Sunday Roundup: Results From Sunday In The WSL Challenge
July 15, 2013
The Wisconsin State League Challenge completed on Sunday afternoon in Sheboygan.
The Eau Claire Cavaliers ran wild, stealing nine bases as a team in a 16-1 win over the Oshkosh Giants before losing a heartbreaker, 4-2 in eight innings to the Lombard Orioles to wrap up the Wisconsin State League Challenge on Sunday in Sheboygan.
LaDarrius Cole had five RBIs on the day, while Kyle Comer and Yuuki Yasuda each had three.
Story by: Eau Claire Leader-Telegram
`news_meta_keywords`, `news_image`,
`news_meta_keywords`, `news_image`,
One day after splitting two games, the Kenosha Kings posted two victories to finish with a 3-1 record in the inaugural Wisconsin State League Challenge in Sheboygan.
On Sunday, the Kings defeated the Addison Braves, 7-5, and the Sheboygan A’s, 5-2. Both games counted in the league standings as the Kings improved to 13-5 in the WSL and 26-10 overall.
Kenosha is now idle until Thursday when it returns to Sheboygan for a single game against the A’s at Wildwood Park.
“It’s a well-needed rest,” Kings manager Tim Pulizzano acknowledged.
In the victory over Addison, Kenosha sent 10 batters to the plate in a five-run third inning to take a 6-1 lead. Kyle Vanderwall’s two-run double capped the big inning, which included five hits and two walks.
That was enough for Travis Vanderwall (4-1) as he tossed a seven-hit complete game with three walks and seven strikeouts. Only three of the five runs were earned.
Mark Cibrario, Tyler Eickmeyer, JT Schneider and Kyle Vanderwall all had two hits each. Eickmeyer tripled and scored two runs while Cibrario and Schneider both had an RBI.
The Kings turned to their ace to finish off the weekend and Randy Johnson (6-2) didn’t disappoint, allowing two runs on five hits in seven innings. He walked one and fanned five.
Kenosha scored twice in the second inning — a home run by Jason Dennis that traveled “420 feet,” according to Pulizzano, and a suicide squeeze by Andrew Highland that scored Derek Idstein.
“We had big and small ball in the same inning,” Pulizzano said.
Paul Pulera had three of Kenosha’s eight hits. Eickemeyer’s two-run single highlighted a three-run fourth.
Story by: The Kenosha News
`news_meta_keywords`, `news_image`,
`news_meta_keywords`, `news_image`,
The hard-charging Sheboygan A’s tore through their first two opponents in a busy four-game weekend before running into a couple brick-wall opponents on Sunday in the Wisconsin State League Challenge.
The team manager said he’s hoping a pair of losses on Sunday — which snapped the A’s 14-game winning streak — would be no more than a blip on the radar for a team looking to keep running through the second half of the season and into two league playoff brackets in just a few weeks.
“Right now is the best time to be playing your best baseball, which we are right now — today was just a little setback,” A’s manager Tyler Martin said shortly after his team dropped a 5-2 decision to the Kenosha Kings on Sunday. Sheboygan lost to the Lombard Orioles 1-0 earlier that day. “… We’re definitely carrying some good momentum into the second half of the season.”
Sheboygan hosted the Wisconsin State League Challenge this weekend. The league agreed to hold the unique event — not a tournament, but a 12-game intra-league gauntlet in which every WSL team played four games — after the Manitowoc Bandits dropped out of the league last season, threatening to cut into each team’s schedule this year. The three-day event aimed at bolstering teams’ calendars.
The A’s breezed through their earliest games in the Challenge on Friday and Saturday, when the team handled the Oshkosh Giants and Addison Braves in 13-1 and 8-3 decisions, respectively, for their 13th and 14th straight wins.
The A’s scored three runs in the second inning and led the rest of the way in Saturday’s win over Addison. Harry Steldt finished the win with three hits.
But Sheboygan faced a considerably steeper challenge in Sunday’s doubleheader. Lombard had entered the Challenge leading the WSL, with Kenosha sitting second in the standings.
Sheboygan fell behind Kenosha early after giving up a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. The Kings scored three more in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead before Sheboygan finally got on the board in the seventh — and final — inning, when two players reached home on wild pitches.
“Our pitching is holding up,” Denny Moyer, Sheboygan’s general manager, said Sunday. “We just didn’t hit the ball today. We just ran into two good pitchers.”
Martin agreed, saying his players “just didn’t swing it as well as we have been” against Lombard and Kenosha.
“But our effort’s been really good and it’s been fun,” he said. “I mean, we’ve been playing good baseball, so I’ve had absolutely no complaints with the way we’ve been playing lately.”
Before Sunday, the A’s hadn’t lost since dropping an 8-7 game to Manitowoc on June 25.
Sheboygan is scheduled to host Racine Kiwanis at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Wildwood Baseball Park.
The team is slated to launch into the Frank Langsdorf Baseball League of Southeastern Wisconsin playoffs later this month. The Northeastern Wisconsin Baseball League playoffs won’t start until August. The WSL doesn’t hold a playoff.
The A’s now hold a 25-17 overall record. Sheboygan’s 14-game run helped the team rebound from a rough stretch earlier this season, and Martin said he’s hopeful the lineup can keep the fire burning through the end of this month.
“I think that we were kind of a little down early when we were under .500,” Martin said. “But we regrouped and guys kind of refocused and we got on a roll and it’s fun. And I think everybody’s confidence individually and collectively really picked up.”
Story by: The Sheboygan Press
`news_meta_keywords`, `news_image`,
`news_meta_keywords`, `news_image`,
Wisconsin State League Challenge Results
Friday:
Sheboygan A’s 13, Oshkosh Giants 1
Saturday:
Lombard Orioles 13, Kenosha Kings 2
Lombard Orioles 7, Oshkosh Giants 0
Kenosha Kings 16, Eau Claire Cavaliers 11 (9 innings)
Eau Claire Cavaliers 7, Addison Braves 1
Sheboygan A’s 8, Addison Braves 3
Sunday:
Kenosha Kings 7, Addison Braves 5
Lombard Orioles 1, Sheboygan A’s 0
Eau Claire Cavaliers 16, Oshkosh Giants 1
Lombard Orioles 4, Eau Claire Cavaliers 2 (9 innings)
Kenohsa Kings 5, Sheboygan A’s 2
Oshkosh Giants 5, Addison Braves 4
The Wisconsin State League is one of the premier semi-professional/amateur baseball leagues in the mid-west. In operation since 1970, the Wisconsin State League is a highly competitive league that features many of the midwest's top current and former collegiate athletes, as well as many former professional baseball players. Keep up to date on everything happening in the Wisconsin State League by following the league online on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
WisconsinStateLeague.com | #WSL