Whittlesey wins four straight to earn state title

WBA 35 & OLDER STATE

The Whittlesey Reds won the Wisconsin Baseball Association’s 35 and over state tournament over the weekend, going a perfect 4-0 in the three-day tournament played at Osseo’s Merchant Field and Strum’s Spangberg Field.

The Reds clinched the title with a 9-0 win over the La Crosse 35ers in Sunday’s title game. Shawn Schultz pitched a complete-game shutout, Josh Shere went four for four and Jeff Kraschnewski hit two doubles as part of Whittlesey’s 16-hit attack.

The championship is Whittlesey’s first in the annual tournament since 2002.

Whittlesey started its run by going 2-0 in pool play. In game one, a 9-4 win over Bay City Saturday in Osseo, Whittlesey got a seven-inning outing from Schultz and jumped out to a big lead with eight early runs, taking advantage of several walks and errors.

The one close game of the weekend came next later Saturday afternoon in Strum. The Reds beat La Crosse 5-2 with contributions from Matt Witter and Ryan Hubacek, who are Everest Merchants in the Dairyland League regular season. The left-handed Witter pitched all seven innings and Hubacek homered in the win.

Whittlesey earned the two-seed going into the semifinals in Osseo and faced third-seeded Mellen in Sunday’s second game. The Reds banged out 16 hits, got up big early and won via the 10-run rule in six innings. Jeff Kraschnewski pitched all six innings.

La Crosse got into the semifinals as the fourth seed by winning the fifth tiebreaker, which was a coin flip, over River Falls. La Crosse beat Bay City 5-1 in its other pool game. The 35ers then upset top-seeded Strum 9-4 in Sunday’s first semifinal.

The Interwald Woodticks also played in the nineteam tournament but went 0-2 in their pool. They lost 15-1 to Chippewa Falls Saturday morning in Strum and then lost 10-3 at Osseo Saturday afternoon. Strum beat Chippewa Falls 11-1 Friday.

In the third pool, River Falls beat Tilden 3-1 and Mellen 9-5, while Mellen beat Tilden 5-2.