I-S comes back to beat Omro
By Greg Seubert
Two wins.
That’s all that stands between the Iola-Scandinavia Thunderbirds and a return trip to the WIAA State Baseball Championships.
The T-Birds improved to 22-3 May 29 with a 7-5 win over Omro in a Division 3 regional final. Iola-Scandinavia had opened the state tournament May 28 with a 10-0 win over Manawa.
The T-Birds will now face Stratford at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 4, in a sectional semifinal game in Crandon. St. Mary Catholic will play Peshtigo in the other semifinal at 1 p.m. and the winners will meet at 4 p.m. for a sectional championship.
Iola-Scandinavia 7, Omro 5
The top-seeded T-Birds trailed the sixth-seeded Foxes 1-0 and 3-2 before coming up with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Omro came up with the game’s first run in the second inning. Riken Frost was hit by a pitch and scored on one of the T-Birds’ three errors.
The T-Birds answered with two runs in the bottom of the second. Kellan Wandtke drove in Alex Sharp with a sacrifice fly and Marcus Jaworski scored on Brock Gullixon’s single.
The lead didn’t last long, however, as Omro came up with two more runs in the third. Cody Brueggemann reached on another error with Isaac Gehrking scoring on the play. Collin Arps later scored on Frost’s single and the Foxes had a 3-2 lead.
The T-Birds sent eight batters to the plate in the fourth inning. Carter Kurki singled, stole second and scored on Sharp’s single. Jaworski added a run-scoring double that scored Sharp and the T-Birds had the lead for good at 4-3. Wandtke added an RBI single and later scored to make it 6-3.
The T-Birds added a run in the sixth, as Wandtke drew a leadoff walk, moved to third on a balk and a passed ball and scored on an error.
Omro added its final two runs with two outs in the seventh. Arps singled and scored on Frost’s single and Frost scored on a double.
Sharp had three of the T-Birds’ seven hits. Jaworski, the winning pitcher and reliever Connor Kurki combined for 13 strikeouts.
Iola-Scandinavia 10, Manawa 0 (6 inn.)
Carter Kurki held the Wolves hitless over six innings.
Jaworski had two of the T-Birds’ eight hits. Sharp, Gullixon, Justin Sivertson and Bryce Huettner scored twice and Huettner and Carter Kurki drove in two runs.