Pitching, confidence, tradition fuel squad that lost big hitters
By Mike Ramczyk
After a devastating home loss to Waterford two weeks ago, the Burlington baseball team’s chances of a third straight Southern Lakes crown seemed doomed.
The Demons still had to play in Waterford and had to finish the conference slate with a two-game series against SLC-leading Wilmot.
What a difference 10 days makes.
Since that humbling defeat, Burlington has reeled off six straight wins, five in conference, culminating with a 6-1 victory over visiting Wilmot Thursday night at Beaumont Field.
One day later, on Friday at home against Delavan-Darien, another game under the Beaumont Field lights, the Demons made it official.
They became outright Southern Lakes Conference champions for the third straight season after beating the Comets’ ace, Noah Brouwer, 5-3, in a close ball game.
What started as a season with some uncertainty with key stars now playing in college became a well-oiled machine when it mattered most.
Behind a staff ERA near 1.2 and a confidence that fueled a late-season surge, Burlington players badly wanted to continue the program’s epic two-year conference title run.
“Winning this year is very special,” said Burlington coach Scott Staude. “Over the last two years, we’ve lost some great players to graduation, many who are playing in college. We do have some talented players on this team, but many are unproven. I also feel the conference was extremely balanced and deep this year. You had to play your best game every night or you would get beat.”
“I was wondering at the beginning of the year where our leadership would come from. It turns out this team was extremely confident in their abilities and wanted to continue the tradition that has been built here.”
“I am very proud of all of the players in our program as well as our coaching staff. It has been a great ride. Three in a row is tough to do in this league.”
Burlington is 14-6 and 10-4 in the SLC.
Waterford finished the conference season 9-5, and both Wilmot and Westosha Central were 8-5.
An assist from a rival
Ironically, it was an assist from Waterford that helped the Demons clinch at least a share of their third straight SLC championship.
Shortly before the first pitch of Burlington-Wilmot last Thursday, Waterford was upset by rival Union Grove, 12-10, thanks to four hits from the Grove’s Tyler Gamble and three hits each from Jack Clark and Owen Erickson.
So the table was set for the Demons, who were in the driver’s seat for another title.
And Burlington didn’t waste any time, scoring four in the first inning and riding a complete-game gem from Trent Turzenski for a comfortable 6-1 victory.
Tucker Strommen smashed a two-out, two-strike, two-run double in the opening frame, and Turzenski added an RBI single.
Burlington was able to beat Wilmot’s ace, Kyle Gendron, a Winona State University commit, and chase him in the sixth inning with a Derek Koenen RBI single.
The run support was more than enough for Turzenski, who fired a complete game three-hitter with three strikeouts.
Staude said the opening-inning offensive surge demoralized Wilmot and took them out of the game.
“There was so much energy in the place,” Staude said. “We put the foot on the gas pedal and came out swinging. Trent was really good tonight. He was dynamite.”
“They hit some balls pretty hard, and our guys made some good plays.”
Grant Tully made two diving catches in right field, and Michael Rozell made another outstanding catch in center field, Staude said.
“It’s nice to see guys step up in crunch-time moments,” he added.
In the sixth, Strommen executed a suicide squeeze to score Joe Tully, and Koenen’s hit ended the scoring.
“We’re happy to be in this position,” Staude said. “It helped to play Waterford and Wilmot the last two weeks. This is different because we’ve had to be a little more creative in the way we score runs. We knew we could pitch, but could we score runs? We’re finding ways to score runs.”
Burlington 5, Delavan-Darien 3
The Demons swept the Comets last week, with victories Wednesday in Delavan and Friday in Burlington.
The latter clinched an outright SLC title, but it wasn’t easy.
Delavan jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, as Demon starter Drew Pesick was tagged with four hits and three earned runs.
In a game of high stakes, Staude didn’t take any chances and pulled Pesick for junior Jason Adams, who shut the Comets down the rest of the way.
Adams allowed only one hit and struck out five over the next six innings.
Burlington scored two in the first, one in the third and two more in the fifth.
Trey Krause went 3-for-3 for the Demons, and Christian Brenner was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Joe Tully added a two-run double.
Grant Tully, Strommen and Koenen also added hits.
Demons earn 2 seed
Thanks to their late-season hot streak, the Demons earned a No. 2 seed in the WIAA Division 1 baseball playoffs, which open Thursday, May 31 at Beaumont Field against the winner of No. 7 Kenosha Indian Trail and No. 10 Racine Horlick.
Burlington could run into top-seeded Kenosha Tremper (16-2), which is ranked No. 10 in the latest WBCA state rankings.
Burlington is unranked, but sits third in the latest Milwaukee Journal Sentinel area rankings.
“It’s good,” Staude said of the 2 seed. “It’s nice to have a bye the first round.”
Burlington was scheduled to play at Kenosha Tremper Monday, but the game was postponed due to rain.
The Demons finish the regular season Saturday at UW-Whitewater against Hartford.
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