Walk-off grand slam for Amherst sends Columbus Catholic baseball to first loss of season

Columbus Catholic senior Brock Bennington. (File photo)

This story is sponsored by: Chips Hamburgers of Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids

MarshfieldAreaSports.com

ROSHOLT – Amherst’s Ben Lee hit a walk-off two-out grand slam home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to push the Falcons to a 6-5 win over Marshfield Columbus Catholic in a battle of undefeated and state-ranked teams at the Rosholt Invitational on Saturday.

Columbus Catholic, ranked third in the Division 4 state coaches poll, rolled past Rosholt 17-2 in the opening game to win its 14th-straight game, scoring 13 times in the final three innings.

Brock Bennington had two doubles, a home run and six RBI in the win for the Dons. Emmitt Konieczny had two hits and two RBI, and Blake Jakobi had two hits and an RBI as well.

The matchup with Amherst, ranked No. 1 in the Division 3 state poll, was pitchers’ duel until each team scored twice in the fifth inning.

The Dons regained the lead in the sixth on an RBI double by Cole Timmler, and extended the advantage to 5-2 in the seventh as Konieczny had an RBI single and Cy Becker walked with the bases loaded.

Amherst loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh on a hit by pitch, a walk and an error.

After Timmler struck out the next batter, Lee smacked the game-winning long ball to keep Amherst undefeated at 18-0 and send the Dons to their first loss of the season.

Xane Adler had two doubles and a run scored for Columbus.

Columbus Catholic hosts Loyal on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Jack Hackman Field in Marshfield. The game will be broadcast at zaleskisports.com.

Amherst plays at Wittenberg-Birnamwood on Monday.

Dons 17, Hornets 2
Columbus Catholic 400 328 – 17 13 1
Rosholt 010 100 – 2 1 2
WP:
Cy Becker. LP: Niewiadowski.
SO: Becker (3 inn.) 3, Sam Wilczek (2 inn.) 1, Xane Adler (1 inn.) 0; Niewiadowski (3 inn.) 5, Hintz (3 inn.) 3. BB: Becker 5, Wilczek 3, Adler 0; Niewiadowski 5, Hintz 2.
Top hitters: CC, Emmitt Konieczny 2×4, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Blake Jakobi 2×4, 2B, 2 runs, RBI; Brock Bennington 3×4, 2 2Bs, HR, 4 runs, 6 RBI; Wilczek 3B, RBI; Grant Olson 2 runs; Nathan Nemitz 2 runs; Drew Lang 2 runs. R, Mlodik 2 runs.
Records: Columbus Catholic 14-0; Rosholt 7-5.

Falcons 6, Dons 5
Columbus Catholic 000 021 2 – 5 9 2
Amherst 000 020 4 – 6 4 1
WP:
Ben Lee. LP: Cole Timmler.
SO: Jakobi (5 inn.) 2, Timmler (1 2/3 inn.) 4; A, Wyatt Blaskowski (5 inn.) 6, Aiden Jastromski (1 1/3 inn.) 1, Lee (2/3 inn.) 1. BB: Jakobi 3, Timmler 2; Blaskowski 2, Jastromski 2, Lee 1.
Top hitters: CC, Bennington 2B, run; Wilczek 2B, run; Adler 2×2, 2 2Bs, run; Timmler 2B, RBI. A, Jake Hoffman 1×4, 2 RBI; Lee 1×3, HR, 4 RBI.
Records: Columbus Catholic 14-1; Amherst 18-0.