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Janesville Craig baseball earns 12th trip to state tourney

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Craig vs Madison West Regional Final Baseball

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JANESVILLE — If you keep throwing your body against the door, eventually you’ll break that door down.

After being eliminated at the sectional level the previous four seasons, Janesville Craig High School’s baseball team put together enough timely hits and gritty pitching Tuesday at Riverside Park to win a pair of grinding WIAA Division 1 sectional games and earn the school’s 12th trip to the state tournament.

The Cougars punched their ticket to Fox Valley Stadium in Grand Chute with a 5-4 sectional title game victory over Big Eight rival Madison West.

Craig plays Big Eight champion Middleton (19-5) at 1 p.m. next Tuesday in the state quarterfinals. The teams split their two conference games.

Earlier, a back-and-forth 9-7 victory over Oconomowoc in the sectional semifinals pushed Craig (21-5) into the title game.

“This is a great feeling,” said an emotional Victor Herbst, the first Craig baseball coach not named Bob Suter to lead the Cougars to state. “This is a real close-knit group. These kids worked hard during the offseason. We also have a great coaching staff.”

Craig’s victory, meanwhile, denied West (17-11), which beat Craig twice during Big Eight play, its first trip to state since 1972. It also turned out to be the final game for Tim Goldsworthy, who is stepping down after 26 seasons as the Regents’ head coach.

“It would have been nice to go state in my last year, but it’s not the end of the world,” the ever-gracious Goldsworthy said.

The Cougars pounced on a state trip despite mustering just four hits in the title game. On a day when teams were forced to use every pitching arm available, tired or otherwise, Craig milked West pitchers for nine walks.

“I know we didn’t have a lot of hits today, but I’ll bet every hit we got was a big one,” Herbst said.

The Cougars also got a big day from senior pitcher Brett Fredericks, who earned two victories. He threw the final two innings of the win over Oconomowoc, waited nearly an hour for the title game to start, then fired five gutty innings against West.

“I threw about 10 or 15 pitches between games. I put on my jacket to stay warm and loose. There was no doubt I was going to pitch in the second game,” said Fredricks, who threw a no-hitter in Craig’s regional title victory over Beloit.

Herbst had no doubt about Fredricks’ ability to eat up innings in both of Tuesday’s games.

“Our plan was to use Brent in both games,” Herbst said. “But he had to throw more pitches in that first game than I would have like to have seen.”

Leading the Regents 2-1, Craig got a little breathing room in the fourth inning. Charlie Meyer stroked an RBI double, and Ben Olin, who had reached on a fielder’s choice, scored on a close play at home after West first baseman Josh Minkhoff scooped up Zach Bayreuther’s bouncer, touched first and then fired home.

The Cougars turned three walks and fielder’s choice into the eventual game-winning run in the fifth.

But the suspense was just starting to build. The Regents got a pair of runs in the fifth on just one hit, then loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh before Bayreuther coaxed Ben Wade into a game-ending fly to right.

The jubilant Cougars already were pouring out of the dugout to celebrate before Keith Wright squeezed the last out in his glove.

But most of the focus in the final inning was on Bayreuther, who pitched three shutout innings to earn the save.

“I was just throwing strikes and hoping (the defense) made their plays,” Bayreuther said. “I was a little nervous (in the seventh).”

The state meet will look like the Big Eight Invitational. In addition to Craig and Middleton, Sun Prairie gave the league a third representative at state.

“That just goes to the quality and toughness of our league,” Herbst said.

CRAIG 5, WEST 4

Craig (ab-r-h-rbi)—Bayreuther, ss/p, 3-0-1-0; Fredricks, p, 3-0-0-0; DeCremer, cf, 3-1-0-1; Whalen, 3b, 1-1-0-0; Grall, 1b, 3-0-1-2; Graves, pr, 0-0-0-0; Geller, 2b, 3-0-0-0; Henning, dh, 2-0-1-1; Wright, rf, 2-0-1-1; Meyer, c, 2-0-1-0; Weber, cr, 0-1-0-0; Olin, lf, 2-1-0-0; Mussey, ph, 1-0-0-0. Totals: 24-4-5-5.

