Two-Out Heroics Give Triton Sectional Title
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
LaCROSSE - Triton's baseball team made up for a forgettable first inning with an unforgettable last inning.
Triton scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat LaCrosse 6-5 in Saturday's LaCrosse A Sectional. The Trojans (20-10) won their second straight sectional title, while LaCrosse ended the season 12-13.
With two outs in a 5-5 game, Triton's Jake Burnett singled home Tyson Blackford from second to give the Trojans the win.
"That's kind of the way we've been this year," Triton coach Jim Shively said of Triton's late-inning heroics. "We've lost these kind before. In the tournament last year we lost one this way."
For LaCrosse, the seventh inning started innocently enough as Triton's Matt Norman lined out to left field for the first out. But control problems that hurt LaCrosse starter Skyler Young earlier came back to haunt him with LaCrosse leading 5-4.
Young walked Bryan Watkins, his eighth walk of the game. Dan Kuhn pinch-ran for Watkins and advanced to second base on Todd Blackford's ground out to third base.
The Tigers had one out to get. They would never get that out.
Tyson Blackford hit a grounder that shortstop Bradly Bucher bobbled. Bucher recovered, but his throw to first was late, letting Tyson Blackford reach. Kuhn had gone to third on the bobble then beat first baseman Matt Werner's throw home to tie the game at 5. Tyson Blackford advanced to second on Werner's throw to the plate, putting the winning run in scoring position.
Burnett smashed a single into left field to score Tyson Blackford.
"If you go far in the tournament," Shively said, "you always have one game like this where you have to pull one out. Hopefully we got ours out of the way and we will roll from here."
The final score was the only time Triton led.
LaCrosse jumped ahead 3-0 after the top of the first. The Tigers had three hits sandwiched around two Triton throwing errors. LaCrosse added another run in the second to go up 4-0.
Young held Triton scoreless for three innings before crumbling in the fourth. With one out, Young hit Watkins, walked Todd Blackford, walked Tyson Blackford, hit Burnett, walked Joe Potter and allowed Tyler Hensley to hit a sacrifice fly.
"[Young] was wild that inning and missing high," Shively said.
Triton had no hits in the inning, but thanks to Young's control problems, the Trojans scored three runs to make it 4-3. Each team scored one run in the sixth to set up the 5-4 game going into the seventh.
While Triton's defense started shaky but finished strong, LaCrosse's defense got worse as the game went on. After LaCrosse took its 5-3 lead in the sixth, an error by Young let Triton pull within 5-4.
Potter bunted Tyson Blackford from second to third. Young fielded the bunt near the baseline and tried to tag Potter but missed. Still Trying to catch Potter at first, Young threw the ball into right field, allowing Tyson Blackford to score its fourth run.
Hensley pitched two hitless innings of relief to get the win. Burnett worked the first five innings, allowing five runs. The Trojans won three sectional games; Hensley, 10-4, got the win in all three.
Young, 2-8, pitched the complete game. He struck out 10 in 6 2/3 innings but also allowed five hits and eight walks. Of Triton's six runs, only three were earned.
Triton beat Culver Community 10-0 in the first round then beat 18-11 South Central 4-0 in the second round.
TRITON 6, LaCROSSE 5
LaCrosse ab r h rbi
Miller 2b 3 0 1 0
Swanson lf 2 1 1 0
Koselke c 4 1 2 2
Young p 4 1 2 1
Garrett 3b 1 0 0 0
Werner 1b 3 0 0 0
Bucher ss 4 1 1 0
McMahan cf 3 0 0 0
Scarborough dh 2 1 0 0
Rankin rf 2 0 0 0
Totals 28 5 7 3
Triton ab r h rbi
Burnett p 3 0 1 2
Potter c 2 0 0 1
Hensley ss 3 0 1 1
Grubbs rf 2 0 0 0
Holbrook 1b 4 0 0 0
Norman 2b 4 0 1 0
Watkins 3b 2 1 1 0
Kuhn pr 0 1 0 0
Td. Blackford lf 3 1 0 0
Tn. Blackford cf 2 3 1 0
Totals 25 6 5 4
E - Werner 2, Young, Bucher, Rankin, Norman, Watkins, Tn. Blackford. LOB - LaCrosse 10, Triton 11. 2B - Young 2, Miller, Bucher, Hensley. SB - Potter 2, Tn. Blackford, Burnett, Swanson, Garrett 2. CS - Grubbs, Miller, Swanson. SF - Hensley. S - Werner.
IP H R ER BB SO
LaCrosse
Young L, 2-8 6 2-3 5 6 3 8 10
Triton
Burnett 5 5 5 4 5 1
Hensley W, 10-4 2 0 0 0 2 4
HBP - Burnett (by Young), Watkins (by Young). WP -ÊHensley. [[In-content Ad]]
LaCROSSE - Triton's baseball team made up for a forgettable first inning with an unforgettable last inning.
