 4 2/3 innings but left after a comebacker hit him in the forearm. Blaser said Grunhovd’s arm was bruised but he was able to return to the game.

The Bulldogs play again at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday at Osage.

Lake Mills 6, Forest City 5

LM 000 000 42 — 6 7 1

O 000 013 01 — 5 12 2

WP — Josh Zabel 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO

LP — Reid Gilbertson 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO

Lake Mills hitting: Royce Byrnes 1-4, 2B; Josh Zabel 2-4, R; Drey LyBarger 1-3, 2B, R, SO; Alex Grunhovd 1-3, R, RBI, BB; Josh Peters 0-0, BB, R; Tyler Rice 0-3, R, SO, BB; Bryan Hengesteg 1-3, R, 2 RBI, SO; Paul Pins 0-4, 3 SO; Taylor Throne 0-2, SO; Dylan Davis 0-1; Levi Dahle 1-3.