Bulldogs defeat McDonell Central and Immanuel Lutheran for regional crown

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by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent

BOYCEVILLE — After entering the regional playoffs with a 15-1 record, including seven wins by ten or more runs, it might be hard to say the Boyceville baseball team was saving their best for last.

But, that’s how things appeared as the Bulldogs used strong pitching, steady defense, and just enough offense to earn a 4-2 regional semifinal victory over Chippewa Falls McDonell Central (9-10) Tuesday, June 15 and 24 hours later shut out Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran (18-3) 6-0 in the final. Both games were played on the Bulldogs’ home field and gave Boyceville their second consecutive regional championship.

Boyceville, who improved to 17-1 on the season with the pair of regional wins and is ranked second in the latest Division 4 Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association state poll, traveled to Shell Lake Tuesday, June 22 for a sectional semifinal game against Independence-Gilmanton (18-4), who finished second in the Dairyland Conference behind Immanuel Lutheran. A win would propel the Bulldogs into the sectional championship game later that same day with a state berth on the line against either top-ranked and unbeaten Webster (20-0) or number six Solon Springs/Northwood (17-4). Webster won the Lakeland West while Solon Springs/Northwood took the Lakeland East title.

McDonell Central

Connor Sempf did just about everything right for the Bulldogs, pitching all seven innings, batting 2-for-3, stealing a base, and scoring a run in the semifinal victory over the Macks.

Sempf started things off by striking out all three Mack batters, then slammed a one-out double, and came around to score on a Trevor Hollister base hit in the bottom of the first. Hollister then came home on a Jacob Granley single for a 2-0 Bulldog lead.

Central made some noise in the third inning when a third strike got past the catcher allowing the batter to reach base. A base hit, a Bulldog error, a walk, and another hit allowed the Macks to knot the game at 2-2.

That didn’t last long however, as Trett Joles led off the bottom of the third with a single, stole a base, and came around to score on a Walker Retz’ double.

From that point on, it was all Sempf and the Bulldog defense. Sempf did not allow another base runner the rest of the way, striking out nine of the 12 batters he faced in the final four innings. In fact, he whiffed the last six Macks he faced. Hollister gave him some help by slamming his first home run of the year in the sixth inning.

Besides Sempf’s two hits, Hollister collected two of his own while scoring twice and knocking in two runs. Joles, Retz, Granley, Braden Roemhild, and Dawson McRoberts all had one hit, and Joles and Sempf both scored. Sempf struck out 16 McDonell batters and gave up two hits with one walk. Neither of the two runs he gave up were earned runs.

“What an amazing pitching performance by Connor Sempf,” Boyceville head coach Michael Roemhild said. “He has not gone all seven innings this year and the fact that he was able to grind it out really says something. He truly deserves this win.”

“Trevor Hollister has really come on strong the last two weeks. He had a big hit in the first inning to bring our first run in, and ran the bases great to score our second run. We knew McDonell was going to be good and their pitcher had us confused at times but we did enough to secure the win,” he concluded.

Immanuel Lutheran

If the McDonell game was the Connor Sempf show, then this game certainly turned into the Walker Retz show, according to coach Roemhild.

Retz threw a near perfect game, pitching all seven innings for the first time this year, just like Sempf the day before. Retz gave up just one hit with one free pass and struck out 13 Lancers to earn the win.

The Bulldogs were ranked second in the state in Division 4 while the Lancers were ranked fifth but Retz and his teammates were in control of things on both sides of the ball. The defense did not commit a single error and five different players scored in the contest with two players slamming home runs.

“This was just an amazing performance by Walker,” coach Roemhild said. “Defensively, the few times Immanuel put the bat on the ball against him, our defense stepped up. They had Walker’s back and I think that just gave him more confidence. It’s always nice to play error free ball,” he added.

The Bulldogs had a runner get as far as second base in the first inning and to third in the second, but couldn’t get them home.

Retz gave up his only hit in the first inning with two outs then whiffed the next batter to end things. His only walk came in the third with one out but his infield came through with a pair of ground ball outs for him.

The Bulldogs finally broke through with four runs in the fourth when Granley reached on a missed third strike to start things off and moved up on a single by Braden Roemhild. With Chase Hollister at the plate, coach Roemhild called a timeout to discuss strategy with his team. Rather than call for a bunt right away, the decision had been made to let Hollister get a good look at the first pitch. He did more than look however, as he smacked his first career home run for a 3-0 Boyceville lead. A couple of batters later, Joles sent a towering drive over the fence for a 4-0 advantage.

With Retz in total control at this point, the Bulldogs didn’t need any more runs but they added a couple for good measure in the sixth. Ira Bialzik was hit by a pitch then promptly stole second. Joles drew a walk and Bialzik came home on a Sempf single. Joles ended up scoring on a wild pitch and with a 6-0 lead, Retz simply had to get three final outs, He and his defense did just that with a ground ball out, a strikeout, and another ground ball out.

“It’s not easy to win playoff games,” coach Roemhild said. “To repeat as regional champions isn’t something that happens a lot either. This team has had goals since the beginning of the year. They deserve this win and I couldn’t be more proud of them!”, he concluded

Braden Roemhild batted 2-for-3 with a double and scored once, Chase Hollister picked up three RBIs on his homer and Joles scored twice to lead the Bulldog offense.