This story is sponsored by: Chips Hamburgers of Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
WAUSAU – The Marshfield American Legion Post 54 baseball team stands one win away from the its first state tournament appearance in six years after defeating Plover 7-4 in a winners’ bracket game at the Class AAA regional Friday at Athletic Park.
Marshfield (21-12) moves into the championship round Saturday against Wausau (24-17). The championship game will start at 11 a.m. Marshfield remains undefeated in the regional and will need to win one of a possible two games Saturday to advance to the state tournament, which will be held July 26-30 at Sheboygan.
Marshfield, which lost its final three games of the regular season, regrouped after taking a week off and have heated up at the right time.
“It’s a short season, but a lot of games packed into a short amount of time,” Marshfield coach Josh Metz said. “I think we were tired physically, and just worn out. We threw a couple of practices together to get ready for these games. The time off helped.”
Nick Urban threw five strong innings for Marshfield, striking out eight and allowing just one run. The Blue Devils’ offense did the rest.
Marshfield scored once in the opening inning when Riley Bauman singled, went to second on a wild pitch and came home on a single by Urban.
The Blue Devils piled on four more runs in the third as Urban smacked a two-run single, Ben Dietsche drove in another with a single and Urban scored on a groundout by Kale Weisenberger.
Plover answered with a run in the bottom of the third before the Blue Devils tacked on important insurance runs in the fifth and sixth. Weisenberger had an RBI infield single to scored Dietsche in the fifth and Bauman knocked home Cole TImmler to push Marshfield’s lead to 7-1.
Bauman entered on the mound in relief of Urban in the bottom of the sixth and the Black Sox closed the gap, scoring three times with the help of two Marshfield errors and an RBI single by Tommy Drohner.
Bauman struck out the final two batters of the inning with runners on second and third, and tossed a three-up, three-down seventh to finish off the victory.
Bauman and Urban each finished with three hits as the Blue Devils, who had 10 in all.
“I talked to him (Urban) before the game and told him to give me five, don’t worry about going seven,” Metz said. “He’s done that before where he thinks he needs to eat innings, and leaves a little off his pitches to try to go seven. I said give me everything you’ve got, we’ve got arms in the bullpen. He was big, offensively too. He was big time today.
“You need guys to step up. Logan Homolka was out the first two games (of the regional) and was back today, but isn’t close to 100 percent. Someone was going to have to step up to get us through this regional and fortunately, other guys have. The miracle win in the first game against Wisconsin Rapids, you have to use that momentum to propel yourself through it and we did. We’ve used that momentum and have a shot at it now.”
Blue Devils 7, Black Sox 4
Marshfield 104 011 0 – 7 10 2
Plover 001 003 0 – 4 7 2
WP: Nick Urban. LP: Bryce Ehr.
SO: Urban (5 inn.) 8, Riley Bauman (2 inn.) 3; Ehr (2 inn.) 1, Ben Fonti (4 inn.) 4, Lucca Weinkauf (1 inn.) 1. BB: Urban 2, Bauman 0; Ehr 1, Fonti 1, Weinkauf 1.
Top hitters: M, Cole Timmler 2 runs; Bauman 3×4, 2 runs, RBI; Nick Urban 3×4, 3 RBI; Kale Weisenberger 1×4, 2 RBI. P, Thomas Hunt 2×4, RBI.
Records: Marshfield 21-12; Plover 28-12.
2022 Class AAA Regional 2 American Legion Baseball Tournament
July 20-23, at Athletic Park, Wausau
Double elimination
Wednesday, July 20
Game 1: Marshfield (19-12) 4, Wisconsin Rapids (14-8) 3
Game 2: Plover (27-11) 2, Stevens Point (12-17) 0
Game 3: Wausau (22-16) 6, D.C. Everest 0
Thursday, July 21
Game 4: Wisconsin Rapids (15-8) 11, Stevens Point (12-18) 0
Game 5: Marshfield (20-12) 11, D.C. Everest 1
Game 6: Plover (28-11) 6, Wausau (22-17) 5
Friday, July 22
Game 7: Wausau (23-17) 8, Wisconsin Rapids (15-9) 0
Game 8: Marshfield (21-12) 7, Plover (28-12) 4
Game 9: Wausau (24-17) 17, Plover (28-13) 13
Saturday, July 23
Game 10: Marshfield (21-12) vs. Wausau (24-17), 1 p.m.
Game 11: If Wausau wins Game 10, teams will play again 30 minutes after conclusion of first game.