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Parker tops Craig, falls short in bid for state tourney

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Parker/Craig Sectional Baseball

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JANESVILLE — The postseason joyride came to an end Tuesday night for Janesville Parker High School’s baseball team.

The Vikings, who entered tournament play with a 6-13 record, reached the WIAA Division 1 sectional title game before losing 2-0 to Madison Memorial at Riverside Park.

Parker (9-14) rallied to beat cross-town rival Janesville Craig, 10-6 in nine innings, in a thrilling sectional semifinal game, but the Vikings couldn’t solve Memorial right-hander Nick Cyganek in the championship game. Cyganek limited Parker to two hits in the complete-game victory.

Memorial, under first-year coach and 1995 Janesville Parker graduate Dave Thomas, earned its fourth straight trip to the state tournament in Grand Chute. The Spartans (19-4) play defedning champion Kimberly on Tuesday in a quarterfinal rematch of last year’s title game.

Parker came up short in the run column but not on the pride meter, according to coach Brian Martin.

“I’m extremely proud of the effort this team gave the last three weeks,” he said. “Nobody gave us much of a chance coming into the tournament, but these guys didn’t want the season to be over yet.

“I wish it could’ve worked out better, but baseball is a game of inches, and that was the difference against Memorial. They got some breaks, and even thought we hit the ball hard, it was right at somebody.”

Cyganek got all the support he needed in the top of the second as Zach Kreisler ripped a two-out single to right to score Craig Czuprynski.

The Vikings had an opportunity to tie the game or take the lead in the third, but they coudn’t convert on a bases-loaded, one-out opportunity.

Tyler Teubert walked to start the inning and advanced to second on Ian Larson’s sacrifice bunt. Matt Beyer then reached on an infield single before B.J. Scharenbroch got on when Czuprynski misplayed a fly ball in left.

With the bases loaded, Cyganek got Garrett Morris and Brodie Meehan to line out to the second baseman.

“We knew coming in that Parker had been swinging the bats well lately,” Cyganek said. “But we knew if we played our game, we’d come out on top.

“It didn’t matter if it was Parker or Craig, though,” Cyganek said of the title game. “We feel like we have unfinished business to take care of after last year, and getting back to state gave us the chance to do that.”

Memorial added a run in the sixth on Czuprynski’s RBI single, while Parker mounted nothing offensively the last four innings, except for Meehan’s two-out triple in the sixth.

Vikings win a thriller

Parker and Craig played barnburner in the second game of the day.

The Vikings, thanks to home runs from Teubert and Meehan, got revenge against the Cougars after two regular-season losses.

Parker trailed 5-1 in the sixth but rallied with five runs in the top of the inning. Tuebert started the comeback with his first home run of the season, while Morris and David Jacobson added RBI singles.

Craig (13-9) hurt itself in the inning, as Parker took advantage of three Cougar errors to grab a 6-5 lead.

The Cougars tied the game in their half of the sixth on a Parker error, but they couldn’t overcome a four-run Viking ninth. Morris doubled in the first two runs, and Meehan followed with his third home run of the season to give Parker its 10-6 lead.

“One little play here or there can make a difference in a tournament game, and that’s what happened to us,” Craig coach Victor Herbst said of the loss to Parker. “My hat’s off to Parker because they never quit, but our little miscues in the field really hurt us.

“I thought we were in good shape at 5-1 with Trevor (Foss) on the mound, but he started getting his pitches up a little bit, and our defense let us down.”

Morris picked up the win against Craig—allowing only one unearned run in four innings. Beyer scored three times for Parker, and Morris drove in three runs.

“The last few weeks there was no quit in this team, and you saw that again tonight against Craig,” Martin said. “I thought we had a chance to be a pretty good team by the end of the year, and we were.”

A pretty good team that came up one game short of the school’s first state tournament berth since 1992.

