Area teams on a roll into playoffs
Fall Creek High School pitcher Josh Wright was recently given a Player of the Week award by an online outfit that covers prep baseball in Wisconsin.
And why not? His pitching has helped the Crickets win 16 games in a row after starting the season at 2-3-1. Piling up wins like this has put the Crickets at No. 6 in Division 3 state rankings.
But Fall Creek is just one of many teams in the Tri-County Area who are on winning streak or have seen recent success between May 5 and the 15th. With just a week and a half left in the regular season, these teams are rolling at the right time.
Take Augusta (3-13 overall) for example. Since May 8 when the Beavers had just one win on the season to that date, AHS has won two games, a 9-4 triumph over Independence/Gilmanton at home for their first Dairyland Conference win this season back on May 8 and a 12-10 victory at Whitehall on Thursday, May 14. Bracketed around those contests were non-conference losses, at home to Chippewa Falls McDonell 13-11 on May 7, Stanley-Boyd 12-2 on Monday, May 11 and 6-2 to Cadott on Friday, May 15. Owen Lee's lead-off homer in the ballgame's first at bat set the tone for the Beavers' win over I/G. Winning pitcher Colton Winsce struck out seven in four innings pitched. Against Whitehall, Josh Shong led the Beavers with three hits and Bryce Buttke hit a three-run double. AHS will have another good chance for a win on Monday, May 18 as they are at last place Independence/Gilmanton.
Osseo-Fairchild has been winning its share of ballgames as of late. The Thunder walloped Arcadia at Arcadia May 5 by a 14-2 score as Drew Hanson got the win pitching a three-hitter with six strikeouts. Mason Knudtson had two hits, including a triple, and two RBIs to lead the Thunder at the plate. After losing back-to-back games to No. 5 ranked Loyal 5-4 in 11 innings on May 7, and 5-3 at home to Melrose-Mindoro on May 8, the Thunder (10-7) bounced back to win back-to-back games last week, 9-2 at Augusta's Memorial Park on May 12 and 11-0 over Independence/Gilmanton on May 14. Drew Paulus was the winning pitcher over the Beavers with six Ks top go with Hanson's three hits and two hits each for Brooks Koxlien and Logan Curtis. Hanson hit a double and Koxlien a triple with a team-leading three RBIs. Versus I/G, Tyler Smith pitched a one-hitter on five innings with a season single-game best 10 strikeouts. Emerick Korger, Schmidt, Paulus and Hanson all had multi-hit efforts. O-F hosts Stanley-Boyd on Monday, May 18 and closes the Dairyland Conference season at Melrose-Mindoro on May 19 and at home vs. Augusta on May 21. The Thunder are still in contention for at least a share of the Large Dairyland title with two games to play being a game back of the Mustangs in the standings.
That's true for Eleva-Strum as well. Since E-S lost three ballgames in a row in late April, the Cardinals have won eight out of their last nine, their only loss being to O-F by a 9-5 score. Over the last two weeks Central (11-5) has won 3-2 over Alma/Pepin on May 5; 8-4 over Whitehall on May 8; 12-2 over Independence/Gilmanton on May 12,14-12 over Melrose-Mindoro on May 14 and a a smashing 19-1 win at home vs. Independence/Gilmanton on Friday, May 15,. Central's path to the Large Division title includes league games this week at No. 5 ranked Blair-Taylor on Monday, May 18 and at Whitehall on May 19.
When Fall Creek travels to Spangberg Field to take on the Cardinals in the regular season finale on Tuesday, May 26 at 5 p.m. it could well be a contest between two squads on a roll. FC's run continued on May 5 with a 21-3 win at Cadott (the Crickets scored 13 runs in the top of the fifth with two outs) and then another win over the Hornets, 14-1, also in five innings at home on May 7. The Crickets won back-to-back games in St. Croix County on May 9 by a 20-10 score over St. Croix Central in six innings and 12-8 over No. 10 ranked Baldwin-Woodville. Fall Creek had no problems sweeping Stanley-Boyd last week, winning at home on May 12 by a 11-1 score in five innings after leading 8-0 for the three innings and then 20-1 in five innings scoring, like they did vs. Cadott, 12 runs in the top of the fourth after leading 7-1 going in. FC had 19 hits in the ballgame. Fall Creek finally ended the week with a 7-2 non-conference win at Stevens Point Pacelli on Friday, May 15.
However, FC is still tied with No. 8 ranked Elk Mound atop the Western Cloverbelt Conference. The league title will be decided this week as FC takes on Bloomer away and home May 19 and 21 while Elk Mound faces Eau Claire Regis May 19 and 22.
