Posted: June 30, 2009

Franklin baseball

By the end of next week, the Franklin Sabers will know where they stand in the Greater Metro Conference.

The Sabers, who began the week a half game behind the first-place Oak Creek Knights and tied with the Muskego Warriors in second place, played Oak Creek on Monday and Tuesday, had a makeup game with the Marquette Hilltoppers on Wednesday and play Muskego on July 6 and 7. They will also finish a suspended game with Muskego on July 7.

"That's going to tell us where we're at," Franklin coach Jim Hughes said. "The next six games will decide where we end up, if we're a contender or a pretender."

With three conference wins in four tries from June 22 to 25, the Sabers improved to 13-7 overall and 7-4 in the GMC. They had won 10 of their last 12 games overall as of Monday.

The wildest victory of the bunch was a 10-8 win against the host Menomonee Falls Indians on June 22. Franklin won in the 12th inning; the first nine innings were played June 22 before the game was suspended.

In the 12th, Franklin's Evan Walton led off with a double and should have been doubled off second base when Lance Baretz hit a line drive to the shortstop. But the defender misplayed the ball, allowing Walton to score. An errant throw later in the inning led to another run.

Ian Schiltz, who allowed five runs in three innings June 22, returned to the game and allowed only one base runner over the final three innings to pick up the win.

Jay Dirienzo finished 4-for-7 and Ryan Dalton had three RBIs.

Later that afternoon, the Sabers traveled to Wauwatosa East, where they defeated the Red Raiders, 10-3.

Brandon Wiedenfeld pitched six innings, tying a season-high for a Franklin pitcher this season. He struck out five.

The Sabers also split a two-game series with the South Milwaukee Rockets. Franklin lost, 12-5, at home June 24, but rebounded for a 9-7 road win when Ryan Geil and Eric Charbonneau knocked in runs in the seventh to snap a 7-7 tie June 25.

In the first game with the Rockets, Franklin's five pitchers walked 12 batters, threw six wild pitches, hit a batter and gave up 10 hits.

Greendale baseball

Entering an important stretch against Woodland Conference South Division opponents, the Greendale Panthers picked up some momentum by winning three of four recent league games.

"We're starting to play better," Greendale coach Ted Brzenk said. "We have a big, big two weeks here. We have our destiny in our hands. We'll probably either win (conference) or lose it these two weeks."

Greendale played a doubleheader with Whitnall on Tuesday, has a single game with Cudahy on Thursday and plays a pair at St. Thomas More on Tuesday. The Panthers began the week 9-11 overall, 7-4 conference.

In a doubleheader sweep of the host St. Francis Mariners on June 23, Andrew Thompson was a combined 3-for-5 with four RBIs as Greendale won, 9-4 and 16-10.

Chris Ridgway struck out nine and overcame seven walks in six innings to win the first game. Brandon Kozinski chipped in with three hits and three RBIs.

In the nightcap, Thompson, Ryan Gardetto and Jeremy Mikula drove in two runs each.

Ridgway kept the walks to a minimum Friday against the host Greenfield Hustlin' Hawks. He struck out 10 and walked two in a 9-0 win, the team's first shutout victory of the season.

"That was his best. Hopefully he'll repeat it (Tuesday)," Brzenk said. "If he can get that first-pitch strike over, then he's in good shape. When he falls behind, it's tough to pitch that way."

Ridgway also belted a home run and drove in three.

In an 8-7 loss at New Berlin Eisenhower on June 25, Greendale scored five runs in the top of the seventh and had two more runners on with nobody out but fell short.

Gardetto had a big day with four hits, three runs and two RBIs.

Greendale also lost, 18-11, to visiting nonconference foe Nicolet on June 24.

Whitnall baseball

The Whitnall Falcons are the division leaders with less than half the regular season remaining.

With four league wins from June 23 to Friday, the Falcons improved to 10-7 overall and 8-3 in the Woodland Conference as of Monday, and were tied atop the South Division standings with Cudahy.

"We had a good week," Whitnall coach Brian Johnsen said. "Our pitching was great."

Falcons pitchers limited their opponents to just eight runs, seven of which came in an error-plagued, 17-7, five-inning win over the visiting St. Francis Mariners on Friday.

The Falcons won, 3-1 and 8-0, in a doubleheader sweep against the host St. Thomas More Cavaliers on June 23.

Justin Quinn allowed an unearned run over seven innings in the first game and Brock McGinn pitched a complete-game shutout in the nightcap.

Ryan Dembinski knocked in two runs on two hits in the first game. In the second game, Alex Jaskulski went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored and sophomore Geoff Wisialowski hit a solo home run in his second varsity at-bat of the season.

Nolyn White pitched five shutout innings in a 10-0, five-inning victory over the visiting Shorewood Greyhounds on June 25. The effort lowered White's ERA to a team-best 1.47. He also is batting .432.

"Nolyn has quietly gone about his business and really improved," Johnsen said. "He is starting to hit to all three fields and, on the mound, his control has improved."

The Falcons scored seven runs in the fifth on eight hits, two each by Quinn and Dembinski.

In the slugfest with the Mariners, St. Francis jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a home run by Tony Urbaniak, but the Falcons responded with four runs in the first highlighted by a two-run single by Wisialowski. In an 11-run second inning, Jaskulski had two hits and two RBIs for the Mariners.

 

- Compiled by David Cotey

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