Area Boys Bow Out In Regional Finals

Cougars Fall to Eagles
in Regional Semi-Final
The Coleman Cougars clawed their way back from a 5-0 deficit to tie up Tuesday’s playoff game against Auburndale but fell 7-5 after two Eagle runs in the seventh.
Four singles, including three with two outs, did the damage in the seventh and the Cougars went down in order in the bottom of the inning.
Coleman, seeded No. 1 in Division 3, fought hard to get to that point. Down 5-0 in the bottom of the third, the Cougars scored three in the bottom of the third on two errors, two walks, and a single.
In the bottom of the fourth, Trent Mongin singled, Owen Kinziger tripled him in, and Will Bieber scored Kinziger on a sacrifice fly to knot the game at five.
Eagle pitcher Blake Raab ended the game on a hot streak though, facing just three batters in each of the last three innings.
“We got behind, the boys didn’t quit, they battled back, and we just didn’t make a few plays when we needed and our bats kind of stopped when we got it back to even. That’s baseball,” Coleman coach Kent Casper said.
Logan Kurth got a quality start for the Cougars, allowing three earned runs (five total) over the first six innings. He struck out nine.
“He pitched well. Everybody did, but that’s what happens in baseball when you’re playing a good team,” Casper said. “Things happen and things went their way. We just didn’t come out on top. That’s what happened today.”
Ray LeMieux took the loss, allowing two earned in one inning of work. At the plate, LeMieux was Coleman’s top hitter, getting two of the team’s five hits, a run, and an RBI.
Kinziger, one of six seniors on this year’s roster, was 1-2 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored.
Also graduating are Bieber, Mongin, Mitchell VanDeWalle, LeMieux, and Joseph Olsen.

Bulldogs Play Tough
in Postseason but
Fall to Falcons 2-1
Amherst snuck past Peshtigo 2-1 in regional action Tuesday, with the 11th-seeded Bulldogs coming up just short of their second consecutive upset win.
Amherst took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Peshtigo tied the game in the third from a Cole Berth leadoff single.
Despite at least one runner on base in each of the next three innings, Falcon pitchers would keep Peshtigo from scoring again, then they walked it off with a hit batter, a steal, and an error in the seventh.
“Unfortunately in the bottom of the seventh, we had a couple of mistakes pile together,” Peshtigo coach Trevor Bloch said. “When playing a team like Amherst, those mistakes will be taken advantage of.”
Landon Beyer pitched 5.2 innings for the Bulldogs before Bryce Heroux took over.
“This game was a fun, energetic, defensive battle. After a bumpy start in the first inning, Landon Beyer, with some help from the field, continued the game with five scoreless innings,” Bloch said. “Offensively we had chances to gain the lead but couldn’t bring those baserunners home.”
Caleb Proft was 2-2 for Peshtigo.

Blue Devils Beat
Warhawks 7-0 To
Start Postseason
Conner Christensen and Riley Susa combined for a shutout as Oconto beat Weyauwega-Fremont 7-0 in regional competition on Thursday.
Alex Fuller and Devon Bostwick each had two hits for the Blue Devils and Kyle Bowman drove in three runs from a hit and sacrifice fly.
With the win, Oconto moved on to face No. 2 Shiocton on Tuesday, where the seventh-seeded Blue Devils were beaten 6-5 in extra innings.

Maroons Drop a
Pair to Redmen
Menominee’s regular season continued with two defeats in Marquette on Thursday by 9-7 and 11-1 scores.
In game one, baserunning was the name of the game. While Marquette stole eight bases, including two players stealing three bags apiece, Menominee made the final out of each of the last two innings on the basepaths.
The fifth inning ended as a Maroon runner stumbled while rounding third and heading for home attempting to cut the deficit to two, and the final out of the sixth was recorded on a play at third in which a Menominee runner attempted to tag up from second.
With another Menominee runner headed home, the Marquette fielder made a smart play, cutting the ball off before it reached the plate and firing to third for the out.
“We had a plethora of errors out there, mental errors, just not paying attention to what we’re trying to get done,” Menominee coach John Jasenovsky said.
Gable Buck took the loss, allowing six runs (two earned) in the first two innings. Aiden Sevon was solid in relief, allowing three runs (one earned) in three innings.
“I thought he kept the ball in the zone real well. A couple innings, he had under 12 pitches, 15 pitches, so he did really well there,” Jasenovsky said of Sevon. “There’s some positives. They didn’t give up, but we wouldn’t have had to work so hard had we not had the comical errors.”
Garrett Carlson was 2-4 with an RBI in that game.
Game two was all Marquette. Peyton Davis had a three-hit, four-RBI game to lead the hosts to a second win on senior day.

