Thorp-Gilman ties it with 4 in the 7th; Hauser hit wins it in 10th

WIAA DIV. 3 BASEBALL

A baseball game is never over until that final out is recorded, a fact the Thorp-Gilman baseball players were truly appreciating when they woke up Wednesday knowing they still had at least one more game to play.

The second-seeded co-op got some help from the third-seeded Whitehall Norse in the bottom of the seventh inning in Tuesday’s WIAA Division 3 regional semifinal, but Thorp-Gilman also took advantage with a four-run rally that tied the game at 7-7 and senior Charlie Hauser broke the tie in the 10th with a one-out walk-off single that scored pinch runner Steven Frankewicz.

“The baseball gods were wearing Thorp-Gilman hats,” co-head coach Cory Drost said Wednesday. “It’s hard to explain because they had us. They had the third out in the bottom of the seventh about three times. You feel bad for them, but at the same time, it’s like wow, we’re moving on.”

The win sent Thorp-Gilman (14-6) to top-seeded Fall Creek (15-5) for the regional championship game Wednesday evening. The two teams tied for second place in the Western Cloverbelt Conference this season at 10-4, but Thorp-Gilman swept the regular-season series with 3-1 and 13-2 wins.

Wednesday’s winner advances to the Division 3 sectional tournament in Cum- berland and is scheduled to play in the 1 p.m. semifinal against Eau Claire Regis or Spring Valley. The championship game is set for 4 p.m.

Thorp-Gilman jumped out to a 2-0 first-inning lead in Tuesday’s win, but Whitehall (10-10) answered with two in the top of the second and one in the third. A four-run fifth put the Norse in control with a 7-2 lead. The hosts got one in the sixth after four straight scoreless innings against Whitehall’s Devon Mc-Cune.

“Their pitcher, he threw hard and he had good command of his off-speed, so he kept us off-balance,” Drost said. “Their defense played really well in the first several innings. In the seventh, I noticed their pitcher was at 90 pitches, so I told my kids we have to take a strike and foul some balls off. We ended up chasing him but we already had two outs, still down four.”

Reliever Brayden Lisowski took over for the Norse, hoping to get a one-out save. But Thorp-Gilman got a couple of hits and an error extended the inning. Gavin Boie singled in two runs, but the throw home got cut off and the Norse had Boie hung up between first and second. He wiggled out of it when a throw was dropped, keeping hope alive. Two batters later, Whitehall dropped Ashton Kroeplin’s fly ball to center, allowing the tying runs to score.

Aiden Rosemeyer, who took over for starter Brayden Boie in the fifth inning shut down the Norse for 5.2 innings, racking up 10 strikeouts. He got Thorp-Gilman to the bottom of the 10th, where Hauser won it with a bouncer through the left side that was bobbled slightly in leftfield, assuring that Frankewicz scored.

“He’s a senior,” Drost said. “He’s been a four-year starter and that’s his first-ever walk-off so he was pretty happy with that.”

Thorp-Gilman had 11 hits with Ayden Webster going two for four. He reached to start the 10th and set up the winning run. Brayden Boie was two for five with a double and two early RBIs. Gavin Boie was two for four.

Rosemeyer allowed just one hit in his 95-pitch relief stint. He walked two and was charged with three runs allowed. Just one was earned. Brayden Boie went 4.1 innings, allowing seven hits and four runs, three of which were earned. He struck out two and walked two.

McCune had four strikeouts and one walk for the Norse. He allowed seven hits and four runs, one of which was earned. He also had two hits at the plate.

“You could tell our kids might’ve been overthinking a little bit,” Drost said. “They might have been a little anxious. With some of the swings they had you could tell they were trying to do a little too much. Finally by the fifth and sixth innings, they finally relaxed. We had some help from up above on a couple of those things in the seventh. Playing defense behind Aiden you could see the swag kind of came back. They had a little movement and chatter. It just built up. They didn’t give up. That’s sports in a nutshell just don’t ever give up.”

T-G 14, Dons 4

In an addition to the schedule Thursday, Thorp-Gilman closed the regular season with a bang, exploding for 13 runs in the final two innings to beat host Columbus Catholic 14-4 in Marshfield.

The teams started and finished the regular seasons against each other, with the road team winning each matchup.

The Dons were on their way to a second win over Thorp-Gilman, leading 4-1 through three innings, thanks to a fourrun second-inning rally.

But things changed drastically in the fourth when Thorp-Gilman put eight runs on the board. The visitors tacked on five more in the fourth to end the game early.

Thorp-Gilman had just nine hits and took advantage of two Columbus Catholic errors, four walks, four hit batters and two wild pitches.

The Dons gave several pitchers some work, going an inning at a time with each one. Cole Timmler, unfortunately for the Dons, got rocked in his inning, allowing eight earned runs on eight hits, including a home run by Jack Syryczuk. Cy Becker allowed the five runs on no hits and three walks in the fifth.

Syryczuk had three RBIs for Thorp-Gilman. Brayden Boie had a big day at the plate, going two for four with a double, a triple and five RBIs. Kade Kroeplin had a triple and Rosemeyer hit a double.

Rosemeyer got the start and went three innings. He struck out two while allowing five hits and four runs, just two of which were earned. Thorp-Gilman had three errors in the game. Gavin Boie covered the last two innings, allowing a hit while striking out one.