HOLMEN — The Holmen High School baseball team scored once early and once late, and that was enough to land it a spot in next week’s WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinals in Baraboo.
The fourth-seeded Vikings (16-9-1) scored in the first inning and again in the sixth to beat fifth-seeded and visiting Sun Prairie West 2-1 to claim a regional championship on Thursday.
Holmen will play top-seeded and fourth-ranked Sun Prairie East (19-7) in the first of two semifinals on Tuesday. That game begins at 10 a.m. and is followed by a second semifinal between third-seeded Madison Memorial (18-8) and second-seeded Middleton (18-8) at 1 p.m. The championship game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
Senior Aaron Ploszay shut down West after allowing an unearned run in the top of the first inning and yielded just four hits in a complete game. He also struck out four and walked two.
A 1-1 tie was snapped when right fielder Joe Meeter led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to right field. He moved to third on a Noah Oswald sacrifice and scored when the Wolves made an error on a one-out grounder off the bat of Abe Henderson.
Ploszay followed that by retiring the side in order during the Sun Prairie West seventh.
Henderson also singled to center with two outs in the first inning to score third baseman Jude Anderson with the tying run. Anderson reached on a walk.
DIVISION 2
Aquinas 14, Somerset 4 (6)
LA CROSSE — The top-seeded Blugolds (21-3), who won last year’s Division 3 state championship, ran their winning streak to seven games and qualified to play in Tuesday’s Merrill Sectional.
Aquinas will match up with second-seeded Prescott in the second of two semifinals at 1 p.m. Fifth-seeded Medford (14-9) plays third-seeded Mosinee (15-6) in the first semifinal at 10 a.m., and the championship game is scheduiled for 4 p.m.
The Blugolds had eight hits and scored four runs in the third inning and another four in the fifth to pull away from the Spartans (16-8).
Shortstop Jonny Deets and center fielder Cullen Sackman were both 2 for 3 with a double. Deets drove in two and Sackman one while Deets scored three times and Sackman twice. They also had two stolen bases each.
First baseman Waylon Hargrove also had two hits and drove in two runs, while left fielder/pitcher Landon Teachout was 1 for 1 with three runs scored, one RBI and drew three walks. Right fielder Braydon Young also had two RBIs and drew a walk.