Rangers Cage Wildcats
to Start Regional Play
The Wausaukee Rangers weren’t feeling the playoff pressure Thursday, as they came out and scored five runs in the first inning of a 9-3 win over Gresham.
Wausaukee, a Division 4 sixth seed, got four hits, a walk, a hit batter, and an error in the first inning to bat around and plate five.
Connor Schroeder was 1-3 with two runs and two RBIs in the game and Nathan Shaw was 2-3 with a run and two RBIs. Ryan Wojcik was 1-3 with a run and two batted in.
Prestin Brunette got the win, striking out 13 hitters over seven innings of work. He allowed five hits and didn’t walk a batter. None of his three runs were earned, as an error contributed to the damage.

Bulldogs Upset
Wolverines In
Regional Opener
Former M&O Conference rivals Peshtigo and Crivitz went back and forth in Thursday’s Division 3 regional matchup, but when the dust settled, the Bulldogs had a 4-3 upset win.
The 11th-seeded Bulldogs ended the Crivitz season with a seventh-inning run by Caleb Proft.
Both teams scored one run in the first and Landon Beyer scored in the third inning to give Peshtigo a lead. From there, it was a see-saw battle. Every time Crivitz scored, so did Peshtigo.
In the fourth, Sean Christiansen reached on an error and came around to score, but Landon Beyer’s second run of the game restored Peshtigo’s advantage in the fifth.
Again Crivitz tied it up courtesy of a Christiansen run, as he singled and scored with the help of two errors in the sixth, but Proft came around to score in the seventh to put the Bulldogs in position. Beyer then got a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to keep the lead intact.
“This game was so much fun to be a part of. Offense was back and forth,” Peshtigo coach Trevor Bloch said. “We scored, they scored, and back again. Our hitters had some good approaches at the plate and we were able to put pressure on Crivitz almost every inning.”
Beyer pitched all seven innings for the Bulldogs and reached in all three of his plate appearances, scoring twice. He struck out seven hitters and allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk.
Christiansen had a similar day for Crivitz, pitching all seven for the Wolverines and scoring twice off a single and an error. Three of his four runs allowed were earned. He struck out six and walked three.
Eli Nystrom came away with 3 RBIs for the Bulldogs. Peshtigo had only two hits, but they made them count.
“This was by far our best game as a team. Both on the field and in the dugout, the energy was up. You could tell these guys wanted this game,” Bloch said.
Logan Goltz was 2-3 with two RBIs for Crivitz.

Bobcats Bounce Rangers
From Regional 7-5
The Florence Bobcats picked up their second playoff win on Tuesday, a 7-5 win over Wausaukee to keep their season alive.
Evan Johnson was 3-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs to lead the way for the Bobcats. He hit a two-run home run to right field in the first inning that gave his team the lead.
The win wouldn’t be easy from there, however. Wausaukee got two back in the third inning and took a 5-3 lead in the fifth on RBIs from Kayden Suennen and Luke Smith.
Florence took the lead back in the bottom of the inning with some two-out magic. After the first two hitters were retired, the next six would reach, bringing home three runs. Johnson scored on a passed ball in the seventh to make it 7-5.
Johnson also pitched the first five innings, allowing five runs (one earned) on five hits and five walks. He struck out eight.
Suennen was 1-4 with a run and an RBI for Wausaukee. Five players each had one hit apiece.
The Bobcats play No. 10 Newman Catholic on Wednesday then face either No. 1 Three Lakes/Phelps or No. 4 Edgar on Tuesday.

Baseball
Regional Recap
The spring baseball and softball seasons are reaching their conclusions, with two playoff rounds wrapped up over the past week.
In Division 5 baseball, No. 12 Goodman/Pembine fell 5-4 to fifth-seeded Athens on Thursday in the opening round. On the other side of the bracket, No. 3 Florence is still going, having beaten No. 14 White Lake 17-0 last week and sixth-seeded Wausaukee 9-3 on Tuesday.
No. 2 Niagara was upset by 10th-seeded Newman Catholic on Tuesday, 5-3. The Badgers had a bye in round one.
In another Division 4 regional, No. 13 Saint Thomas Aquinas Academy was ousted 10-0 by Algoma and No. 7 Lena lost 4-2 to second seed Pacelli after an opening round win over Wild Rose.
Oconto lost its second-round D3 game to Shiocton 6-5 in eight innings after winning in the first round of the playoffs.
Division 3 No. 13 Gillett/Suring fell 10-0 to fourth seed Wittenberg-Birnamwood in the first round on Thursday.
In Division 2, Oconto Falls and Marinette each lost their opener on Thursday. The Marines, seeded 13th, lost 5-0 to Clintonville, and the No. 12 Panthers were clipped 1-0 by Wrightstown.
Menominee was beaten 13-3 by Gladstone on Tuesday in the first round of MHSAA playoff competition.