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Third-inning errors doom Hornets at state

By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent


GRAND CHUTE – Green Bay Preble’s baseball team had one costly inning.

It was all Burlington needed as it went on to defeat the Hornets 3-0 in a WIAA Division 1 state quarterfinal game June 11 at Fox Cities Stadium.

“Things happen, and they happened kind of quickly,” said Preble head coach Andy Conard. “There were two outs and a guy made a play. Give Burlington credit to capitalize when we made a couple of those mistakes. Three runs was a big advantage on a day like today. When you get to this level, you have to play air-tight baseball.”

Trey Krause got the win on the mound for the Demons (24-5), pitching seven innings and giving up no runs on two hits.

Max Wagner took the loss for the Hornets, pitching a complete game, giving up no earned runs on four hits.

The Hornets (24-4) received two walks from Krause in the bottom of the first.

Any momentum Preble had was surrendered after Krause picked off Jake Petasek at second base and Josh Nicklaus grounded out to second to end the inning.

“We didn’t help ourselves at the plate,” said Wagner. “He (Krause) threw a lot of tough breaking balls that we couldn’t get clean hits off of. He pitched an excellent game. That’s why he’s a Division 1 player.”

In the top of the third, the Demons struck.

With two outs, Michael Rozell walked and went to second on a successful steal.

Then things got dicey for the Hornets.

Kale Dietz hit a shot in the infield that was thrown wide of first base.

Rozell came home on the error giving Burlington a 1-0 lead.

Dietz advanced to second when the dust had settled.

Burlington continued its good fortune in the inning when Krause connected on a shot to right field to score Dietz to give Burlington a 2-0 lead. 

Two subsequent Demons players reached base, with pinch runner Otto Traxinger scoring the last run of the inning to put Burlington up 3-0.

All three scores in the inning were unearned.

“They are all good from 1-9 in their order,” Wagner said about Burlington’s hitting. “I just told myself to go to the next hitter and get him out.”

After a quick fourth and fifth inning, Preble had one final look in the bottom of the sixth.

Petasek reached first base on an error to open the inning.

Wagner walked, and suddenly, the tying run was at the plate.

Krause put any thoughts the Hornets had of a comeback on the backburner by retiring the next three batters in order.

He also retired the side in the seventh to advance his team to the semifinals.

“It was a tough road to get here,” added Conard about advancing to state. “I told the kids after the game it’s hard right now. You always want to make a run at winning the whole thing. I love the competitive spirit of our team and how we got here by defeating two excellent teams in Kimberly and Hortonville. They’re a group that will be missed because they play the game the right way and are tremendous kids.”

Box score

Burlington: 003 000 0 – 3 4 1

Green Bay Preble: 000 000 0 – 0 2 3

 

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