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Dennis Semrau

Wissports.net



STEVENS POINT -- Karl Sprung stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning and the Arrowhead catcher and cleanup hitter looked down to third base for a sign from head coach Tim O'Driscoll.



One of the team leaders in runs batted in for the season, Sprung knew what he had to do.



"I just looked at coach and said, 'It's done.' I struck out the time before but not this time," said Sprung, who ripped a liner to deep center field to score Andrew Bauer from third base and rally the Warhawks to a 5-4 victory over Marquette for the WIAA State Summer Baseball Championship.



"We had good speed on third and with one out, all I had to do was get the ball in the air in the outfield. When I hit it, it felt good."



The defending state champion, Marquette (21-21) had taken a 4-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning.

 

Mike Monfre led off for Marquette and reached on an infield single up the middle. Joe Cannon followed with a sacrifice bunt that Arrowhead pitcher Matt Burke threw away to move Monfre to third and Cannon to second.



Monfre then scored on Arnie Leinfelder's sacrifice fly to left field, which gave Marquette a 2-1 lead. One out later, Hilltoppers first baseman Nolan Peterson blasted a two-run homer over the left-field fence to stake Marquette to a 4-1 lead.



It was Peterson's fourth straight hit in the game and seventh consecutive hit on Friday. He finished the day 7-for-7 with a pair of two-run homers, a walk and a sacrifice spanning the semifinal and championship games.



"I honestly thought it was over," Sprung said after watching Peterson's blast clear the left field fence. "I knew we had fight. But with a team as good as Marquette, when they got up by three it's over."

 

Marquette coach Jim Wilkinson said he was proud of how the Hilltoppers played despite the heartbreaking defeat.



"Peterson was tremendous. That was great to see. It's nice he's coming back," Wilkinson said of the 6-foot sophomore right-hander, who pitched five innings and got the win in the semifinals.



"But I'm so proud of these guys. We had an up and down season. But we became a team these last two weeks. What more can you ask? The game result may or may not go your way. But they were tremendous. We put it together. I'm so proud of the way we played."



Arrowhead, though, refused to quit.



"These kids will not give in. They will not give in to anybody," O'Driscoll said after getting hugs from his friends and family, including Paul VandenHeuvel, who was a catcher on Arrowhead's last state championship team in 1979. "This is the closest team i've had and its' been 35 years. But they never doubted they could do this."



Matt Mayoras got the rally started when he drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for Arrowhead. Josh Henkel was hit by a pitch and designated hitter David Miller followed with a walk to load the bases.



After Chris Pendergast was called out on strikes, Andrew Bauer then hit a grounder to shortstop Sam Beres. But second baseman Joe Cannon dropped a toss from Beres for an error. That scored Mayoras and brought Arrowhead within 4-2. Brian Crook followed with a two-run single to left field to tie the score at 4-4.



"Some of us were down, some of us were up. But coach wouldn't let us get down that's for sure," Crook said. "He said, 'Listen, we've been here before.' He was right. We came through and got the win.



After Crook's single, a wild pitch moved runners to second and third. Sprung promptly lined the game-winner to center to set off an emotional celebration. That included a mad dash to the nearby Wisconsin River for a quick dip.



"He's been our RBI leader all year. There's nobody I'd rather have up there then Karl," O'Driscoll said. "He gave me the look and I knew he would do it. At first I thought it might be caught but then the ball soared over the center fielder's head. He smoked that sucker."