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WIAA State Tournament: Day 3

June 13, 2019
By Wisconsin Staff

Finally it's Thursday, which marks the conclusion of the 2019 WIAA season where we'll crown state champs for all four of the state's divisions. Due to the non-stop rain we received yesterday afternoon, the Division-2 semifinals were forced to be pushed back from Wednesday evening to Thursday morning.

McFarland and Union Grove will begin their semifinals meeting at 8 a.m., hosted at Nienhaus Field, rather than Fox Cities Stadium. As for Antigo and West De Pere, the two will play at the main stadium, also at 8 a.m. The D-4 title game between Mineral Point and Webster will follow.

Below, we're compiling notes and game recaps for each of the day's games.

This post will update throughout the day. The D-2 semis are set to start at 8 a.m., at two different sites.

Division-2 Semifinals

No. 1 West De Pere – 0
Antigo – 3

Antigo blanked the No. 1 team in the state Thursday morning behind the left arm of Junior Valporaiso commit, Brady Renfro.

Thursday's championship day started off with a pair of D2 semifinals that were rained out on Wednesday night. At Fox Cities Stadium, a pair of southpaws dueled it out with Renfro and Antigo coming out on top.

West De Pere sent senior ace Connor Langreder to the mound. A Northern Illinois commit, Langreder was sharp all day, but got little help from his infield defense. Langreder struck out eight in 6.2 innings pitched and allowed two unearned runs. His slider proved to be his go to out pitch pairing it with an 83-85 mph fastball that creates angle and finish.

Antigo got their first run in the third on what looked like it would be a taylor made double play ball, but Nevin Cornelius beat the throw at first base, allowing Eli Fleischman to score the first run of the game.

The Red Robins tacked on two insurance runs in the fifth. A botched run down after Langreder had Eric Langseth picked off at first base and a two out infield error lead to both Antigo runs, and plenty of padding for Renfro.

Renfro finished the contest with seven strikeouts allowing just five hits and retired the last eight in a row to finish the complete game shutout. Renfro used a combination of an 83-86 mph four seam fastball and 72-73 mph 12/6 curveball to change speeds and eye levels throughout the contest.

Antigo will take on the winner of Union Grove vs. McFarland in this afternoon's D-2 title game.

No. 9 Union Grove – 6
McFarland – 1

The Broncos received an enormous performance from their go-to starter Luke Hansel, who went the distance in his team’s 6-1 victory over McFarland.

Hansel was also buoyed by his team’s early offensive output in the top of the first, when they tallied four hits which helped produce an early 4-0 lead before the Spartans were even able to pick up a bat. In top of the first, Union Grove scored its first run on T.J. Manteufel’s double to right and Hansel doubled himself to make it 2-0. A sac fly scored their third and a wild pitch sent their fourth home to take a commanding lead quickly.

Meanwhile on the mound, Hansel retired nine in a row to start the ballgame before an error provided McFarland with their first baserunner. The Spartans’ middle of the order threatened to cut into Union Grove’s big lead when star shortstop Reece Samuel lined a base hit to right to put a runner on first and third with one away. The big junior Xavier Schreiber squared a ball up to left field but the wind prevented it from traveling too far from the Broncos, though it did lead to the team’s first run via the sacrifice fly. Hansel prevented the Spartans from rallying further, keeping his team ahead, 6-1.

It was pretty quiet the rest of the way for both sides. Hansel settled right back in and McFarland was stopping any further Union Grove rallies from starting, but their own bats couldn’t find the spark.

In the end, Hansel was too much, and the team’s four-run first was too big a hill for the Spartans to climb back from. Hansel finished the day allowing just the one unearned run on two hits, no walks, and he struck out eight in his complete-game effort. The Broncos will play Antigo later today to determine the D-2 state champion.

D-4 Championship

No. 8 Webster – 11
No. 22 Mineral Point – 1

The Webster Tigers (30-0) completed their undefeated 2019 season with a convincing state championship win over an undefeated Mineral Point (27-1) team. The two teams squared off without a blemish on their respective records, but the pitching dominance and bats of the Tigers proved too much for Mineral Point.

Mineral Point landed the first punch of the game with a run I the bottom of the first on a wild pitch after Justin Baehler tripled to right field. A punch that seemed to wake up senior RHP Jack Washburn and the Tigers.

The Tigers quickly answered with five runs in the top of the second, and Washburn did not allow a hit the rest of the game.

For Washburn, it was arguably the best outing we've seen from the 6-foot-2, 205-pound right-hander. Washburn pitched masterfully with a nearly untouchable fastball/curveball combination. His curveball played plus throughout the contest working in the 76-79 mph range, along with a fastball that sat 86-88 mph, and touched 89 mph in the seventh. But most importantly, Washburn did not walk a batter, throwing 65 of 96 pitches for strikes. Washburn finished with 12 strikeouts, allowing just two hits.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Tigers banged out 11 runs on 12 hits. Owen Wasburn, Jack Washburn, Trevor Gustafson and Coleton Peterson each had two hits.

D-3 Championship

Stratford – 9
Markesan – 4

After Markesan’s sophomore starter Bryce Leedle pitched over a bases-loaded jam in the first frame, he settled in, which allowed the Hornets behind him to score the first couple of runs of the game.

Max Stellmacher’s RBI single in the second gave the Hornets the first lead and a wild pitch in the third made it 2-0, all while Leedle looked to be in charge.

