This story is sponsored by: Chips Hamburgers of Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
GILLETT – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic baseball team will be heading to its first-ever WIAA state tournament after a pair of dominating wins at the Division 4 sectional tournament Tuesday at Gillett High School.
The Dons pounded Lena 11-2 in the semifinal and came back with a 5-0 shutout of Rib Lake to earn a spot at next week’s WIAA State Baseball Tournament at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton. Seedings will be announced Wednesday, but either way the Dons will play in a Division 4 semifinal in the morning on Wednesday, June 15. Eau Claire Regis, Bangor and Oakfield join Columbus Catholic in the D-4 field.
Blake Jakobi tossed a complete-game two-hitter for Columbus against Rib Lake, striking out five and walking just two.
“He was doing a great job throwing strikes and defensively we were very sound behind him,” Columbus Catholic coach Jared Krasselt said. “He can throw it in there and he trusts that defense behind him. Today was the best performance we had defensively.
“If you would have asked me a couple of years ago if we would have had this in mind, I would have said, ‘Probably not.’ We were re-teaching fielding groundballs, re-teaching hitting. We’ve come a long way. We’ve got guys putting in the extra work in the summer, that’s a big part of it.”
Cy Becker delivered a two-run single in the fourth inning to bust open a scoreless game, and Brock Bennington smacked a two-run home run to left field in the fifth to push the Dons’ lead to 5-0, which stood the rest of the way and Rib Lake never threatened.
Nathan Nemitz had two hits and scored a run for the Dons (20-3).
In the semifinal win over Lena, the Dons scored four times in the first inning and added three more in the second to take control from the start.
Becker threw a complete game to earn the win for Columbus, striking out four with two walks and five hits allowed.
Xane Adler had two hits, including a home run, and finished with five RBI, and Becker added two hits and drove in two for the Dons.
Cole Timmler had a two-run triple in the second inning and Bennington also drove in a pair in the victory.
Semifinals
Dons 11, Wildcats 2
Lena 100 010 0 – 2 5 2
Columbus Catholic 430 400 x – 11 8 1
WP: Cy Becker. LP: Lane Whiting.
SO: Whiting (2 inn.) 2, Logan Shallow (4 inn.) 2; Becker 4. BB: Whiting 5, Shallow 2; Becker 2.
Top hitters: L, Bryce Kittredge 3×3; Shallow HR, RBI. CC, Emmitt Konieczny 1×3, 2 runs; Blake Jakobi 1×1, 3 BBs, 3 runs; Brock Bennington 2B, 2 RBI; Cole Timmler 3B, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Becker 2×3, 2B, 2 RBI; Xane Adlr 2×4, HR, 5 RBI.
Records: Lena 13-9; Columbus Catholic 19-3.
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Championship
Dons 5, Redmen 0
Rib Lake 000 000 0 – 0 2 3
Columbus Catholic 000 230 x – 5 4 0
WP: Jakobi. LP: Michael Borchardt.
SO: Borchardt (5 inn.) 3, Jackson Blomberg (1 inn.) 2; Jakobi 5. BB: Borchardt 2, J. Blomberg 1; Jakobi 2.
Top hitters: CC, Bennington HR, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Becker 1×3, 2 RBI; Nathan Nemitz 2×2, 2B, run.
Records: Rib Lake 13-8; Columbus Catholic 20-3.