The Lake Mills baseball team achieved its highest conference finish since 2001 Monday with a 9-3 victory over Osage in Osage.

The Bulldogs (19-10, 9-5 NIC) tied Belmond-Klemme for second place in the conference, behind Newman Catholic, the No. 1-ranked team in state.

“I told the boys that it’s a good accomplishment to finish second,” said Lake Mills head coach Jason Blaser. “We have good momentum going into the playoffs.”

The Bulldogs jumped out to a four-run first inning and went on to tally 13 hits in the game.

Royce Byrnes went 3-for-4 with an RBI while Wade Hebrink finished 2-for-2 with a double, two RBIs and scored three times.

Levi Dahle went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Scott Abbey collected his first hits in conference play with a 2-for-4 performance.

Brad Midlang went seven innings and allowed three runs on eight hits.

Lake Mills will get a good test Tuesday when it hosts St. Ansgar, the No. 2-ranked team in the state before opening the playoffs against Osage Saturday in Osage.

Lake Mills 9, Osage 3

Lake Mills 421 001 1 — 9 13 2

Osage 000 300 0 — 3 8 5

WP — Brad Midlang 7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

LP — Mitchell Eisenman 1 1/3 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K