Bay's State Tournament Run Ends with Loss to West Bend West

There’s an old adage that says the third time is the charm.

Unfortunately for Whitefish Bay, there was no such luck.

For the third time this season, West Bend West defeated the Blue Dukes, this time by the score of 9-4 in the WIAA state semifinal game at Bukolt Park, ending Bay’s unexpected run in the state tournament.

“They are a good team,” Whitefish Bay head coach Jay Wojcinski said of West. “I told the kids all year, if a team plays better than we do that day, I don’t have a problem with it. They are good. They are up here every year for a reason. There is no shame losing to them.”

The previous two meetings between the two schools went the Spartans’ way, but they had North Shore player of the year Jon Nick on the mound.

With Nick having pitched in West’s quarterfinal win over West Salem, the Blue Dukes were excited just to see someone new - Davis Yach - toeing the rubber.

That excitement was quickly tapered when the Spartans jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, scoring a pair of runs in both the first and second innings off Bay junior righthander Justin Alt.

After a one out walk, West senior first baseman Shane Hayes ripped an RBI double to the gap in right center, scoring junior rightfielder Blake Wiskirchen.

Junior catcher Joe Stubbe followed with an infield single and senior centerfielder Brandon Roman dropped down a suicide squeeze that Alt made a great play on, but Hayes slid under the tag of Bay senior catcher Pat Harrington.

Hayes struck again for the Spartans in the second, blasting his second home run of the season and extending West’s lead to 4-0.

Alt settled down to retire nine Spartans in a row, which allowed his offense to battle back into the game.

Sophomore rightfielder Grant Menard led off the third inning by reaching on an error and sophomore leftfielder Jackson Weber followed with a base hit.

Sophomore shortstop John Markwiese drove home Menard with a single to center, cutting West’s lead to 4-1.

Matt Leckie added a sacrifice fly that scored Weber, and Harrington doubled home another run, cutting the deficit to 4-3 and chasing West starter Yach from the game.

The momentum the Blue Dukes gained from the big inning was quickly halted by Spartans’ reliever Dylan Hinckley.

He quieted the Bay bats and by the time he exited the game, the Spartans had blown it open with a six-run sixth inning.

After West put the first two runners on, Hinckley doubled to the leftfield corner to plate the Spartans’ fifth run of the afternoon.

That ended Alt’s day and sophomore Bob Linneman plunked the first batter he faced to load the bases. A wild pitch then scored another run and a Yach RBI single made it 9-3 Spartans.

“We got in trouble in the sixth,” Wojcinski said. “A couple wild pitches, we gave them a couple of runs and they got a couple of hits and next thing you know, we are down six.”

The Blue Dukes battled to the bitter end, scraping together three straight hits with two outs in the seventh to score a run, but the late rally fell short.

In the end, Wojcinski knows this experience will be a good one for his program in the long run.

“The cupboard certainly isn’t bare,” he said. “We’ll be back.”

However, he admitted that it will be tough to say goodbye to the 10 seniors who helped Bay reach the state tournament for just the second time.

One of those seniors, first baseman Garrett DeMuth was thrilled to get the chance to compete on the big stage.

“It was awesome,” DeMuth said.  “I enjoyed every moment of it with these guys. This is my favorite team that I’ve ever been on. I can’t really put it into words right now. I’m sure years from now I’ll look back at it and be really happy I had this experience.”