Wildcats dethrone Cardinals in regional final

There will be a new Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division Four state baseball champion, who that remains to be seen, but the Blair-Taylor baseball team held on to knock off defending state champion Eleva-Strum, 2-0, in the regional final round last week Wednesday.

The last time E-S played on the field, the team rallied to win the sectional championship and advance to the state tournament, which it won a week later. Thanks to some wild B-T pitching, the Cardinals were in position for another rally before the Wildcats closed the door.

The win put B-T (14-7-1) in the sectional round against the team that ended its season last year, Pittsville (19-7). That game was played Tuesday morning with the winner advancing to the sectional final later that day.  

The teams combined for just seven hits in the game, but B-T held a 2-0 lead with two outs in the top of the seventh before ace Tavian Shramek had to depart after reaching his pitch limit. 

That brought on Brady Thompson, who didn’t allow a hit in a win in the regional semifinal two days earlier (see story below). But Thompson had difficulty finding the strike zone. 

Thompson threw three straight balls to the first batter he saw before finally getting a strike. The next pitch was out of the zone, issuing a free pass before he threw eight straight balls to load the bases. 

That brought coach Jesse Lien to the mound.

“I just told him to pitch strikes,” Lien said. “I said ‘You have a good defense behind you, you don’t have to strike anybody out. Throw it in there, make them earn it.’”

The next pitch Thompson threw was right in the zone. “Strike one happened, he exhaled,” Lien said. 

Calvin Barneson got ahold of the next pitch, but B-T center fielder Payton Kelly camped under the ball and secured the final out. 

Both teams struggled at the plate as B-T couldn’t get a good read off of E-S starter Noah Matinson. 

Shramek also scored B-T’s first run. He singled with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, stole second, and advanced to third on a groundout. With two outs, a pitch got past the E-S catcher and Shramek slid home to give B-T the lead. 

B-T’s second run came in the bottom of the sixth when Travis Pettis walked with two outs. Matthew Beck entered as a pinch runner and scored on a ground-rule double hit by Brayden Paulson. Paulson smashed a pitch to the warning track where it bounced over the fence. 

Shramek didn’t have his most impressive state line of the season as the Cardinals managed three hits, one walk and two hit batters off of him. Though, he didn’t allow a run and struck out 13 of the 26 batters he faced. 

Shramek got out of a jam in the fourth when he allowed a single, a walk and a hit batter to load the bases with one out. He struck out the next two to eliminate the threat. He allowed a leadoff single in the fifth and a one-out single in the sixth, but the Cardinals runners were left on base.

While E-S came into the game with a 10-12 record, Lien said the team was young and playing well at the end of the season. The Cardinals upset second-seeded Royall, 4-3, in the semifinal round, which meant Wednesday’s game would be played a third-seeded B-T.

“I give (E-S) a ton of credit, they played so well,” Lien said. “We got fortunate a couple of times where they had guys on base and we got out of trouble. They are going to be a good team for many years. They have a lot of young good players.”

But Lien credited his team with continuing to work in the game and earn the win.

“I told them in the huddle after the game that every tournament run has to have a game like this,” Lien said. “A game you shouldn’t win, but find a way.”

B-T 10 Cashton 1

The Wildcats’ win in the semifinal round wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the team took a big lead early and the Eagles never really threatened.

B-T’s first run came on a walk with the bases loaded before another scored on a fielder’s choice, both in the bottom of the first inning. Two more runs scored on errors in the second before Kelly drove in another with a single, making the score 5-0.

Shramek and Austin Thompson connected on consecutive RBI singles in the third to put B-T ahead, 8-0.

Cashton scored its only run in the sixth when it connected on consecutive singles with two outs. B-T got that run back plus one more when Kelly singled and an error helped two runs score. 

Kelly was three-for-three at the plate while both Shramek and Thompson had two hits, all three batted in two runs. 

Thompson was the winning pitcher, tossing the first four innings without allowing a hit. He struck out three and walked one. Freshman Ty Tranberg finished the game, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out one.