MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (June 9–16)
WIAA D4 BASEBALL: No. 1 Potosi/Cassville 4, No. 6 Seneca 2
By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal
Chieftains rally to beat Seneca en rout to sectional title
PATCH GROVE — The Potosi/Cassville boys baseball team is headed to the WIAA State Tournament for the first time in co-op history.
The No. 1 seeded Chieftains (19–7) earned the trip with a 4–2 comeback win over No. 6 seed Seneca and a dominating 10–0 five-inning win over No. 8 seed Cochrane–Fountain City — both at Tuesday’s WIAA Division 4 River Ridge Sectional final.
The Royals (17–8) took a 2–1 lead in the top of the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Hunter Hagensick and were in position to extend their advantage an inning later if not for a pair of base running blunders.
Preston Kuhnke reached on a one-out error then Basil Hall reached on a 15-foot infield single to put runners on first and second with starting pitcher Sam Gallagher at the plate, but the Royals ran into a pair of outs before Gallagher even got a chance to swing the bat.
Vogelsberg, Potosi/Cassville’s starting pitcher in the game, spiked his first pitch to Gallagher and the ball squirted to the left and slightly behind Bauer behind the plate.
But the PC catcher quickly pounced on the loose ball and threw Kuhnke out attempting to steal third base.
On the very next play, Vogelsberg lifted his left leg and whiled around to pick Hall of second base to end the inning.
The Chieftains road that wave of momentum to the bottom half of the inning when Infield led off with a double to right field.
Infield tagged up on Weber’s fly ball to right field and later scored on a fielder’s choice when Sahr hit a slow chopped back to the mound and the PC third baseman was able to beat Seneca reliever Kaden Roberts’ throw to the plate.
Sahr used his speed to get into scoring position for Rausch with back-to-back steals of second on third base.
After a brief timeout, Rausch laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to drive in Sahr and beat the throw to first for an infield RBI-single.
Following a strikeout, Voelz lined a clutch two-out RBI single to right field to make it 4–2.
“The guys have been doing this all year, they don’t get down on themselves and they keep battling,” said Leibfried. “River was able to get on base and scored Ben and then we used River’s speed to get him over to third base. Logan laid down a beautiful squeeze bunt and then we were able to add another run an RBI single by Chris to give us the two-run lead.”
Gallagher led off the top of the seventh with an single, but Vogelsberg got Jax Wall to pop out to first base, and Gage Wall to fly out to center before he reached the 100-pitch limit.
Weber came on in relief and needed just five pitches to strikeout Konichek to end the game and earn his third save of the season.
Vogelsberg improved to 9–1 on the season allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits and four walks in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out four.
Roberts took the loss after allowing three runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings. Roberts struck out five.
Seneca scored the game’s first run in the top of the second when Hagensick drew a lead off walk, moved to second on a sac bunt and scored when Roberts reached on a throwing error by Infield.
The Chieftains tied the game 1–1 in the bottom half of the inning when Weber reached on a fielder’s choice ground out and later scored on a clutch two-out line drive RBI single by Schaefer to centerfield.
Six different Chieftains had one hit in the win, while PC bottom for batters in the lineup — Sahr, Rausch, Schaefer and Voelz — each drove in a run.
WIAA Division 4 Sectional Semifinal
No. 1 Potosi/Cassville 4, No. 6 Seneca 2
(from Tuesday, June 9 @ Patch Grove)
Seneca................010 010 0 — 2 5 0
Potosi/Cassville...010 003 x — 4 6 3
Leading hitters — S: Gage Wall 2x4, Hunter Hagensick 1x2 (RBI, R), Sam Gallagher 1x2 PC: Damian Bauer 1x3, Kolton Vogelsberg 1x3, Ben Infield 1x2 (R), Logan Rausch 1x3 (RBI, R), Logan Schaefer 1x3 (RBI), Christopher Voelz 1x2 (RBI). 2B — PC: Infield.
W —Kolton Vogelsberg (8–1, 6.2IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 4K, 4BB). L — Kaden Roberts (4.1IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 5K, 0BB). SV — Reid Weber (3, 0.1IP, 0H, 0R, 1K, 0BB).
