Tuesday Round Up

The Kenosha Kings are won win away from their fourth consecutive Langsdorf League title.

Randy Johnson and Eric Schumacher combined on a three-hitter as the Kings edged the West Allis Nationals, 2-1, in 10 innings in the opener of the best-of-three Langsdorf Championship Series Tuesday at Zirkel Field in West Allis.

The Kings plated the go-ahead run in the 10th inning on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Jason Dennis to score Andrew Highland.

Kenosha (31-18) hosts West Allis with a chance to clinch the title 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Simmons Field. Game three, if necessary, is slated 4 p.m. Saturday in Burlington.

The Kings went 0-3 against the Nationals in the regular season.

“It was a very intense game,” Kings’ assistant coach Rob Novotny said. “We definitely felt we could play with them.”

Johnson worked six strong innings — allowing one run on three hits with two walks and nine strikeouts —before Schumacher tossed four shutout innings.

It was the second straight dominating relief appearance from Schumacher.

“He’s really come on strong for us,” Novotny said.

“He’s kind of been the wild card.”

West Allis scored its lone run in the third inning on an infield groundout. The Kings tied it in the fifth when Highland reached on a fielder’s choice and eventually scored on a RBI single from Paul Pulera.

Pulera went 2-for-4 with one RBI.

Jon Olson will start Thursday’s game.

Story by: The Kenosha News

Sheboygan A’s Rally, Stun Menasha

It was one of those games you had to see to believe.

At Menasha Tuesday night, the Sheboygan A’s fell behind 7-0 after two innings, clawed their way back into the game and scored four times in their last at-bat for a 14-11 victory over the MACs.

The bad news was that Green Bay beat Oshkosh 16-5 to clinch first place in the Northeastern Wisconsin League. The A’s have to win out to finish second and earn home-field advantage in the playoffs, which are scheduled to begin this weekend.

Sheboygan has four games remaining:
– Against De Pere at 7:30 tonight at Wildwood Park tonight
– At Oshkosh on Thursday
– At Wildwood at 7 p.m. on Friday for a doubleheader against De Pere.

The standings look like this:
Green Bay 17-7 (season completed)
Appleton 15-9 (season completed)
Sheboygan 12-8 (four games remaining)
Menasha 13-11 (season completed)
Manitowoc 12-11 (one game remaining)
Oshkosh 9-14 (one game remaining)
De Pere 1-19 (four games remaining)

Ryan Schilter’s three-run home run and broken-bat double were the key hits in the A’s come back.

While their teammates were battling back at the plate, the A’s middle-inning pitchers, Ryan Hamm and Ross Fassbinder, were effective in keeping the powerful MAC bats at bay.

The teams staggered into the ninth inning, with Menasha on top, 11-10.

After one out, Matt Schilter, who took four hits into his final at-bat, was hit by a pitch. Then Ryan Schilter and Doug Dakoning singled, Dakoning knocking in Matt Schilter with the tying run. Cody Marshall and Justin Hunt were hit by pitches enabling the lead run scored. Then the Macs committed two consecutive errors allowing the A’s to score four runs in the inning.

Dakoning pitched the ninth for the save, but that, too, was interesting as the MACs loaded the bases before Dekoning got the final out. Fassbinder got the win; Dekoning the save.

Both Schilters and Dakoning had four hits in the game with Marshall and Joey Patzman both adding two as the A’s racked up 18 hits.

Story by: The Sheboygan Press

Oshkosh Giants Get Roughed Up By Green Bay Storm

The Oshkosh Giants had the tying run at the plate in the eighth inning, but failed to score and then couldn’t stop the Green Bay Storm in the ninth.

The Storm erupted for eight runs in the top of the ninth to pull away for a 16-5 victory over the Giants, clinching the top spot in the Northeastern Baseball League.

Green Bay led the entire way, score three runs in the first and adding two in the third to take a 5-2 advantage. The Storm stretched the lead to 8-2 before the Giants got two runs in the seventh.

Oshkosh added another in the eighth and the chance to score more before the Storm’s T.J. Pierce got out of the jam and the Green Bay offense put things away in the ninth.

Travis DeRocha hit a home run and was 2-for-4 for the Giants, while Derek Layton was also 2-for-4.

The Giants wrap up their regular season at home on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against the Sheboygan A’s.

Story by: The Oshkosh Northwestern

Manitowoc Bandits Are On The Brink

MANITOWOC — The Manitowoc Bandits fell behind 7-0 after four innings against Appleton on Tuesday night at Municipal Field in Manitowoc.

With its playoff hopes dwindling, Manitowoc rallied with six runs in the bottom of the seventh and one in the ninth inning. The Bandits came up one run short in an 8-7 loss, however, and will now have to win Thursday’s season finale and be on the positive side of a tiebreaker scenario if they hope to make the Northeastern Wisconsin Baseball League playoffs.

Thursday’s home game against De Pere could have been meaningless, but a 14-11 loss by Menasha kept Manitowoc alive.

“I had the mentality that we lose and we’re out coming into tonight,” Bandits manager Josh Krowiorz said. “If we still have a chance on Thursday that’s a bonus, but we were out here playing like there’s no tomorrow.”

Manitowoc’s starting pitcher Matt Phipps was pulled after facing three batters in the second inning. He took the loss on the mound, giving up four hits and four earned runs. Krowiorz turned to Galen Duff in relief and he kept Manitowoc in it, giving up three runs in eight innings.

“Duff pitched an unbelievable game,” Krowiorz said. “He didn’t come to the park expecting to have to do that. He really manned up and got us there and gave us a chance at the end.”

Manitowoc matched Appleton in hits throughout the early stages of the game, but couldn’t turn them into runs. Six of Manitowoc’s first eight hits of the game came after two outs and the other two were erased by double plays. Sam Spurney finished 2-for-4 with a double and two runs batted in and Mike Hall was 3-for-5 for Manitowoc. Dave Salzweder was 3-for-4 with a home run to start the game and two doubles and Brett Young was 3-for-4 with three doubles for Appleton.

The Bandits out-hit the Legends 15-13, but the run column of the scoreboard is where it really counts.

Krowiorz added to the run column by belting a three-run home run to cap-off the six-run seventh inning for Manitowoc. He finished the game 2-for-4 with four runs batted in. The long-time Bandit isn’t sure if he will be back next season.

Story by: Manitowoc Herald Times