State baseball

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Connor Handrick has coached Edgar’s baseball team to both of its only state tournament appearances in school history in 2023 and this year. He gave his players the following message after Tuesday’s state semifinal loss to Pacelli.

“It’s definitely not the way that we wanted our season to end but that is life,” he told the team. “You don’t always get to win in life. I told the guys to hold their heads high knowing that, especially this group of seniors, that they cemented their legacy knowing that in the last four years we made it to state twice and we’ve won two conference titles. We only had one prior to that. We’ve won three out of four regional finals and made it to sectionals three out of their four years so they have a lot of ground to stand on. They are a heck of a good group of guys to coach, so I am very proud of everything they did this year and in the last four years. They just need to stand on that knowing this was a successful season even if the cards weren’t in our favor today.”

Seeds from cottonwood trees floated in the air on a bright sunny Tuesday at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, which was in stark contrast to when Edgar made its first state baseball appearance in school history two years ago when it was a rainy day. Edgar lost to Ithaca, 4-3, in the 2023 Division 4 state semifinal.

Tuesday’s Division 4 state semifinal was a rematch of senior starting pitchers Jase Apfelbeck of Edgar and Keltin Opper of Pacelli from the Cardinals’ 4-2 home win on May 27, in which Opper only surrendered two hits to the Wildcats. Opper pitched another gem at state on Tuesday by only giving up three hits and two runs in five innings. He managed to get the last Edgar batter out in the game before needing to exit because he’d reached the 100 maximum pitch count.

Edgar was the visiting team in Tuesday’s Division 4 state semifinal and was up first to bat. Junior second baseman Lucas Stahnke drew a leadoff walk against Opper. Senior starting pitcher Apfelbeck and senior centerfielder Dakota Ellenbecker both struck out swinging and senior shortstop Leyton Schuett lined out to second base to end the inning. Coach Handrick told his players in the dugout that he loved how they worked the counts in their at-bats because Opper threw 21 pitches in the opening inning.

Apfelbeck also surrendered a leadoff walk to Pacelli senior shortstop Malise Beduhn to start the bottom of the first inning. Cardinals sophomore centerfielder Jaden Garski then grounded out to pitcher Apfelbeck on a bunt that moved Beduhn to second base. Pacelli senior second baseman Lucas Haemmerle’s RBI single to center field scored Beduhn, and Haemmerle advanced to second base. Cardinals senior first baseman Tomas Uemura smacked an RBI triple to center field. Apfelbeck got junior designated hitter Nate Haemmarle to ground out to him and he then struck out sophomore catcher Eric Reincke to end the inning. Pacelli led Edgar, 2-0.

Wildcats junior catcher Gavin Mauer singled down the right field line to start the top of the second inning. Sophomore third baseman Sawyer Weiland’s sacrifice bunt advanced Mauer to second base. Senior Fletcher Weiland flied out to centerfield. Mauer tagged up on the play from second base and could have easily been tagged out at third base but Cardinals sophomore Sully Schober dropped the baseball. Gavin’s older brother, senior left fielder Brock Mauer, struck out swinging to end the inning.

Pacelli busted out with eight runs on seven hits and an error in the bottom of the second inning. Schober singled through the left side between shortstop and third base. Sophomore right fielder Bryce Flaker laid down a perfect bunt to safely reach first base. Senior left fielder Braeden Flaker bunted the baseball and Apfelbeck fielded it and looked to third base and then threw to first base, but Flaker was safe to load the bases with no outs. Beduhn’s ground ball got past second baseman Stahnke for an error to score a run.

The Cardinals continued to pile on runs in the bottom of the second inning. Garski bunted safely to load the bases again with no outs. Lucas Haemmerle then smacked a three RBI double to center field. Uemura’s RBI triple to right field led to coach Handrick making a pitching change. Stahnke and Apfelbeck switched positions with Stahnke coming in to pitch and Apfelbeck going to second base. Nate Haemmerle and Reincke each had RBI doubles down the left field line against Stahnke, who was then able to strike out Schober and Bryce Flaker before getting Braeden Flaker to ground out to shortstop Schuett to end the inning.

Edgar got on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning. Senior right fielder Will Hackel walked but then Stahnke struck out swinging. Apfelbeck doubled to left field and Dakota Ellenbecker walked to load the bases with only one out in the in- See STATE BASEBALL/ page 20