A bid to reach the WIAA Division 2 state tournament ended in one inning Thursday for East Troy High School’s baseball team.
Defending state champion Waupun scored three runs in the top of the 12th en route to a 7-4 win over the Trojans in the final game of the Chilton Sectional.
The sectional originally was rained out Tuesday. After East Troy beat Racine Lutheran/Prairie, 11-4, in a semifinal game Wednesday, the Trojans and Warriors were forced to suspend their title showdown Wednesday night because of fog and darkness with the game tied 4-4 after 11 innings.
Taylor Nehls’ two-run single for Waupun with two outs in the 12th broke the 4-4 tie. Jake Wohjahn, who drove in the winning run in last year’s state championship game, then singled and scored on Ryan Rasmussen’s triple down the right-field line to gave the Warriors their three-run advantage.
The Trojans threatened a comeback by drawing two walks in the bottom of the 12th. Waupun reliever Bo Miles, the winning pitcher in last year’s state title game, then forced a ground out and a pop out to end the game.
Warrior starter Mitch Belle, who worked 10 innings on Wednesday, and Miles ended the game with seven straight no-hit innings.
However, East Troy had a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth, but the Trojans couldn’t score with the bases loaded and only one out. A pop out an attempted suicide squeeze and a ground out ended the threat.
The Trojans scored three runs in the first. They went up 4-2 with a third-inning run against Bille, who struck out nine, walked 11 and threw an amazing 189 pitches.
Joe Dolgner had three hits for the Warriors. Rasmussen, a Minnesota-Duluth basketball recruit, ripped a game-tying home run on a 0-2 count with two outs in the sixth to ultimately force extra innings.
Andy Kiesow had three of the Trojans’ seven hits, while Allen Loth added a triple.
It was the second straight year East Troy lost to Waupun in the sectional finals. The Warriors scored three runs in the seventh for an 8-7 victory over the Trojans a year ago and got two runs in the bottom of the seventh to edge Platteville, 6-5, for the state championship.
Waupun (16-7) plays Prairie du Chien, the Evansville sectional champion, in this year’s Division 2 state semifinals at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute. The other semifinal game matches Barron against West De Pere a 6.
Third-ranked East Troy, which had been the highest-rated Division 2 team remaining in tournament contention, finished with a 16-3 record. The Trojans, in their 26th season under coach Steve Douglas, won the Southern Lakes championship in what was their final Southern Lakes season.
(Championship)
WAUPUN 7, EAST TROY 4 (12)
Waupun 200 101 000 003—7 13 2
East Troy 301 000 000 000—4 7 1
Miles, Bille (3) and Tavs; Douglas, Tess (3), Kiedow (7) and Kutschenreuter, Douglas (3).
Leading hitters—Nehls (W) 3x5, Wojahn (W) 2x6, Rassmussen (W) 2x6, Dolgner (W) 3x6, Kiesow (ET) 3x4. 2B—Dolgner (W), Visser (W). 3B—DeBoer (W), Rasmussen (W), Loth (ET). HR—Rasmussen (W), Nehls (W).
SO—Bille (W) 9, Douglas (ET) 2, Tess (ET) 3, Kiesow (ET) 3. BB—Miles 4, Bille 11, Tess 1, Kiesow 2.
(Semifinals)
EAST TROY 11, LUTHERAN/PRAIRIE 4
East Troy 010 220 6—11 11 2
Racine Lutheran/Prairie 211 000 0—4 9 2
Tess, Kiesow (4) and D. Douglas; Wagner, Cavey (5), Ganther (7).
Leading hitters—D. Douglas (ET) 2x4, Mike Wendle (ET) 2x3, Stollenwork (ET) 2x4, Ganther (LP) 2x4, Venn (LP) 2x3, Cavey (LP) 2x2. @B—Pederson (ET) , Mitch Wendle (ET) , Ganther (LP), Venn (LP) 2. 3B—D. Douglas (ET).
SO—Tess (ET) 2, Kiesow (ET) 7, Wagner (LP) 5, Cavey (LP) 3, Ganther (LP) 1. BB—Wagner 2, Cavey 2, Ganther 1.