Stratford really had no answer for the sophomore righty through four innings, and Markesan’s 2-0 lead was holding firm. Then, from out of nowhere, the Tigers rallied and tied it in the fifth. They loaded the bases and, with two outs, yet another clutch Riley Bauman soft single to center helped the Tigers get on the board, getting level with the Hornets, 2-2.

Markesan had an answer, however, though it came with some help. With two outs and a runner on first, Sage Stellmacher grounded a ball softly to the left side of the infield. Stratford’s shortstop dove and fired it to first on a hop and the ball got away. The baserunner made his way to third and kept on going all the way home when he realized there was no one covering. The heads-up play gave Markesan back the lead with three outs to go.

In the sixth, and again with two outs, a walk brought Stratford’s Chandler Schmidt to the plate who barreled a line-drive to right, misjudged by the right fielder, landing just short of the right field fence, scoring the tying run.

After a 1-2-3 Markesan half-inning, Stratford looked like they were going to go the same way in the top of the seventh when Bauman – again – sparked a rally. His two-out single to right energized the Stratford dugout which led to a chain of eight straight baserunners reaching safely. Eli Drexler’s two-run single helped pad the lead and a few more hits after his made it a 9-3 ballgame with three outs to go.

Markesan scratched across one in the bottom of the seventh but, ultimately, that was all they could muster.

Stratford are state champions for the first time in their program’s history.

D-2 Championship

No. 9 Union Grove – 3
Antigo – 8

Antigo traveled to the state tournament for the first time since 1995, and this time, they’ll be breaking back first-place hardware. The Red Robins were crowned state champs for the first time in their program’s history on Thursday evening for first time in program history, in their 8-3 win over ranked Union Grove.

Both teams traded runs in the first inning. Union Grove struck first when a one-out walk set the table for a red-hot T.J. Manteufel to double runners into scoring position. With two outs now, Jack Clark flared a single into shallow center to score the game’s opening runs.

That lead didn’t last long when Brady Renfro, the hero of Antigo’s semifinals win over West De Pere, rifled a double into the right field corner to score a run, and he eventually scored on a groundout to tie it, 2-2.

The score was stuck tied until Union Grove benefited from a couple of errors. A lead-off error put a runner on, and he came around to score while tagging up, headed to third on a fly out. An errant throw to third allowed go-ahead run to score, and it looked as if Union Grove was going to be able to cling to it.

But, with two outs in the fifth, Antigo’s big lefty Logan Doering came up to the plate with a runner on first and battered a high fly ball to the right field corner that landed well beyond the wall for a dramatic two-run, go-ahead homer, making it a 4-3 ballgame.

After a quiet half-inning from Union Grove, the Red Robins put the game out of reach and loaded the bases with no outs. A single through the right side of the infield off the bat of Eric Langseth scored a run but the ball trickled past the oncoming outfielder which allowed the rest of the baserunners to score, too, and Langseth glided into third. The Red Robins kept at it and put together a six-run sixth inning, which made it a 8-3 game with three outs to go.

The Broncos tried their best to string together a rally in the top of the seventh, but Antigo prevented them from plating either of their two singles in the inning, clinching the D-2 title victory in the process.

Division-1 Championship

No. 13 Sun Prairie – 4
No. 16 Eau Claire North – 5

The Eau Claire North Huskies have made four straight trips to the state tournament and finally, on the fourth visit, they’ll head home as the Division-1 champions. A couple late errors looked like it was set to doom the Huskies but Sam Stange pulled them back from the brink when he slugged a long come-from-behind home run in the bottom of the sixth to propel North back into the lead for good.

Here’s how we got there.

After a scoreless first, North’s catcher Joe Feck roped a double into the right-center gap with a pair of runners on and both strolled home, capturing an early 2-0 lead.

Sun Prairie got a run back in the next half-inning, but they certainly could have scored more, stranding a couple of runners with just one out. North’s starter, Austin Goetsch, navigated the trouble well, lessening Sun Prairie’s consistent threats.

The momentum looked like it was back on Sun Prairie’s side when Josh Caron prevented them from extending their 2-1 lead in the fifth. He gunned down a baserunner at home on a near-perfect throw that kept the score where it was.

But the Cardinals couldn’t sustain a rally long enough to take advantage. And, really, they needed Eau Claire’s help to get back even and then some in the top of the sixth.

A lead-off walk was followed by a sac bunt and a fielder’s choice, giving the Cardinals the tying run at third with pinch-hitter Alec Schmitz at the plate. Schmitz grounded a ball into the hole at short but the throw over to first came in on a hop and couldn’t be corralled, tying the game at two. Another error in the infield extended the inning for the clutch Carson Shepard, who smashed a double to deep left, scoring both runners on base, and giving Sun Prairie an enormous 4-2 lead in the process.

It felt like North was on the ropes, especially when their first two batters of the half-inning went down in order, but Huskies lead-off man Gabe O’Brien sparked the two-out rally with his single to right. A hard-fought walk followed that, setting up a prime-time two-out spot for the hottest hitter in Grand Chute: Stange. He turned around a fastball to deep right and it was trouble off the barrel. It carried well over the right field wall to totally turn the tables, putting the Huskies back into the lead, 5-4.

The electric atmosphere seemed to topple Sun Prairie when it came to be their turn again in the top of the seventh, and North reliever Joel Zachow retired the Cards in order, 1-2-3, earning a strike out looking to clinch the D-1 title for the Huskies. It’s the program’s first state title since 2011 and their second overall.

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