(Championship)

MEMORIAL 2, PARKER 0

Memorial (ab-r-h-rbi)—Murray, cf, 3-0-1-0; Cyganek, p, 3-0-1-0; Spurling, cr, 0-0-0-0; Lorrig, 1b, 3-1-1-0; Ritchie, c, 3-0-0-0; Czuprynski, lf, 2-1-1-1; Schiro, cr, 0-0-0-0; Traas, 2b, 2-0-0-0; Eichorst, 3b, 3-0-0-0; Kreisler, ss, 2-0-1-1; Kuchenbecker, ph, 1-0-0-0; Schneider, rf, 3-0-1-0. Totals: 25-2-6-2.

Parker (ab-r-h-rbi)—Beyer, cf, 3-0-1-0; Scharenbroch, 2b-p, 3-0-0-0; Morris, 3b, 3-0-0-0; Meehan, 1b, 3-0-1-0; Koel, rf, 3-0-0-0; Jacobson, p-ss, 2-0-0-0; Mauermann, dh, 3-0-0-0; Hesser, c, 0-0-0-0; Teubert, ss-2b, 2-0-0-0; Larson, lf, 1-0-0-0. Totals: 21-0-2-0.

Madison Mmorial 010 001 0—2

Janesville Parker 000 000 0—0

E—Memorial 1. LOB—Memorial 4, Parker 5. SAC—Traas, Larson. SB—Jacobson. 2B—Lorrig. 3B—Meehan.

IP H R ER BB SO

Madison Memorial

Cyganek (W) 7 2 0 0 2 1

Janesville Parker

Jacobson 2 3 1 1 1 0

Scharenbroch 5 3 1 1 0 3

(Semifinals)

PARKER 10, CRAIG 6 (9)

Parker (ab-r-h-rbi)—Beyer, cf, 4-3-1-0; Scharenbroch, 2b, 4-0-0-0; Morris, 3b-p, 5-2-2-3; Meehan, 1b, 4-1-2-2; McCann, cr, 0-1-0-0; Koel, rf, 4-1-0-0; Jacobson, p-ss, 4-0-1-1; Mauermann, dh, 3-0-0-0; Hesser, c, 0-0-0-0; Teubert, ss-3b, 4-2-2-1; Larson, lf, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 35-10-8-7.

Craig (ab-r-h-rbi)—Bayreuther, ss, 4-0-1-0; Foss, p-2b, 5-0-1-0; Stavn, cr-rf, 1-2-0-0; Yaucher, rf-p, 4-1-2-0; Eichman, 5-1-0-1; Grall, 1b, 4-2-1-1; Knott, 3b, 4-0-2-1; McCrone, pr, 0-0-0-0; Whalen, dh, 2-0-0-0; Miller, cf-pr, 0-0-0-0; Fredricks, 2b, 2-0-0-1; Weber, lf, 1-0-0-0. Totals: 32-6-7-4.

Janesville Parker 000 105 004—10

Janesville Craig 200 121 000—6

E—Parker 3, Craig 4. LOB—Parker 4, Craig 9. DP—Parker 1. SAC—Whalen, Bayreuther, Koel. 2B—Morris, Grall. HR—Teubert, Meehan.

IP H R ER BB SO

Janesville Parker

Jacobson 5 6 5 5 4 0

Morris (W) 4 1 1 0 2 2

Janesville Craig

Foss 5 2/3 5 6 2 0 4

Yaucher (L) 3 1/3 3 4 4 3 1

(Semifinals)

MEMORIAL 13, MONONA GROVE 1

Madison Memorial 202 040 5—13 16 0

Monona Grove 000 100 0—1 7 1

Schneider, Ransom (5), Van Duym (6) and Ritchie; Zweifel, McKendry (5), Geogg (7) and Meyers.

Leading hitters—Schneider (MM) 2x3, Lorrig (MM) 2x5, Ritchie (MM) 2x5, Czyprynski (MM) 3x4, Cyganek (MM) 2x5, Trass (MM) 3B. 2B—Trass (MM), Cyganek (MM), Ritchie (MM).

SO—Schneider (MM) 22, Van Duym (MM) 6, Zweifel (MG) 1. BB—Ransom (MM) 1, McKendry (MG) , Geoff (MG) 1.