(1) Kenosha Tremper (21-4) vs. (2) Burlington (19-7), 4 p.m., tonight, Kenosha Tremper High School
By Mike Ramczyk
KENOSHA – Trey Krause pitched like the ace he is, and the Burlington bats eventually erupted in a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal Tuesday at Kenosha Tremper’s Alan Smith Field.
Krause, a lefty, utilized his best pitch, a nasty curve ball, to silence sixth-seeded Kenosha Bradford’s bats, and some shoddy defense helped provide the spark the Demons needed in the fourth.
While Dalton Damon, Derek Koenen and Michael Rozell came through with hits leading to runs, Bradford suffered a couple errant throws, and before anyone could blink, Burlington plated four runs to go up 5-1 and finished the Red Devils off in the fifth to cruise to an 11-1, run-rule rout.
Trent Turzenski opened the fifth with a double just inside the bag down the right-field line, and he finished the inning with a bases-loaded single to left to walk off for the win.
The shortened game helped Krause only throw 80 pitches, leaving him with 20 left for tonight’s sectional championship game, the third consecutive for the Burlington baseball program.
In 2016 and 2017, Burlington beat Bradford and Waterford, respectively, to advance to Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton for the state tournament.
This season, they’ll have to upset No. 1 Kenosha Tremper (21-4), which knocked off Westosha Central, 4-3, on the same field Tuesday morning.
Burlington (19-7) coach Scott Staude said after the win that the coaching staff considered starting Krause or bringing him in to close Tuesday night.
Tremper faces a similar situation with fire-baller Reese Dutton, who closed down the Falcons with 13 pitches of hitless baseball to earn the save Tuesday morning.
Dutton was slated to start the sectional final.
“Trey was really good, but it was tough for him to get a rhythm,” Staude said. “His pitch count got up a little bit, but his curve ball was effective.”
“Trey’s got 20 more pitches, so getting the run rule comes into play. What’s unique about this situation is you don’t practice it. It’s hard to replicate.”
Staude said his guys had really good approaches at the plate with a lot of balls hit up the middle.
He said the Demons are playing with confidence and are loose.
“It’s neat to see a game like this where everyone contributes in a special way,” he added.
“These guys want to be part of the tradition. They want to compete. We’ll see. We had a couple mistakes today, and the next guy picked him up. Sometimes that can cost you a playoff game, it didn’t today.”
Staude joked that the Trojans should spot the Demons three runs, with home-field advantage and the top seed.
“I just did rock-paper-scissors for dugouts with their assistant coach,” he said. “Tremper is very good and has some good arms.”
Since a May 22 walk-off home run loss to Catholic Memorial, 7-6, the Demons are winners of five straight and 11 of their last 12.
Burlington opened the season 8-6.
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