Tomah was rescued not once, but twice, by its bullpen Wednesday.

Trenton McCaskey pitched Tomah out of trouble in the third inning, and Kyle Kikta doused a rally in the seventh to lead Tomah to a 6-5 victory over Richland Center in the first round of the American Legion Juniors (16-and-under) Region 4 Tournament at Dennis Senz Field.

Tomah advanced to face Reedsburg today (Thursday) in a 5 p.m. contest. The double-elimination runs through Saturday, and the winner earns a berth in the 16-and-under state tournament next week in Prairie du Chien.

“I can’t say enough about our two relievers,” Tomah coach Matt Dutton said. “To win a close game -- our program hadn’t done that in awhile. They needed to feel that kind of pressure late in a game.”

Richland Center was winning, 3-1, after two innings and appeared ready to add some more runs in the bottom of the third. After a leadoff walk, McCaskey relieved Tomah starter Tyler Von Haden and retired the next three batters on flyballs and popups.

McCaskey would face the minimum number of batters over the next three innings. He gave up a single to Jacob Jones in the fourth, but Jones was gunned down at third base while trying to advance on a groundball out.

The Tomah offense, meanwhile, finally tied the game in the fifth. Jared Dietzman was hit by a pitch with two outs, and Wyatt Blado fought back from an 0-2 count to send a 2-2 pitch from Richland Center’s Peter Sinnett over the leftfield fence to deadlock the game at 3-3.

Tomah took the lead in the sixth, when Richland Center handed Tomah a pair of runs. Ryan Felber laced a one-out single, and Tom Liddane followed with a double that sent Felber to third. Sinnett then balked while trying to pick off Felber at third and balked again one batter later after Liddane reached third.

Another Richland Center pickoff attempt at third led to one more Tomah run in the seventh. Joey Organ led off the inning with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a Dietzman sacrifice and scored after a pickoff throw from the catcher sailed into the outfield. Organ’s run gave Tomah a 6-3 lead, and it proved to be a huge score, when McCaskey suddenly lost his effectiveness in the bottom of the seventh.

McCaskey, who had struck out two and walked nobody prior to the seventh, walked three of the first four batters in the inning before

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