Germantown stuck in West Bend West’s shadow
Spartans won North Shore with 18-0 record, 4 games ahead of Warhawks
Germantown is one of the top baseball teams in the state.
Unfortunately for the Warhawks, the best one just happens to be in the same conference. While Germantown compiled a 24-6 record, West Bend West rolled to a perfect 28-0 mark in the regular season. The Spartans, ranked No. 1 in the area, won the North Shore with an 18-0 record, four games ahead of the No. 3 Warhawks.
“Timing is everything in life, right? And it applies to sports as well,” Germantown coach Jeff Wolf said. “I’ve been in this conference for 24-25 years now – I was an assistant at Nicolet for a long time – (and) West Bend West may have one of the best teams I’ve seen in those years. And there have been some really good teams.
“So for us, I wish it was two years ago, maybe even a year ago, I think we would have had a chance to win the conference.
But that’s a special team. You’re lucky to get one high Division I player, and to get four is incredible.”
West indeed has four Division I players on its roster. Germantown, however, entered the year having to replace five starters (not including pitchers) and returned just two players who made the all-conference team when the Warhawks went 8-10 in the North Shore last year.
“I knew it’d be tough to win the conference as strong as West Bend West was,” Wolf said. “I thought we would be in the top half, top five.”
Germantown was runner-up thanks to players such as sophomore Jonathan Wizner, who leads the Warhawks in batting (.471), hits (41) and runs (29) after making all-North Shore honorable mention as a freshman.
Senior Connor Stoming, who made first-team all-conference last season, is batting .441 with 26 runs, second-most on the team in both categories.
Another senior, Bryce Thomas, who will play volleyball at Carthage, leads Germantown with 34 runs batted in and five home runs. Jake Eigner, a senior as well, is 2-1 as a pitcher with two saves and a 1.56 earned run average after spending his first three seasons with the Prospect Training Academy.
“Being my first year with them, I didn’t really know what to expect,” Eigner said.
“But they took me in like I’ve been playing with them the whole time. There’s a lot of camaraderie, and it’s been a great experience so far.”
It was not that great in the beginning, however.
Noah Imrie, a possible No. 1 pitcher, was scheduled to start the season opener May 23. Instead, he was rushed to the hospital that day to have his appendix removed after he noticed his side was hurting the day before. He missed the first 11⁄2 months of the season.
One week later, No. 2 hitter Dan Drinan suffered a concussion and was out for about 10 days. And pitcher Blake Kunz was 3-0 and did not allow an earned run before he strained his elbow June 21. He recently returned.
Germantown still managed to earn a No. 2 seeding in the playoffs. But West Bend West is also in the same bracket with the top seeding.
The Warhawks lost both games to the Spartans by a total score of 30-3.
“There won’t be any pressure on us,” Wolf said. “All the pressure would be on them. They’re the undefeated team that no one’s supposed to beat, and see what happens.” Thomas agreed. “Hopefully we face them again and give them that one loss,” he said.