Janesville limps into American Legion regional play with two more losses at Plover tournament

As it seems to do every summer, the American Legion baseball tournament in Plover provided a stern test to Janesville's squad Friday and Saturday.

Post 205 will need to find more answers than it had in its four tournament games if it wants to make a postseason run. The team lost to Manitowoc 9-6 and Plover 5-2 on Saturday, going 0-4 on the weekend.

Manitowoc took the lead right away in its game against Janesville, tagging starting pitcher Christian Hobon with three straight hits to produce two runs. Brock Peterson had an RBI double for Manitowoc in the inning, which was the first of two extra-base hits and two RBI for him in the game.

Nine hitters for Manitowoc recorded a hit with Brady Hadler and Landon Chalupny each going 3 for 3 with an RBI. Eyan Dessellier was 2 for 3 and drove in a run, as well.

Janesville got into the score column in the fifth inning when Tyler Hegle hit a two-out double and Donovan Hatch drove him in with a ground ball single through the infield. That run made the score 6-1, but Manitowoc responded with three more runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Post 205 took advantage of some free bases yielded by Zachary Bradl and the Manitowoc defense. With one out, Janesville put runners on with a walk, a hit-by-pitch, an error and another walk to Nathan Hach to score a run. Two hitters later with a second out in the inning, Hegle came up with a two-run single with two strikes, making it 9-4.

The first three hitters of Janesville's top of the seventh loaded the bases again when Brett Appel and Hobon walked and Landon Keller singled to center field. Mathias Treinen drove in one Janesville run on a fielder's choice, and Hach got the deficit down to 9-6 with an RBI single.

Sam Hoium came up next as the game-tying run, but he struck out to end the game.

In Janesville's second game of Saturday night against the tournament host, Plover's Tim Sackmann threw a complete game and got a 5-2 victory, striking out seven and giving up two unearned runs.

The teams combined for seven errors — four for Janesville, three for Plover — but two Janesville pitchers also combined to issue seven walks to Sackmann's two.

Hegle gave Janesville the lead with an RBI groundout in the first, but Plover had two RBI hits and scored a third run on a wild pitch in the second inning to go up 3-1. The Black Sox extended their lead to 5-1 in the third when one run scored on a double play and another crossed on one of Janesville's errors.

Janesville loaded the bases in the fourth inning on a Hobon single (he went 2 for 3 against Plover), an error and a hit batter. But Hoium struck out in the at-bat after the bases went full for the second out of the inning. Jack Kruser drove in one run with an infield single, but Sackmann limited the damage to just that run by getting Appel to hit into a fielder's choice.

Regional play is up next for Janesville, which will play Racine at the Stateline YMCA Complex in Beloit on Tuesday.

FIRST GAME

MANITOWOC 9, JANESVILLE 6

Janesville;000;013;2;—;6;8;1

Manitowoc;203;130;X;—;9;15;1

Leading hitters — Hegle (J) 2x4, Keller (J) 2x3, Hadler (M) 3x3, Peterson (M) 2x4, Dessellier (M) 2x3, Chalupny (M) 3x3. 2B — Hegle (J), Peterson (M), Gibeault (M). 3B — Peterson (M).

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) — J: Hobon L, 4-9-6-5-1-3; Hegle 2-6-3-3-0-2. M: Ducat W, 4-3-0-0-2-4; Bradl 2-3-6-3-4-1; Hartlaub 1-2-0-0-0-2.

SECOND GAME

PLOVER 5, JANESVILLE 2

Janesville;100;100;0;—;2;5;4

Plover;032;000;X;—;5;3;3

Leading hitters — Hobon (J) 2x3.

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) — J: Hatch L, 2-2-3-3-4-2; Hegle 4-1-2-0-3-4. P: Sackmann W, 7-5-2-0-2-7.