West (ab-r-h-rbi)—Lubarsky, 2b, 4-1-2-0; Schumacher, cf, 4-1-0-0; King, c, 3-0-0-0; Minkoff, 1b, 1-2-0-0; Kamp, dh/p, 2-0-1-0; Onefrey, pr, 0-0-0-0; Wade, rf, 2-0-0-0; Horton, ss, 3-0-0-2; Daly, lf, 3-0-1-0; Pearson, 3b, 3-0-0-0; Beyers, pr, 0-0-0-0. Totals: 25-4-4-2.

Janesville Craig 101 210 0—5

Madison West 010 120 0—4

E—Craig 2. LOB—Craig 8, West 5. DP—West 1. 2B—Wright. Sac—Fredricks, Meyer.

IP H R ER BB SO

Janesville Craig

Fredricks (W) 4 3 4 1 4 1

Bayreuther (S) 3 1 0 0 2 2

Madison West

Heneghan 4 3 4 3 4 1

Jaffe (L) .2 0 1 1 4 0

Kamp 2.1 0 0 0 1 0

--Grall home run sparks Craig

Craig 9, Oconomowoc 7—Dylan Grall crushed a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to break a 6-6 tie as the Cougars defeated the Raccoons in Tuesday’s sectional semifinal game.

“All of the momentum went to us after that,” Grall said. “I knew this game was going to be a battle.”

Craig swept Oconomowc in a nonconference doubleheader the first week in April, but this game had greater implications.

The Cougars got two hits apiece from Grall and Austin Geller. Grall drove in four runs. The Cougars also got a two-run double from Wright in the second inning and an RBI double from Bayreuther in the fifth.

CRAIG 9, OCONOMOWOC 7

Craig (ab-r-h-rbi)—Bayreuther, ss, 4-1-1-1; Fredricks, 2b/p, 2-1-0-0; DeCremer, cf, 3-1-0-1; Whalen, 3b, 1-2-0-0; Grall, 4-1-2-4; Geller, lf, 4-1-2-0; Weber, pr, 0-1-0-0; Henning, dh, 4-0-0-0; Steed, p, 0-0-0-0; Davis, p, 0-0-0-0; Meyer, c, 1-2-0-1; Olin, 1-2-0-1; Wright, rf, 3-0-1-2. Totals: 25-9-6-9.

Oconomowoc (ab-r-h-rbi)—Herr, 2b, 4-2-2-1; Doudna, ss, 3-1-2-0; Viso, dh, 3-0-1-3; Bell, p, 0-0-0-0; Wensman, cf, 4-0-2-2; Schlosser, rf, 4-0-1-0; Winkleman, 1b, 3-0-0-0; Pierson, ph, 1-0-0-0; Benz, lf, 3-1-1-0; Proud, c, 2-0-2-0; Loppnow, cr, 0-1-0-0; Holbrook, 3b/p; 2-2-1-0. Totals: 29-11-6-6.

Janesville Craig 020 003 3—9

Oconomowoc 001 401 1—7

E—Oconomowoc 1. LOB—Craig 5, Oconomowoc 10. 2B—Bayreuther, Wright. HR—Grall. Sac—Meyer. SB—Schlosser, Geller, Weber.

IP H R ER BB SO

Janesville Craig

Steed 3 2/3 5 5 5 1 1

Davis 1 1/3 4 1 1 0 2

Fredricks (W) 2 2 0 0 2 2

Oconomowoc

Bell 5 2/3 4 6 6 1 3

Wilson (L) 1/3 2 3 3 0 1

Holbrook 1 0 0 0 2 0

-- West 2, Memorial 1—Madison West ended city rival Madison Memorial’s bid for a fifth straight trip to the state tournament by nipping the Spartans in the semifinals of the Janesville Sectional.

WEST 2, MEMORIAL 1

Madison West 010 001 0—2 7 1

Madison Memorial 001 000 0—1 4 1

Eichorst, Behrend (7) and Ritchie; Minkoff and King.

Leading hitters—Kamp (W) 2x4, Pearson (W) 2x3, Fruhling (M) 2x4.

SO—Eichorst (M) 2, Minkoff (W) 4. BB—Eichorst 2, Behrend 1, Minkoff 3.