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Eau Claire North wins Division 1 baseball title

GRAND CHUTE — There was no stopping Eau Claire North High School's baseball team in the WIAA Division 1 state championship game.

The Huskies (23-3) collected 16 hits as they overpowered Neenah, 11-1, in six innings Thursday night at Fox Cities Stadium.

It's North's first title in 10 state tournament appearances. This was the Huskies' first time in the championship game since losing to Sun Prairie in 2005.

North turned a 2-0 game against Neenah (20-9) into a rout by scoring six runs after two were out in the third inning. Eight players had RBIs for the Hustkies, who were led by leadoff man Austin Rieder three hits.

NORTH 11, NEENAH 1

Eau Claire North 206 102—11 16 0

Neenah 000 010—1 5 1

DeGrasse, Button (6) and Eisold; DeBruin, Kueck (3), Stern (4), Pfankuch (5) and Nicholson, DeBruin (3).

Leading hitters—Rieder (ECN) 3x4, Janni (ECN) 2x4, Hermann (ECN) 2x3, Se. Hurt (ECN) 2x3, Eisold (ECN) 2x4, Button (ECN) 2x3, Pfankuch (N) 2x3, Erickson (N) 2x3. 2B—Hermann (ECN) 2, Se. Hurt (ECN), Eisold (ECN), Button (ECN), Sa. Hurt (ECN).

SO—DeGrasse (ECN) 3, Button (ECN) 1, Stern (N) 2. BB—DeGrasse 4, Kueck (N) 1, Stern (N) 1, Pfankuch (N) 1.

Division 2

Ripon High School's advantage over Spooner in pitching depth paid off in a WIAA Division 2 state baseball championship.

After both teams had won handily in Thursday morning's semifinals, the Tigers dominated the Rails (23-4) with four-hit pitching and a 14-hit attack for 12-2 victory in a title game that lasted only six innings.

Ripon (20-3) scored five runs in each of its last two at-bats to lock up the schoo;s' third state championship.

The Tigers took control with five straight hits, including back-to-back homers by Jordan Jess and Ben Wetzel, in their big fifth. Winning pitcher Michael Polcyn had a three-run homer in the sixth.

RIPON 12, SPOONER 2

Ripon 020 055—12 14 1

Spooner 010 001—2 4 3

Polcyn and Fenner; Holden, Grubbs (5) and Shutt.

Leading hitters—Ehrenberg (Ri) 2x4, Polcyn (Ri) 2x3, Jess (Ri) 2x3, Wetzel (Ri) 3x4, Boe (Ri) 2x3, Bryden (Ri) 2x3, Holden (S) 2x3. 2B—Fenner (Ri), Ehrenberg (Ri), Jess (Ri), Wetzel (Ri), Boe (Ri). HR—Polcyn (Ri), Jess (Ri), Wetzel (Ri).

SO—Polcyn (Ri) 7, Holden (S) 4. BB—Holden 1.

-- Spooner 7, Edgewood 1—The Spooner Rails railroaded Madison Edgewood (16-9) out of the state tournament with two-hit pitching and five runs in the first two innings of their Division 2 semifinal game.

Edgewood's only hits off Kyle Gauger were singles by Jack Zwettler and Chris Anderson. Gauger faced only 26 batters—five over the minimum.

Donnie Roberts and Sam Holden each drove in two runs for Spooner.

SPOONER 7, EDGEWOOD 1

Spooner 410 200 0—7 9 2

Madison Edgewood 001 000 0—1 2 2

Gauger and Shutt; Cobb and Young.

Leading hitters—Anderson (S) 2x3, Gauger (S) 2x3.

SO—Gauger (S) 5, Cobb (ME) 2. BB—Gauger 1, Cobb 3.

n Ripon 8, Notre Dame 0—Jordan Jess pitched a one-hitter as Ripon shut down first-time qualifier Green Bay Notre Dame (22-6) in the Division 2 semifinals.

Nate Sprout's two-out single in the sixth broke up the no-hit bid by Jess, who struck out 13 and walked three, while Ripon played errorless ball.

