The Manitowoc Lutheran baseball team is looking do something they haven’t done in 51 years, win a baseball team title.
They head to Fox Crossing this afternoon for a rematch with St. Mary Catholic, with the winner to be crowned the Big East North Division champion.
The Lancers won their seventh straight Big East North contest Tuesday, defeating the Zephyrs 2-1 on a walk-off wild pitch scoring Joel Voight in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Both teams are 7-2 in league after Manitowoc Lutheran handed St. Mary Catholic just their second loss in their last 12 games.
Lancers head coach Jeff Dolan tells seehafernews.com that he knows it will be a tough game.
“They’re well coached. They pitch very well and they don’t do a lot to hurt themselves,” he explained. “We know we will have our hands full today.”
It took the Lancers a while to get going and are arguably playing some of their better baseball in recent memory.
Dolan says the key has simply been belief in themselves.
“Our pitchers are throwing strikes, keeping us in games, and our lineup has done a good job showing good bat discipline and getting on base, putting pressure on the opposition,” he noted. “We’ve put ourselves in nice positions to utilize our team speed and smart baserunning to push just enough runs across to win. I give the kids a lot of credit for hanging in there and having fun playing the game. Good things happen when you’re doing that.”
The first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Also, the EWC baseball title will be decided today in Kiel as the undefeated Raiders host the Brillion Lions.
Kiel won at Brillion Tuesday 4-3 as they remain undefeated (13-0 in the EWC and 16 -0 overall) and snapped the Lions’ 19-game winning streak.
A victory gives the Raiders the outright EWC crown while Brillion (12-1 in the EWC and 20-3 overall) needs a victory to grab a share of the conference title.
The first pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
Other baseball games today include Chilton at Roncalli, Two Rivers travels to New Holstein, Valders ventures to Sheboygan Falls, Reedsville is home for Mishicot, Denmark is at Little Chute, Cedar Grove/ Belgium hosts Howards Grove, Oostburg is on the road for Random Lake, Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah hosts Hilbert, Sheboygan Christian/ Lutheran hosts Kohler, and Algoma ventures to Wrightstown to battle The Tigers.
Meanwhile, the WIAA Girls Softball Tournament begins today for some local and area teams.
In Division Two, Sheboygan South has a short bus ride to Sheboygan Falls to take on Sheboygan Falls/ Kohler.
Division Three matchups include Mishicot, the defending Division Four state champions, hosting Chilton, Kiel entertains Sturgeon Bay, Cedar Grove-Belgium heads to Berlin, and Oostburg entertains Mayville.
In Division Four, Roncalli hosts Weyauwega-Fremont, and in Division Five, Reedsville hits the road to battle Port Edwards.
In regular season action, Manitowoc Lincoln travels to Appleton West, and Valders heads to Crivitz to meet the Wolverines.
