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Craig caps off big baseball week

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Parker's Trent Kobs rushes back to first base after a long fly ball was caught by Craig's Christian DeCremer in the seventh on Friday.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Craig fans tailgate outside the fence in left field during the Cougars' game with Parker on Friday.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Craig's Austin Geller hurls a pitch against Parker on Friday.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Parker's Kyle Johnson fires a pitch against Craig on Friday.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Parker's Kyle Johnson leads off as Craig's Austin Geller delivers a pitch on Friday.

JANESVILLE — A bad-hop single decided Friday afternoon’s baseball thriller between Janesville Craig and Janesville Parker.

In a 4-4 game with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, Craig High’s Christian DeCremer hit a sharp grounder right at Parker shortstop Aaron Jacobson.

Fortunately for the Cougars, the ball skipped over the head of Jacobson, allowing two runs to score, as Craig High earned an 8-4 Big Eight Conference win at Riverside Park.

Craig High rallied three times to tie the game before scoring four runs in the sixth. The victory keeps the Cougars (5-1, 4-1) tied for first place in the Big Eight with Sun Prairie and Middleton and capped off a perfect 3-0 week.

“You don’t get a much better week than that,” Craig High coach Vic Herbst said. “We beat the two preseason conference favorites (Madison Memorial and Middleton), and our crosstown rival.

“For us to come out 3-0 is huge for our team. But there is a lot of baseball left to be played.”

Both teams played well Friday. The Cougars finished with eight hits and got a solid relief outing from junior Mike Davis. The righthander threw three scoreless innings in picking up the win. Senior first baseman Dylan Grall knocked in four of his team’s eight runs, including a two-run single in the first that tied the game at 2-2.

Parker, which was outscored 21-3 in back-to-back losses Wednesday and Thursday, banged out 13 hits and commited only one error.

Although losers of three straight, Parker coach Brian Martin said Friday’s performance was more indicative of the team he envisioned coming into the season.

“We’re a pretty young high school team, but I was really proud of the way we responded today,” Martin said. “We swung the bats well and gave ourselves a chance, but we couldn’t make the most of the opportunities we had.

“It’s too bad that the one thing that everyone is going to look at about this game is the bad hop because there were plenty of chances early on by both teams where that play wouldn’t have mattered in the end.”

Parker took the lead 4-3 in the fourth on Alex Koel’s RBI double, but the Cougars tied it in their half of the inning on Brett Fredricks’ RBI single.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, the Cougars loaded the bases on two walks and a fielder’s choice. DeCremer’s single scored Nick Weber and Keith Wright to make it 6-4, and Grall followed with a two-run single to cap the four-run rally.

“It was good to see DeCremer come up and make good contact that last time up because he had struggled the first three times up,” Herbst said. “And Dylan’s hit in the sixth gave us a nice four-run cushion.

“Parker played great baseball today, and we expected that. It was a great high school baseball game, and that’s what makes this rivalry so great.”

Kelly Silha and Jake Kobs had three hits apiece for the Vikings, while Fredricks, Zach Whalen and Grall had two hits each for the Cougars.

CRAIG 8, PARKER 4

Parker (ab-r-h-rbi)—Koel, cf, 4-0-1-1; Johnson, p-1b, 3-1-1-0; Allen, cr, 0-1-0-0; Silha, c, 4-0-3-0; T. Kobs, 2b, 0-1-0-0; Teubert, ss-p, 4-0-1-0; Jacobson, 2b-ss, 3-0-2-2; Fiedler, rf, 4-0-1-0; Moe, 3b, 4-0-1-0; J. Kobs, dh-2b, 4-1-3-0; Kersten, 1b, 0-0-0-0; Kilmer, lf, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 33-4-13-3.

Craig (ab-r-h-rbi)—Bayreuther, ss, 3-2-1-0; Fredricks, 2b, 4-1-2-1; DeCremer, cf, 4-1-1-2; Whalen, 3b, 3-2-2-0; Grall, 1b, 2-0-2-4; Geller, p, 2-0-2-1; Graves, cr, 0-0-0-0; Meyer, c, 2-0-0-0; Olin, cr, 0-0-0-0; McCulloch, dh, 3-0-0-0; Weber, lf-pr, 0-1-0-0; Wright, rf, 2-1-0-0; Davis, p, 2-0-0-0. Totals: 27-8-10-8.

Janesville Parker 201 100 0—4

Janesville Craig 201 104 x—8

E—Parker 1, Craig 1. LOB—Parker 11, Craig 7. DP—Parker 1, Craig 1. SF—Jacobson. SB—Teubert, Bayreuther. 2B—Koel, J. Kobs, Whalen.

Parker IP H R ER BB SO

Johnson 4 8 4 4 1 4

Teubert (L) 2 2 4 3 5 2

Craig

Geller 4 8 4 4 1 2

Davis (W) 3 5 0 0 0 1