Arcadia legion team bows out at regional level
Xavier Santillion of Arcadia Post 17 fought off a tag by a La Crosse A’s player in a Class AA regional legion playoff game in Onalaska last Friday. Arcadia lost its first two games and ends the summer season with an 8-7 record. (Times photograph by Benjamin Pierce)
Catcher Ben Lightfoot narrowly missed the tag at home plate last Friday during an 11-4 legion baseball regional playoff loss to the La Crosse A's in Onalaska. (Times photograph by Benjamin Pierce)
After winning the final two games of its regular season, a tough Class AA regional bracket faced the Arcadia Post 17 legion baseball team in Onalaska last week.
Post 17 dropped its first two games of the double-elimination regional to La Crosse and West Salem, ending Arcadia’s summer with an 8-7 record.
Arcadia 8 Fall Creek 0
Four Arcadia pitchers teamed up to hold Fall Creek to a single hit last Tuesday on the road.
Connor Weltzien, Brandon Sylla, Max Sobotta and Austin Fernholz all saw time on the mound for Arcadia and combined for eight strikeouts, one walk and one hit in the shutout victory.
A Fall Creek error on a fly ball from Carson Wozney brought home three runs for Post 17 to help the visitors lead 4-0 through one inning. Arcadia scored twice more in the second inning, and a Weltzien double scored the final two runs of the game.
Sylla was Arcadia’s busiest offensive player, finishing 3-for-4 at the plate with a double. Sobotta hit 2-for-3 with three scores for Post 17, and Weltzien paced the team with three RBI.
Arcadia 9 BRF 2
A dynamic sixth inning gave Post 17 plenty of comfort late in their regular season finale last Wednesday in Black River Falls.
Leading 2-1 through five innings, Arcadia exploded for seven scores in the sixth inning to pull away from the hosts.
Five hits and three walks helped Post 17 to the big inning in a game that four different Arcadia players recorded two hits and the visitors racked up 11 hits.
Weltzien hit two doubles for the Raiders, whom gave up eight hits on defense. Sobotta earned the win and split 10 strikeouts with Sylla and Prestin Scow.
La Crosse A’s 11 Arcadia 4
The bats were booming for Aquinas’ legion team, which led 9-0 by the end of the fourth inning, in a Class AA refgional playoff opener last Friday in Onalaska.
Arcadia scored four runs late but fell short against the A’s, who outhit Arcadia 10 to six.
Six players from either dugout finished with at least one hit. Landon Teachout of the A’s was the day’s top performer on offense, hitting 3-for-4 with a double and four RBI.
A Maverick Drazkowski double in the top of the fifth helped Arcadia find some offense as the 2024 graduate led Post 17 with two RBI.
Fernholz, Sobotta and Weltzien shared pitching, tossing four strikeouts and three walks while giving nine earned runs against in six innings.
West Salem 4 Arcadia 3
West Salem Post 51 flipped Arcadia’s second tournament game on its head in the final inning on Saturday.
Arcadia led 3-2 through six innings and needed three outs on defense to extend its postseason, but a fielding error allowed West Salem to tie the game. Luke Baginski scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch two at-bats later.
The Raiders got two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh inning but couldn’t get the run back.
West Salem walked home two runs in the fifth inning with the bases loaded, giving Arcadia its 3-2 advantage before Post 51 took the game late.
Sobotta hit 3-for-4, and Drazkowski was 2-for-2 with a double. Weltzien pitched six innings on Saturday, partnering 10 strikeouts with three walks and six hits allowed.