RIPON 8, NOTRE DAME 0

Green Bay Notre Dame 000 000 0—0 1 2

Ripon 121 040 x—8 11 0

Prebelski and Gleasan; Jess and Fenner.

Leading hitters—Ehrenberg (Ri) 2x4, Polcyn (Ri) 2x4, Pulverrmacher (Ri) 2x2. 2B—Jess (Ri), Boe (Ri). 3B—Polcyn (Ri).

SO—Prebelski (GBND) 6, Jess (Ri) 13. BB—Jess 3.

Division 3

Pardeeville High School's last-inning magic ran out in the WIAA Division 3 state baseball finals.

The Bulldogs (23-5) made it to the title game with last-inning rallies in back-to-back games, but they couldn't recover from Winnebago Lutheran's seven-run blast in the fifth and sixth innings Thursday and dropped a 10-6 decision to the Vikings.

Winnebago (22-5) took advantage of four walks and two-run doubles by Sam Klein and Caleb Konen in a five-run fifth as the Vikings earned their first title in their second state appearance.

Zach Weihert's two-run homer in the third lifted Pardeeville to a 2-0 lead, and the Bulldogs were up 6-3 before Winnebago broke loose in the fifth.

WINNEBAGO 10, PARDEEVILLE 6

Pardeeville 002 130 0—6 10 2

Winnebago Lutheran 003 052 x—10 8 2

Weihert, Curtis (5) and Stewart; Zahn, Seibel (6), Skaer (7) and Gaertner.

Leading hitters—N. Schmidt (P) 2x4,jDredske (P) 2x4, Otterstatter (W) 2x4, Klein (W) 2x3. 2B—R. Schmidt (P), Mv. Otterstatter (W), Koenen (W), Klein (W). HR—Weihert (P).

SO—Weihert (P) 1, Zahn (W) 4. BB—Weihert 6, Zahn 2.

Division 4

There's a familiar look atop WIAA Division 4 baseball.

Burlington Catholic Central High School rolled over Chippewa Falls McDonell, 9-2, Thursday in rematch of last year's title game, giving the Hilltoppers their second straight championship and fifth since 2005.

It left McDonell (18-8) with its third straight second-place finish.

BURLINGTON CENTRAL 9,

CHIPPEWA FALLS McDONELL 2

Chippewa Falls McDonell 020 000 0—2 7 3

Burlington Central 200 205 x—9 7 3

Suilmann, Cooper (4) and Baier; Floyd and Uhen.

Leading hitters—Baier (CFM) 3x3, Uhen (BC) 2x4. 2B—Ryba (CFM). HR—Alderman (BC).

SO—Suilmann (CFM) 4, Cooper (CFM) 1, Floyd (BC) 7. BB—Suilmann 5, Cooper 1, Floyd 3.

WIAA STATE BASEBALL

At Fox Cities Stadium, Grand Chute

DIVISION 1

Results Tuesday

Quarterfinals

Hartford 4, Verona 0

Neenah 3, Kenosha Bradford 0

Appleton North 11, Wausau West 0 (5)

Eau Claire North 11, Reedsburg 0 (6)

Semifinals

Neenah 10, Hartford 0 (5)

Eau Claire North 5, Appleton North 2

Result Thursday

Championship

Eau Claire North 11, Neenah 1 (6)

DIVISION 2

Results Thursday

Semifinals

Spooner 7, Madison Edgewood 1

Ripon 8, Green Bay Notre Dame 0

Championship

Ripon 12, Spooner 2 (6)

DIVISION 3

Semifinals

Results Wednesday

Pardeeville 6, Grantsburg 5

Winnebago Lutheran 7, 6

Result Thursday

Championship

Winnebago Lutheran 10, Pardeeville 6

DIVISION 4

Results Wednesday

Semifinals

Chippewa Falls McDonell 3, Barneveld 2

Burlington Central 7, Rosholt 2

Result Thursday

Championship

Burlington Central 9, Chippewa Falls McDonell 2