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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield baseball team made a habit of coming from behind this season, pulling off five walk-off wins during a 10-game winning streak to end the regular season.
The Tigers fell behind early, made one comeback to tie the game, but in the end couldn’t curtail a powerful Chippewa Falls offense and lost 10-2 in a WIAA Division 1 regional final Thursday at Jack Hackman Field.
Marshfield ends the season with a 17-8 record, while Chippewa Falls improves to 15-7 and advances to play Stevens Point (19-8) in a sectional semifinal at River Falls on Tuesday. River Falls will play Eau Claire Memorial at 11 a.m., with the Chippewa Falls-Point game to follow. The sectional championship and a berth in the WIAA State Spring Baseball Tournament will begin at approximately 4 p.m.
“They put 13 up against a good New Richmond team on Tuesday at their place and came up here and sprayed the ball around,” Marshfield coach Mark Zee said. “They had balls where they didn’t necessarily square up, drop in front of us, and balls that they did square up on went over our heads.
“It was unfortunate that it has to come to an end like this, but I told the guys that I was proud of them on how they played this year. I had a lot of fun coaching these guys. One game doesn’t represent a season. I am real happy with the seniors and how they went out there and showed the younger kids how to play baseball.”
After Chippewa Falls took a 2-0 lead in the second inning against Marshfield starter Jack Donahue, the Tigers battled back in the bottom of the inning.
Donahue singled, Sam Klein reached on an error, and after a sacrifice bunt by Braden Bohman, Jeremy Brost smacked a single to score two runs and tie the game.
After that, however, Marshfield watched its season slip away.
The Tigers had just two more hits against Chippewa Falls pitcher Carl Krumenauer, who finished with a complete-game four-hitter, two strikeouts and just one walk.
The Cardinals went ahead for good with a run in the third inning, and chased Donahue from the game after a walk and back-to-back singles plated another run in the fourth.
Sam Mayberry greeted Marshfield reliever Jake Brueggen with an RBI double and the Cardinals added two more runs in the fourth to go ahead 7-2.
Jordan Steinmetz had a two-run double in the sixth and Wyatt Hubin drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh to complete the scoring.
Jake Sperry had three hits and scored twice, Mayberry had two doubles and two RBIs, and Hubin had two hits and three RBIs for the Cardinals.
“It was a good of year, wins and losses, as we’ve had in a while,” Zee said. “It was a tribute to the seniors who have played a lot of baseball. We had some things that went our way, got some good pitching, defense and played a lot of home games, too.
“We’re excited for next year. We have a lot of good kids coming back, some good kids from the JV teams that are going to compete for starting spots, and I think Marshfield baseball is going to be pretty solid for some years to come.”
Cardinals 10, Tigers 2
Chippewa Falls 021 402 1 – 10 11 2
Marshfield 020 000 0 – 2 4 2
WP: Carl Krumenauer. LP: Jack Donahue.
SO: Krumenauer 2; Donahue (3 inn.) 2, Jake Brueggen (4 inn.) 3. BB: Krumenauer 1; Donahue 1, Brueggen 2.
Top hitters: CF, Jake Sperry 3×4, 2B, 2 runs; Landon Mueller 2×3, 2B, 2 RBIs; Jordan Steinmetz 2B, 2 RBIs; Drew Lahr 3 runs; Wyatt Hubin 2×3, 2 runs, 3 RBIs; Sam Mayberry 2×4, 2 2Bs, 2 RBIs. M, Jeremy Brost 2 RBIs.
Records: Chippewa Falls 15-7; Marshfield 17-8.