Kewaunee 27-0, aiming for return to state

Brett Paulsen pitched his fifth solo no-hitter of the season Wednesday as Kewaunee blanked Crivitz for the second time this season, 10-0 in five innings for a Div. 3 regional championship.
Crivitz had 10 seniors on a team that had a school record 21 wins this season against four losses, two of them — both no-hitters by Paulsen — to Kewaunee.
The senior southpaw, committed to play ball in Wisconsin at Parkside next season, said he doesn’t feel any extra pressure even as the Storm has been ranked No. 1 in the state all season after their surprising run last year.

“You deal with it, play by play, practice included,” Paulsen said. “It’s been preached by our staff. They’ve done a great job putting that into our players from top to bottom, and we do a good job of holding each other accountable.” Paulsen struck out nine and walked three in the win, Kewaunee’s 27th in a row.

Next up, a trip to Crivitz Tuesday to take on Brillion in a 1 p.m. start. The winner will face either Stratford or Marathon at 4 p.m. Those two teams play at 10 a.m.

Coach Dan Spranger said he trusts his pitching staff right down to the sixth man, and hinted that Paulsen might get the start against Brillion.
“We have to win game one to get to game two,” Spranger said. “I trust all the guys. We faced the toughest pressure we possibly could have faced by being in the state championship last year. Now we’re able to handle those things.”

Connor Kilgore tripled, singled twice and ended the game with a bases-loaded walk for the five-inning, 10-run-rule win. Micah Vanness and Mason Kovacs each doubled and singled and Dane Harrell had a pair of base hits. The Storm took advantage of seven walks, with Diesel Bosdeck getting two of them.

Vanness may have had a little chip on his shoulder after being the lone Storm starter not to make the All-Packerland team. With one out and two strikes against him in the bottom of the second, Vanness drilled a two-run double to left field. “It felt pretty good, ripping it out there,” Vanness said. “I imagined that last night, like coach Spranger said.”

Paulsen said he texted Vanness as soon as he saw the All-Conference listings.

“I told him, ‘I don’t know your conference stats, but I can tell you right now your value to the team is extremely high,’” Paulsen said.

Vanness said teams in the sectional will be coming after the Storm as if it’s the state championship. “Stay calm, relaxed, work hard every single day in practice, and we should be able to go get it,” he said.

Paulsen said he’s enjoying the warmer temperatures.

“You can just feel it in the dugout,” he said. “You’re not having to put on a hoodie,
maybe two layers between innings. It really helps. (My arm) feels good. I feel elastic, ready to go for however many innings I have to go for.”

Waylon Delain, the team’s leading hitter this season, said he’s enjoying the atmosphere with guys he’s played with since fourth or fifth grade.
“Everybody respects each other,” Delain said. “I just come out here and play, have fun, try my best and see what happens.”

In a regional semifinal Tuesday, Kewaunee got two hits each from Delain and Bosdeck, a two-RBI single from Kilgore and a two-RBI double from Blake Temme in a 5-1 win over Peshtigo.

Jackson Walecka earned the win, giving up three hits in five innings while striking out seven and walking three. Delain finished up, striking out two and allowing just one hit in the final two innings.

The Storm tuned up for the playoffs with a 3-1 win last Thursday at Manitowoc Lincoln. Delain had three hits and Paulsen and Bosdeck each two. Paulsen earned the win, giving up two hits and one run in three innings while striking out four.

What’ll it take to not only get back to state, but win it all?
“You got to make every single little play,” Paulsen said. “That’s how you win state.”
Said Spranger, “It’s a goal of ours. If you really want to take that challenge on, then you have to understand what goes into that. And our guys understand that. They put the work in, they don’t let their heads get too big. They ground each other. To reach our goal, we all have to be all in, and they do that.”

Algoma baseball
A Div. 3 regional at Perry Field last Thursday saw doubles from Dylan Seiler and
Braeden Leist in the bottom of the sixth break a 2-2 tie with Mishicot for an eventual 3-2 Wolves win.
In the top of the seventh, winning pitcher Charlie Prokash got a pair of strikeouts before reaching the pitch count. Jacob Massey came on in relief, and earned the save with a strikeout on a hanging curve. Seiler and Leist each had two hits, with Seiler’s both doubles. Prokash had an RBI single.

Algoma couldn’t get much going at Brillion Tuesday, with the Lions claiming a 9-1 win.
Cal DeMeuse had two hits, Jack Schwader an RBI single, Prokash a double and Leist a single. Prokash took the loss, giving up six hits and five runs (three earned) over three innings, striking out one and walking three. The Wolves end the season with a 10-15 record.

Lux-Casco baseball
The Spartans finished the season at 16-10 after beating Shawano Community Thursday 5-1 in a Div. 2 regional opener and falling to Little Chute in a semifinal Tuesday, 9-1. Gavin Lax took the win and the loss on the mound. He gave up just two hits and struck out 10 in 5-2/3 innings in the opener.

Ethan Dachelet had a pair of hits and Eli Derenne one hit and the lone RBI against Little
Chute. Tatem Klaubauf doubled in the win over Shawano, and Derenne, Lax, Myles
Jandrin, Klaubauf, Ethan Werner, Dachelet, and Marcus Doell each had a hit.