D1 Quarterfinals: Arrowhead, Johnson edge Burlington for semis berth

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – In the third game of the day, the starters, Arrowhead’s Jacob Johnson and Burlington’s Trey Krause, both dodged barrels to keep the score down. Though, eventually, the Warhawks scratched across the go-ahead run in the fifth off Krause and that was just enough for Johnson and Arrowhead reliever Derek Polczynski, who limited the Demons to just six hits all game.

Neither team was able to score a run through the first three frames despite creating some offense. Both squads were guilty of running themselves out of innings with lapses in judgement on the basepaths – they specifically cost the Warhawks premium scoring opportunities off Burlington’s ace in the first and third innings while Krause had otherwise been cruising.

Finally, in the fourth inning, the scoreless tie was broken. With two outs, Arrowhead’s Jeff Holtz hit the day’s hardest ball, a rocket line-drive single into the outfield. Holtz’s courtesy runner Jacob Boray came home to break the tie on back-to-back groundball singles through either side of the infield by Bryce Toussaint and Alex Tanke.

Burlington took advantage of their very next turn at bat in the top of the fifth with Johnson still pitching. With one out, Demons left fielder Derek Koenen grounded a single to the left of Arrowhead’s Luke Schraufnagel to get a rally started. He stole second to get into scoring position for lead-off hitter Michael Rozell, but Johnson struck him out with the count full to get an out closer to preserving his team’s 1-0 lead. With Grant Tully in the batter’s box and Koenen still on second, Arrowhead shortstop Toussaint broke for second base to summon a pick-off attempt but Johnson was already in motion and Tully grounded a ball right where Toussaint was previously positioned. The ball snuck under his outstretched glove and Koenen came around to score to tie the game. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases but Johnson kept the tie intact when Burlington’s Christian Brenner grounded out to first to end the threat.

In the second half of the inning, with one down, Johnson ripped a single on the ground through the middle of the infield for his second hit of the day. Courtesy runner Jacob Probst moved up to second on a wild pitch as Arrowhead’s Chandler Pulvermacher struck out to send Joey Bartolone to the dish. Bartolone, on a 2-1 count, dropped a soft fly ball perfectly into shallow center that easily scored Probst, handing the Warhawks the lead again, 2-1.

Arrowhead opted to call on their righty Polczynski to shut the door and record the final six outs and he got off to an important start with his 11-pitch, 1-2-3 frame. Krause countered by setting down the Warhawks in order in the bottom of the sixth, sending Polczynski back to the mound to keep the Demons from getting on the board.

To lead off the frame, Koenen, again, got things started with his single through the left side of the infield. Calmly, when Rozell attempted to move Koenen to second on a sacrifice bunt, Polczynski fielded the bunt cleanly and fired to second to record the inning’s first out. A groundball to Schraufnagel at third resulted in another fielder’s choice at second base and the Demons were down to their final out, staring at elimination. Polczynski sent the tying run to second, in scoring position, when he hit Krause with a pitch however but he got Trent Turzenski to hit a soft fly ball to shallow right to record the game’s final out and earn his team a spot in this evening’s semifinals.

The Warhawks will have a brief break before they return to the field to play Janesville Craig at approximately 8:45 p.m.

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