Huron baseball team heading to regionals

For the 15th time in 16 years, Coach Howard Madsen?s Huron baseball team is district champions. For the second year, that championship comes in Division IV, where the Hurons advanced to the state semifinals last season in a magical ride through the playoffs. The only break in that string of district championships came two years ago in Onaway. Last Saturday in Onaway, the Hurons won 7-1 over the Cardinals in the district semifinals and mercied Atlanta 16-1 in the championship.

?I think our ballgame Tuesday helped us. We didn?t have the tournament jitters,? Madsen said. ?We came out aggressive in both games, attacked the baseball and threw strikes.?

HE SAID his team came out loose, after winning a pre-district game earlier in the week against Hillman. The Hurons continued their attacking style of play, hitting the ball hard and being aggressive on the basepaths. ?Very aggressive play has been our style all year. I think we are approaching a school record for stolen bases. We are pushing close to 200 stolen bases on the year and that is awesome,? he said. ?That has been our style. We are going to go until they throw us out.?

Pitching, which may have been a question mark coming into the season, has been a strong point in the tournament. ?Everybody asked us ?how is your pitching? and we say it is just OK. But the more we go the better they seem to get. We don?t seem to think that they are that overpowering but they have been pitching games, they haven?t been just throwing,? Madsen said. ?(Chris) Santini kept (Atlanta) off balance and (Cody) Wenzel kept (Onaway) off balance in the first game. That has been the key to our year, the kids have been thinking while they have been pitching and have been making some big pitches.?

IN THE first game Wenzel limited the Cards to six hits while striking out seven and walking one in seven innings of work. Meanwhile, his teammates made the most of nine hits off Onaway ace Eric Bentley, while the Cardinal defense had five errors behind him. The Hurons got on track right away getting three in the first inning. Chris Paschke, who had doubled, moved to third when Wenzel reached on an error. Both runners scored when senior left fielder Chris Rhode drilled a long single to left. He stole second and scored on Ben Basel?s single, one of his two hits in the contest.

Three more Hurons scored in the second inning, aided again by some Cardinal miscues. With one out, Tyler Schuiteman singled and moved to second on an error. A wild pitch moved him to third. After Austin Fairbanks walked, Paschke struck out for the inning?s second out.

WITH RUNNERS on second and third, Wenzel was walked to load the bases. Rhode then topped a roller to first, which was misplayed, and when the dust had settled, two runs had scored and Rhode ended up at second base. A wild pitch sent Wenzel home for the inning?s third run. The final run came in the third inning. Basel led off with a single and Brian Krueger came on as a pinch runner. Justin Wilbert singled to right. Two failed sacrifice bunt attempts by Jake Bellmore and Schuiteman left two on and two out. Fairbanks then doubled home Krueger as the Hurons went up 7-0.

Onaway scored its only run when Justin Styles moved to second on an error and came around to score on a single by Tom Garms.

IN THE championship game, the Hurons faced Atlanta, a 6-5 winne

r over Posen (see separate story). Rogers City had 11 hits and took advantage of eight walks off four Huskie pitchers in the four-inning mercy game. The Hurons scored three in the first, five in the second, one in the third, and seven in the fourth and final inning to give Chris Santini the win. The junior righty allowed four hits and a walk while striking out seven. Many Hurons had good games at the plate, as Huskie pitchers managed only one strikeout. Rhode had three singles and a walk, driving in a run with each of his hits. Basel, the Hurons? senior catcher, had a walk and two hits and drove in three runs.

FAIRBANKS DROVE in three runs with a double in the second, a sacrifice fly in the third, and a fielder?s choice in the fourth. Wenzel, playing shortstop in the second game, also had three RBI. He drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the second, and a single scored two in the fourth. Paschke drove in two with a triple in the second and a fielder?s choice in the fourth. Rogers City will face St. Ignace on Saturday at noon at Pellston in the second game of the regional.