Whittlesey falls one out short of advancing to WBA State Finals

WBA REGIONAL WEEKEND

A three-run homer by Brandon Loertscher and a dominant pitching performance through seven innings by Nick Retterath Sunday had the Whittlesey Reds in position to advance to the State Finals weekend in the Wisconsin Baseball Association tournament.

Unfortunately, the Reds weren’t quite able to finish things off in the eighth and ninth innings and fell one out short in a 4-3 loss to the Eau Claire Cavaliers in the last game of regional weekend at the Ellsworth site.

In what manager Dan Kraschewski called the most gut-wrenching loss he could remember since the Reds lost the WBA championship game to Winona, Minn. in 1999, the Reds were inches away from getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth and completing a 2-0 weekend in their pool.

Leading 3-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, a walk and a bunt that turned into a hit when it just eluded a diving attempt by third baseman Thomas Mildbrand put the first two Cavaliers of the inning on base and then a perfectlyplaced bunt down the third-base line loaded the bases with no outs.

Relief pitcher Brent Mueller then induced a ground ball that Loertscher, playing shortstop, made an outstanding play on to not only stop, but he also got off a strong throw to the plate to get a force out and keep the Reds in front.

Mueller then got a comebacker from Caden Erickson, giving Whittlesey a shot to end the game with a double play. The Reds got the force at home, but Kraschnewski said the relay throw to Retterath, who was now playing first base, from catcher Cade Alexander went awry, starting with Erickson running on the inside of the baseline, forcing Alexander to throw over the top of him. The throw wasn’t necessarily off target, but Retterath didn’t see the baseball coming over the runner in time and the ball ended up in rightfield, allowing base runners Gio Baslie and Ben Boda to score the tying and winning runs.

The final play was the last in a series of events that went against Whittlesey after Loertscher hit his three-run bomb over the leftfield fence in the top of the sixth inning that finally put the Reds on the board against Cavs’ starter Andrew Milner.

Ahead of Loertscher’s homer, Mildbrand and Jeff Kraschnewski walked and Mueller singled to right, but Mildbrand was cut down at home plate on a perfect throw from rightfielder Luke Erickson for the second out of the inning.

Retterath gave up just two hits and a walk through six innings and had struck out seven. But rain that had been falling for a couple of innings made the pitching mound unsafe and forced an hourlong delay in the middle of the seventh. Dan Kraschnewski said Retterath threw three times on the side during the delay to try to stay loose, but when play resumed, he could tell his hurler didn’t quite have the same stuff.

Still, Retterath got through the seventh inning while just allowing a walk. The Reds stranded two runners in the top of the eighth, and in the bottom half, Boda, the number-nine hitter, drew a walk and Caden Erickson homered to make it a one-run game. After another hit, Mueller relieved Retterath and got out of the inning with no further damage.

The Reds then put runners on the corners with one out in the top of the ninth but couldn’t advance them any further, leaving the Cavaliers with their opportunity to win it in the bottom half.

Eau Claire was the ninth overall seed in the 36-team WBA field and whipped the Iron City Miners from Mellen 11-1 in their opener Saturday. Whittlesey, the 16th overall seed, also defeated the 33rdseeded Miners 9-3 on Saturday night.

Both teams got off to a shaky start in that one, Dan Kraschnewski said, but eventually the defense settled in behind starting pitcher Spike Alexander, who threw 5.1 innings, the offense pulled away, aided by a three-run homer from Nick Meyer, and Jeff Kraschnewski stepped up with 3.2 strong relief innings that allowed the Reds to have Retterath and Loertscher fully available to pitch Sunday if needed.

Eau Claire, who went 14-6 in the Chippewa River Baseball League this summer, is the eighth seed in the newly-seeded Finals and will face the top-seeded River Falls Fighting Fish Friday at 6 p.m. at Eau Claire’s Carson Park and will play the ninth-seeded Everest Merchants at either 10 a.m. or 4 p.m. Saturday, depending on Friday’s outcome.

Everest and the Wisconsin Rapids Redhawks will represent the Dairyland League’s Large Division at the state tournament. Both teams advanced from regional play in Wisconsin Rapids. Everest, seeded 11th, beat the 35th-seeded Bloomer Woodticks 8-1 and got by the 14th-seeded Spring Valley Hawks 5-4. Rapids, the eighth regional seed, shut out 32nd-seeded La Crosse 10-0 and the 17thseeded Eau Claire Rivermen 9-0. Now the fifth seed at state, Rapids plays fourthseeded Viroqua at 9 p.m. Friday at Osseo and will face 12th-seeded Hayward at either 1 p.m. or 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The semifinals and championship will be played in Osseo on Sunday.