Whitetails advance to WBA state tournament
The Whitehall Whitetails amateur baseball team swept Tony in the Wisconsin Baseball Association Division B Augusta Regional to qualify for the state tournament.
The Whitetails took early leads in both games, scoring three runs in the bottom of the second in each. Whitehall won the first game, 6-2, and took the second by mercy rule, 16-6.
Brandon Sylla put Whitehall on the board in the first game with an RBI single in the bottom of the second. Chris Killian was later hit by a pitch with the bases loaded before a sacrifice fly by Connor Weltzien gave the team a 3-0 lead. Whitehall added one run in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings to take a 6-0 lead. Tony scored two in the eighth, but Whitehall held on for a 6-2 win.
Ty Webb struck out 11 in six innings to earn the win on the mound.
Whitehall had 15 hits in the game as Devon McCune and Brayden Lisowski both had three while Kyle Steien and Killian had two apiece. Lisowski drove in two runs.
In the second game, Whitehall scored three runs without a hit. Both McCune and Weltzien walked with the bases loaded before Jake Bjerke was hit by a pitch to make the score 3-0.
Tony made the game interesting with a five-run fifth inning to take a 6-5 lead, but Alex Sartor hit a two-run single in the bottom half of the inning to put Whitehall back ahead. Whitehall pulled away with five runs in the sixth inning and ended the game with four in the eighth via the mercy rule.
Sartor had three hits and drove in four runs in the game. Whitehall took advantage of 17 walks while managing 10 hits. McCune and Webb both had two hits. Webb and Lisowski batted in three runs while McCune and Weltzien had two RBIs.
Brandon Sylla got the start and pitched the first four innings before being replaced by Killian. Lisowski allowed just one hit and one walk in the final three frames.
Whitehall brings a 12-10 record into the WBA State Tournament, which will be held in Augusta this weekend. Pairings had not been announced as of press time, but the tournament begins Friday at 7 p.m. with play resuming throughout Saturday. The championship game will be played at noon on Sunday.
