2011 Season Wrap-Up

Leading the league in hitting, pitching and depth, the Lombard Orioles also led in wins to cop their eighth straight Wisconsin State Baseball League championship.

In addition to their string of eight straight, the Orioles, managed by Jeff Vukovich, have won of shared the league title 14 of the 20 seasons that they have competed.   The Orioles joined the league for the 1992 season.

This year they went 18-6 to beat out the Eau Claire Cavaliers by one game. The Manitowoc Bandits and Sheboygan A’s tied for third at 14-10.

Lombard led the league in hitting with a .312 team batting average and in pitching with a 2.86 team earned run average.

No less than 15 Lombard players appeared in 10 or more games and 10 of them hit over .300.  The unfortunate result of that was that among the .300 hitters, only shortstop Dave Competillo had enough plate appearances to qualify for individual honors.  He finished fourth with a .368 average. 

Runner-up to Lombard in hitting was Manitowoc with a .294 team average and runner-up in pitching was Sheboygan.  The A’s staff compiled a 3.25 team earned run average.  Manitowoc was the top defensive team with a .975 average.

Nolan Fadness of Eau Claire was the only player in the league to top the .400 mark and won the batting tltle with a .438 average.  Blake Berger and Brock Gaertzke were second and third at .378 and .369.  Then came Competillo followed by Mark Cibrario of Kenosha .357 and Tim Patzman of Sheboygan .355.

Kenosha’s Randy Johnson was the top pitcher with a 1.71 earned run average.  Sheboygan’s Collin Weyer was runner-up at 1.93.  They were the only two hurlers in the league with ERA’s under 2.00.  Rounding out the top five were Joe Sweeney of Lombard at 2.32, Brady Sand of Eau Claire 2.45 and Jack Archie of Sheboygan 2.81.

Manitowoc’s Mike Hall handled 116 chances without an error to win the fielding title.

In addition to leading the league in hitting, Fadness led in runs scored, 23; hits, 32, stolen bases, 23; and total bases 44.  Lombard’s Nick Mitedero led in runs batted in, 26; Sheboygan’s Patzman led in doubles, 9; slugging percentage, .645; and shared the home run title with Berger, Rick Angell of Lombard and Will Fadness of Eau Claire, all with three.

Manitowoc’s Nathan Shea led pitchers in appearances, 11; starts, six; and innings pitched, 48.  Eau Claire’s Andrew Klein led in strikeouts, 39; Sand and Jake Peterson in wins, four, and Mark Shaver in saves, six.

The league will begin planning for its 43^rd season with its October meeting. Teams in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois with an interest in joining the league should contact the league office at sac AT excel DOT net.