Triton scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat LaCrosse 6-5 in Saturday's LaCrosse A Sectional. The Trojans (20-10) won their second straight sectional title, while LaCrosse ended the season 12-13.
With two outs in a 5-5 game, Triton's Jake Burnett singled home Tyson Blackford from second to give the Trojans the win.
"That's kind of the way we've been this year," Triton coach Jim Shively said of Triton's late-inning heroics. "We've lost these kind before. In the tournament last year we lost one this way."
For LaCrosse, the seventh inning started innocently enough as Triton's Matt Norman lined out to left field for the first out. But control problems that hurt LaCrosse starter Skyler Young earlier came back to haunt him with LaCrosse leading 5-4.
Young walked Bryan Watkins, his eighth walk of the game. Dan Kuhn pinch-ran for Watkins and advanced to second base on Todd Blackford's ground out to third base.
The Tigers had one out to get. They would never get that out.
Tyson Blackford hit a grounder that shortstop Bradly Bucher bobbled. Bucher recovered, but his throw to first was late, letting Tyson Blackford reach. Kuhn had gone to third on the bobble then beat first baseman Matt Werner's throw home to tie the game at 5. Tyson Blackford advanced to second on Werner's throw to the plate, putting the winning run in scoring position.
Burnett smashed a single into left field to score Tyson Blackford.
"If you go far in the tournament," Shively said, "you always have one game like this where you have to pull one out. Hopefully we got ours out of the way and we will roll from here."
The final score was the only time Triton led.
LaCrosse jumped ahead 3-0 after the top of the first. The Tigers had three hits sandwiched around two Triton throwing errors. LaCrosse added another run in the second to go up 4-0.
Young held Triton scoreless for three innings before crumbling in the fourth. With one out, Young hit Watkins, walked Todd Blackford, walked Tyson Blackford, hit Burnett, walked Joe Potter and allowed Tyler Hensley to hit a sacrifice fly.
"[Young] was wild that inning and missing high," Shively said.
Triton had no hits in the inning, but thanks to Young's control problems, the Trojans scored three runs to make it 4-3. Each team scored one run in the sixth to set up the 5-4 game going into the seventh.
While Triton's defense started shaky but finished strong, LaCrosse's defense got worse as the game went on. After LaCrosse took its 5-3 lead in the sixth, an error by Young let Triton pull within 5-4.
Potter bunted Tyson Blackford from second to third. Young fielded the bunt near the baseline and tried to tag Potter but missed. Still Trying to catch Potter at first, Young threw the ball into right field, allowing Tyson Blackford to score its fourth run.
Hensley pitched two hitless innings of relief to get the win. Burnett worked the first five innings, allowing five runs. The Trojans won three sectional games; Hensley, 10-4, got the win in all three.
Young, 2-8, pitched the complete game. He struck out 10 in 6 2/3 innings but also allowed five hits and eight walks. Of Triton's six runs, only three were earned.
Triton beat Culver Community 10-0 in the first round then beat 18-11 South Central 4-0 in the second round.
TRITON 6, LaCROSSE 5
LaCrosse ab r h rbi
Miller 2b 3 0 1 0
Swanson lf 2 1 1 0
Koselke c 4 1 2 2
Young p 4 1 2 1
Garrett 3b 1 0 0 0
Werner 1b 3 0 0 0
Bucher ss 4 1 1 0
McMahan cf 3 0 0 0
Scarborough dh 2 1 0 0
Rankin rf 2 0 0 0
Totals 28 5 7 3
Triton ab r h rbi
Burnett p 3 0 1 2
Potter c 2 0 0 1
Hensley ss 3 0 1 1
Grubbs rf 2 0 0 0
Holbrook 1b 4 0 0 0
Norman 2b 4 0 1 0
Watkins 3b 2 1 1 0
Kuhn pr 0 1 0 0
Td. Blackford lf 3 1 0 0
Tn. Blackford cf 2 3 1 0
Totals 25 6 5 4
E - Werner 2, Young, Bucher, Rankin, Norman, Watkins, Tn. Blackford. LOB - LaCrosse 10, Triton 11. 2B - Young 2, Miller, Bucher, Hensley. SB - Potter 2, Tn. Blackford, Burnett, Swanson, Garrett 2. CS - Grubbs, Miller, Swanson. SF - Hensley. S - Werner.
IP H R ER BB SO
LaCrosse
Young L, 2-8 6 2-3 5 6 3 8 10
Triton
Burnett 5 5 5 4 5 1
Hensley W, 10-4 2 0 0 0 2 4
HBP - Burnett (by Young), Watkins (by Young). WP -ÊHensley. [[In-content Ad]]