Knights stop Classic streak
Dominance of Lightning ends
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Brookfield — Taylor Just camped under the harmless pop-up. Brookfield Academy’s junior standout squeezed the ball into his glove, jumped into the air, then went to hug many of his Blue Knights teammates.
Yes, this was just one win on a miserable April afternoon. But to Just and Brookfield Academy, it was much more than that.
The host Blue Knights defeated mighty Lake Country Lutheran, 9-2, in the season opener for both teams Tuesday. And in the process, Brookfield Academy put an end to some impressive streaks the Lightning owned.
Lake Country Lutheran, the WIAA Division 3 state champs last year and the Division 4 champions in 2014, hadn’t lost a Midwest Classic Conference game in nearly 35 months. The Lightning had gone 32-0 against league foes in that time.
But the Blue Knights — who handed Lake Country Lutheran its last league loss — turned the trick again on a brutal 35-degree day that included nasty winds and eventually some rain.
“It’s everything,” Just said of snapping the Lightning’s winning streak. “That’s a great program over there, but everyone on our team worked so hard this winter. It’s just a great win.”
Just certainly did his part, allowing only four hits and two runs in five solid innings to earn the win. Just threw strikes on 48 of his 72 pitches, mixing a fastball, curve and change-up to keep the Lightning off-balance throughout.
“Taylor pitched great,” Brookfield Academy coach Doug Kolasinski said. “He’s really stepped up. He’s shown a lot of maturity this year and he threw the ball really well.”
Just got plenty of help from his defense. Not only did Brookfield Academy play error-free baseball, it received stellar defensive plays from third baseman Aaron Goecks and centerfielder Nate Kustner.
The Lightning, meanwhile, was doomed by shabby fielding throughout. Starter Ryan Nehls didn’t allow an earned run through five innings, but found himself in a 3-2 hole thanks to three early Lightning errors.
“Our defense was not very good,” said Lightning coach David Bahr, whose team finished with four errors. “We’ll need to be a lot better in that area.”
Lake Country Lutheran was still within striking distance, though, down just one run heading to the bottom of the sixth. But Brookfield Academy put things away with six runs in the frame.
Catcher Jeff Hynes had a two-run single, leftfielder Jonny Jensen and shortstop Jack Leszczynski both had RBI doubles, and second baseman Ryan Kolasinski had a run-scoring single.
“We came in with a great mindset of what we wanted,” Just said. “The whole team just did a great job.”
Meanwhile, Bahr expects his team will be just fine, but knows it could take awhile.
Lake Country Lutheran lost six starters and nine lettermen from a year ago. The Lightning also graduated a group that gobbled up 95% of the innings pitched.
The team typically reloads, though.
“I think we’ll be fine,” Bahr said. “Our JV team has been really, really good the last couple of years and we’ll get it figured out. But for today, give a ton of credit to B.A.”
In what was a memorable win for the Blue Knights.