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Home run ends Parker's season

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Parker vs Fort Atkinson Regional Semifinal Div. 1 Baseball

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JANESVILLE — One swing of the bat put an end to Janesville Parker High School’s baseball season here Tuesday afternoon.

Dan Rowley hit a two-run homer with no outs in the top of the ninth inning to lift Fort Atkinson to a 4-3, extra-inning win in a WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal thriller at Riverside Park.

Fort Atkinson (7-19) advances to a regional final game Friday at Oconomowoc. The winner qualifies for next week’s Janesville Craig Sectional.

Parker, despite rallying for two runs in the bottom of the ninth, finished at 7-19.

“One swing of the bat, it’s unfortunate, but that was the difference,” Parker coach Brian Martin said of Rowley’s home run. “But it shouldn’t have come down to that. We had too many chances to push a run across and couldn’t do it.”

Parker left 10 runners on base, including eight in scoring position.

With the game tied at 1-1, Corey Schoenherr walked to lead off Fort Atkinson’s ninth inning. That brought up Rowley, who missed the bunt sign on the first pitch from Parker starter Andy Kersten. The next pitch was a fastball, and Rowley deposited it over the fence to give The Blackhawks a 3-1 lead.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Rowley said of his home run. “He (Kersten) threw very good and mixed things up, but I got a pitch I liked and was able to drive it.

“We knew coming into the tournament that we could play with anybody (in the sectional). It was a matter of playing a complete game, both offensively and defensively. And we did that today.”

Fort Atkinson added another run in the ninth on Wes Frankiewicz’s RBI single.

Parker mounted a two-out rally in the ninth to make things interesting. Matt Fiedler, who had three hits, singled with one out. After Ross Mauermann flew out for the second out, Kyle Johnson ripped his third hit and advanced to second on a fielding error. Tyler Teubert then ripped a double to the gap in right-center to cut the lead to one.

With the tying run on second, Kelly Silha popped out to the shortstop to end the game.

“You can’t leave as many runners in scoring position as we did and expect to win,” Martin said. “We just didn’t swing the bats very well tonight.”

Kersten was brilliant for eight innings. The sophomore struck out 11 and allowed only four hits through the first eight innings. Johnson relieved Kersten in the ninth and allowed one run.

Dwight Mueller picked up the win. The Fort senior threw five innings and allowed two runs on six hits.

“We battled Oconomowoc tough earlier in the year, and we know we can play with them,” Fort Atkinson coach Mark Rowley said. “And now we’ve got a little bit of momentum going, and this is the right time of year for that to happen.”

FORT ATKINSON 4, PARKER 3 (9)

Fort Atkinson (ab-r-h-rbi)—Musgrave, cf, 4-0-0-0; Knutson, ss, 3-0-0-0; Deuster, c, 3-0-0-0; Falk, cr, 0-1-0-0; Schoenherr, p-3b, 2-1-2-0; Sanders, cr, 0-0-0-0; Rowley, rf, 4-1-2-3; Hartwick, 3b-1b, 4-1-1-0; Patterson, lf, 3-0-0-0; Mueller, 1b-p, 3-0-0-0; Bleecker, ph, 1-0-0-0; Frankiewicz, 2b, 4-0-2-1. Totals: 31-4-7-4.

Parker (ab-r-h-rbi)—Mauermann, lf, 5-0-0-0; Johnson, dh, 5-1-3-1; Teubert, ss, 4-0-1-2; Silha, c, 4-0-0-0; Tr. Kobs, cr, 0-0-0-0; J. Kobs, 2b, 3-0-0-0; Ta. Kobs, pr, 0-0-0-0; Welch, 3b, 4-0-1-0; Meehan, 1b, 3-0-0-0; Koel, cf, 4-0-0-0; Fiedler, rf, 4-2-3-0. Totals: 36-3-8-3.

Fort Atkinson 000 100 003—4

Janesville Parker 001 000 002—3

E—Fort Atkinson 4, Parker 1. LOB—Fort Atkinson 4, Parker 10. DP—Parker 1. SAC—Patterson, Meehan. SB—Schoenherr, Johnson, Teubert. 2B—Teubert. HR—Rowley.

IP H R ER BB SO

Fort Atkinson

Schoenherr 4 2 1 1 0 2

Mueller (W) 5 6 2 2 2 1

Janesville Parker

Kersten (L) 8 5 3 3 3 11

Johnson 1 2 1 1 0 0