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Franklin repeats as Summer Baseball State Champs

07/30/2011, 9:00pm CDT
By Travis Wilson

While Mother Nature delayed their plans a bit, the Franklin Sabers captured a second straight Summer Baseball State Championship on Saturday, and as it was in 2010, the title game win came against West Bend West.

The Sabers knocked off Waukesha West 14-7 in 8 innings on Thursday, then defeated Milwaukee Marquette in 8 innings on Friday, 6-5 to advance to the title game. On the other side of the bracket, West Bend West defeated West Salem 6-4 then held off Whitefish Bay 9-4.

Franklin got out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of the championship game thanks to an RBI groundout from Ryan Geil and an RBI single from Jake Penegor. The Sabers tacked on a unearned run in the second inning when Jesse Palok reached on an error and scored when Evan Walton doubled.

West would try to rally via the long ball, getting solo home runs from Dylan Hinckley and Joe Stubbe in the third and fourth innings respectively. Franklin would add single runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings to take a 5-2 lead going into the seventh.

West would once again turn to the big fly in an attempt to rally. With two outs and a man on, Hinckley would belt his second homer of the game, pulling the Spartans within 5-4. After a walk to third baseman Jack Meuer, Franklin reliever Marcus Schlemm would get Davis Yach to ground into a fielder's choice to end the game.

Notes:   The tournament was supposed to begin Wednesday but rain forced the cancellation of all games that day. Rain once again played a factor Thursday, as the West Bend West versus West Salem quarterfinal was halted in the bottom of the third inning, and resumed Friday morning. That meant West played two and a half games on Friday...After six previous trips to state without a title, Franklin has now won back to back champsionships...West Bend West was the runner-up for a second straight season...Franklin had hits and runners in scoring position in every inning of the title game except the 6th...West Bend West had four runners past second base, with each scoring as a result of a home run.

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Tag(s): News  Travis Wilson