Sunday Roundup: 2013 WSL Season Comes To A Close

For the second time in two weeks, Kyle Comer played the role of hero for the Eau Claire Cavaliers.

After the Cavaliers blew a seven-run lead in the seventh inning, Comer stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth and crushed a walk-off grand slam onto the Carson Park football field. That gave the Cavs a 12-8 victory Sunday, capping a four-game sweep of the visiting Oshkosh Giants.

The win clinched second place in the Wisconsin State League outright for Eau Claire (39-11, 17-7 WSL), which has now won seven straight.

“I just wanted to put the ball in play,” said Comer, who also had a walk-off hit to help the Cavaliers win three of four games against the Kenosha Kings two weeks ago. “Brady (Burzynski) is pretty fast on third, so I knew anything in the air, he was going to tag and score anyway.”

It was the first walk-off homer at any level for Comer, who finished the day 4-for-8 with three runs and four RBIs.

“It felt good,” Comer said. “Off the bat I knew it was deep enough to score him. I was happy about that and then it just kept on carrying.”

Comer has hit .350 over his last 11 games to raise his overall average to .351 in his first year with the team.

“The last two weeks he’s really been hitting the ball well,” Cavaliers manager Mark McHorney said. “He’s staying back on stuff, really hitting the ball hard. He’s done a great job for us at shortstop.”

Eau Claire bested the Giants (9-28, 5-16) 9-7 and 12-0 on Saturday and won Sunday’s opener 6-1 behind the right arm of North graduate Jake Jenneman.

Jenneman scattered eight hits and allowed one run while walking three and striking out five to improve to 10-1 on the year.

“J.J. has been there all year for us,” McHorney said. “He had a great outing today. It helps when you get some early runs. He was getting ahead in counts and attacking hitters.”

Comer, Tyler Duex, Hiroshi Senda and Yuuki Nishimoto each collected two hits in game one, while Comer, Brian Burman and Burzynski had multi-hit games in the nightcap.

Marcus Perleberg was solid through 6 2/3 innings in game two before getting into trouble. The lefty allowed four of his 12 hits in the seventh inning before Memorial graduate Nick Degen took over.

Two Eau Claire errors kept Degen from cleaning up the mess as three unearned runs crossed to tie the game.

“We needed to make a few plays after that and we didn’t,” McHorney said. “That’s the key there.”

Nishimoto gunned down Stanley-Boyd grad and UW-Oshkosh player Neil Hebert at the plate to end the seventh inning, and Burzynski threw out Luke Gajewski at the plate to keep the go-ahead run from scoring in the eighth.

“Give our outfielders credit,” McHorney said. “Those kinds of plays kind of spark you a little bit.”

With seven straight wins in the books, the Cavaliers hope to keep the momentum going as they host the Eau Claire Bears on Tuesday for an intracity showdown.

The Cavaliers then will host the Spooner Bandits on Wednesday for fan appreciation night to finish out the season.

“We just know we’ve got to play our baseball,” Comer said. “To win seven straight, that’s good going into our final two games. Hopefully we can get over the 40-win mark.”

Cavaliers 6, Giants 1

OSHKOSH (1)

AB-R-H-RBI: Luke Gajewski, cf, 4-0-1-0; Robbie Kleman, 2b, 4-0-2-0; Brandon Lalk, lf, 3-0-1-1; Zach Peterson, rf, 3-0-0-0; Trey Demler, dh, 2-0-0-0; Neil Hebert, c, 3-0-1-0; Michael Schmidt, ss, 3-0-2-0; C. Hetzel, 1b, 3-0-0-0; Sam Klein, 3b, 3-1-1-0; James Lacy, p, 0-0-0-0. Totals 28-1-8-1.

EAU CLAIRE (6)

Brady Burzynski, cf, 3-1-1-0; Tyler Duex, 2b, 4-0-2-1; Brian Burman, dh, 4-1-1-1; Kyle Comer, ss, 3-0-2-0; Yuki Yasuda, 3b, 3-1-1-0; Hiroshi Senda, rf, 3-1-2-1; Nick Degen, 1b, 1-1-0-0; Yuuki Nishimoto, lf, 3-1-2-2; Cody Booker, c, 2-0-0-0; Jake Jenneman, p, 0-0-0-0. Totals 26-6-11-5.

Oshkosh 001 000 0 — 1 8 2

Eau Claire 310 002 x — 6 11 0

E — Hebert, Klein. LOB — Oshkosh 9, Eau Claire 6. 2B — Duex. SB — Kleman; Burzynski, Burman, Comer. SAC — Degen.

Oshkosh IP H R ER BB SO

Lacy, L 6 11 6 5 2 5

Eau Claire

Jenneman, W 7 8 1 1 3 5

WP — Lacy. HBP — by Lacy (Booker).

Cavaliers 12, Giants 8

OSHKOSH (8)

AB-R-H-RBI: Luke Gajewski, cf, 5-2-4-0; Robbie Kleman, 2b, 5-1-3-2; Brandon Lalk, lf, 5-1-2-0; Zach Peterson, rf, 4-1-2-2; Trey Demler, dh, 3-1-1-0; Michael Schmidt, ss, 3-1-1-0; Neil Hebert, c, 4-0-0-0; D. Connors, 3b, 2-0-0-0; R. Schmidt, ph/3b, 2-1-1-0; Sam Klein, 1b, 2-0-1-0; K. Biesinger, ph/1b, 2-0-0-0; Travis Sindles, p, 0-0-0-0; C. Hetzel, p, 0-0-0-0. Totals 37-8-15-4.

EAU CLAIRE (12)

Brady Burzynski, dh/rf, 4-2-2-1; Tyler Duex, 2b, 3-1-0-0; Brian Burman, c, 4-2-3-1; Kyle Comer, ss, 5-3-2-4; Yuki Yasuda, 3b, 4-2-1-1; Cody Booker, 3b, 0-0-0-0; Hiroshi Senda, lf, 2-1-1-0; Nick Degen, 1b/p, 3-1-1-1; Yuuki Nishimoto, cf, 3-0-1-2; R.J. Page, rf/1b, 4-0-1-1; Marcus Perleberg, p, 0-0-0-0. Totals 32-12-12-11.

Oshkosh 100 000 70 — 8 15 3

Eau Claire 024 020 04 — 12 12 3

E — Kleman, Schmidt, Hetzel; Duex, Comer, Degen. LOB — Oshkosh 7, Eau Claire 7. 2B — Kleman; Burman 2. HR — Comer. SB — Gajewski 4; Burzynski, Comer, Yasuda. CS — Lalk. SAC — Burzynski, Duex 2, Nishimoto.

Oshkosh IP H R ER BB SO

Sindles 3 6 6 3 2 3

Hetzel, L 4 6 6 5 2 1

Eau Claire

Perleberg 6 2/3 12 5 5 0 6

Degen, W 1 1/3 3 3 0 2 0

WP — Degen.

Story and photo by: The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram

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In the American Amateur Baseball Congress Regional, the Lombard Orioles defeated the Muskegan Marlins in the championship game by a score of 10-0. The Orioles will travel to Farmington, New York for the AABC National Tournament. The first round begins on Thursday.