Photo Credit - Manitowoc Lutheran High School
A good crowd, split about right down the middle of Lancers and Jets fans, showed up at Lancer Circle on a picture-perfect late spring afternoon to see Manitowoc Lutheran and Roncalli battle in a WIAA Division Three regional baseball game.
Roncalli won the regular season meeting back on May 9th, 11-4, but Manitowoc Lutheran gets to enjoy the thrill of victory this time around as the Lancers hold off the Jets by a score of 9-5 to advance to a Division Three Regional semifinal next Tuesday (June 2nd) at top seed Cedar Grove-Belgium.
Manitowoc Lutheran head coach Jeff Dolan tells seehafernews.com that he’s proud of his kids for “hanging in there” with the game on the line.
“I’m proud of our guys for battling through a couple of tough innings and finally being able to put some pressure on Roncalli and push some runs across,” he said. “I give Roncalli a ton of credit for battling back, but we’re happy to be moving on, and I feel a lot more comfortable now that the game is over.”
Each team scored a run in the first inning as Roncalli senior and starting pitcher Hayden Dewane drove in Victor Anzia with an infield ground out, only to have the Lancers answer in the bottom of the first inning as Will Franzen drove in Josiah Martin with an RBI single.
Roncalli had a chance to take the lead in the top of the third inning as they loaded the bases with one out and one of their best hitters at the plate in senior shortstop Dominik Frozena.
However, his hard-hit ground ball struck the pitching rubber, ricocheting to shortstop Wesley Hecker, who stepped on second base for the force and threw to first base to complete the double play, and the Lancers got out of the inning.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Lancers erupted for eight runs on eight base hits.
With the bases loaded and one out, Manitowoc Lutheran center fielder Joel Voight, celebrating his birthday, laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to score courtesy runner Ethan Brooks.
A second run would score on a wild pitch, then Josiah Martin followed with a 2-run single with Logan Haupt, Wesley Hecker, and Will Franzen following with run-scoring singles, with the eighth and final run scoring on a sacrifice fly by Isiah Hockmuth to put the Lancers up by a score of 9-1.
Roncalli would respond by scoring four times in the top of the fifth inning as Kanon Kinsella knocked in the first run with a single, Dominik Frozena followed with a two-run double, and he’d score on a single by Dexter Lepich to cut the lead to 9-5.
But that’s as close as Roncalli would get as Drew Staudt came on in relief of starting and winning pitcher Isiah Hockmuth to throw two scoreless innings as the Lancers survive and advance.
Coach Dolan gives his ace (Hockmuth) a ton of credit for staying the course when he was a bit off his game.
“He’s been dealing with some back soreness for the last week or so, and Roncalli put some good at-bats together against him,” he admitted. “But he found a way to make key pitches when he had to limit the damage and keep us in the hunt for a chance to go and win the game.”
(Isiah) Hockmuth improves to 7- 0 with the victory despite giving up five runs, all earned in five innings.
Hayden Dewane took the loss for Roncalli as he pitched the first three-and-two-thirds innings, charged with all nine runs, six earned.
Jake Hillmer threw the final two and a third innings, allowing no runs. Manitowoc Lutheran improves to 13 and 8 while Roncalli finishes its season with a record of 11 and 12.
The Lancers next face a Cedar Grove-Belgium team that sports one of the nation’s best players in senior Ira Hilbelink, and Coach Dolan says they welcome the challenge that awaits them on Tuesday.
“We know that they are a good team and they are highly ranked for a reason, but we’re excited for the chance to continue playing,” he said. “The last month has been one game and one inning at a time, and deal with what is directly in front of us. We’re excited to play on Tuesday, take our chances, and we’ll see what happens.”
No start time has yet been assigned.
