Marquette, West Bend West in final.
Undefeated West Bend West faces Marquette
West Bend West’s shot at perfection, and Milwaukee Marquette’s chance at redemption, will have to wait another day.
The state summer baseball championship game between the undefeated Spartans and the reigning state runner-up Hilltoppers scheduled for Friday night at Kapco Park was rained out and will be played at 10 a.m. Saturday.
With rain forecast for most of the evening, WIAA officials made the decision to postpone the game about 4 p.m.
“I guess there’s positives and negatives on each side, but that’s the way it is,” West coach Bill Albrecht said. “We’ll show up and play and see what happens.
“They’re eager; they wanted to play (Friday). They’ve got to just chill out a little bit, we’ll wake up early, take some batting practice and take our best shot. It’s not going to be easy against a team like Marquette.”
Semifinals were held Friday afternoon, beginning with Marquette’s 11-1, six-inning victory over Kiel.
The Hilltoppers (27-7) allowed a run in the top of the first but responded with five in the bottom of the frame.
Zach Schmidt’s tworun single to left field gave Marquette a 2-1 lead. Niko Kershner delivered a run-scoring single and Ian Boho capped the inning with another two-run single.
Marquette added four more runs in the fifth and two in the sixth to end the game on the mercy rule.
Kiel (19-9) managed just four hits and struck out seven times against pitcher Andrew Zeidler.
“He was awesome,” Marquette coach Sal Bando Jr. said. “Whenever I think the stage is too big for him, he just comes out and fills up the strike zone.”
Afterward, Bando Jr. stuck around to watch West defeat Franklin, 6-2. It was his first chance to see the 32-0 Spartans this season.
“They’re good,” he said. “They’ve got some toughness to them, they’ve got some swagger, and it should be a good ballgame. I’m excited to play them. They definitely walk the talk.”
Franklin (27-7) not only scored the first two runs, it was the largest deficit West faced all season and just the fourth time the team trailed.
“They didn’t panic,” Albrecht said. “They kept their composure and jumped right back. Lucas Broske came up with that big two-out single to get us a run back and make it 2-1 (in the second), bring a little momentum back to our dugout.”