Marines bow out of Regionals with shutout loss to FVL

APPLETON, Wis. — The Marinette High School baseball team’s postseason run was a short one after the No. 12-seed Marines fell victim to a 2-0 shutout at the hands of Fox Valley Lutheran in the opening round of the WIAA Division 2 Regionals on Thursday.

Both teams tallied five hits but it was the No. 5-seeded Foxes that were able to capitalize on their scoring opportunities.

FVL (14-12) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning after Cael Cook doubled to score Dawsen Burington.

Jack Schlueter tacked on an RBI-single in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 2-0 game before pitching the seventh inning, where he got Kolton Goldsmith to ground out before striking out Sam Sommerfeldt for the second out.

Ethan Doubek got on base with a one-out walk but ended up a putout victim at first base to end the game.

Marinette went 0-for-7 when it had runners in scoring position and ended up leaving eight runners stranded on base.

Weston Hanson was the Marines’ top hitter, going 2-2- with a walk. Doubek, Levi Hanson and Wyatt Stauss all had base knocks for Marinette.

Justin Kruse was tagged with the loss on the mound after pitching all seven innings and allowing two earned runs and giving up five hits and three walks against a trio of strikeouts.

Malachai Kramer picked up the win for the Foxes, walking four and striking out four across five innings of work.

Kramer and Lucas Papendorf both had hits for FVL.

Marinette concludes the 2024 season with an overall record of 9-14, a seven-game improvement over last year.

Fox Valley Lutheran 2 — Marinette 0

FVL 001 001 x — 2

Marinette 000 000 0 — 0

WP: Kramer 5IP, 5H, 4BB, 4K

LP: Kruse 7IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 2K

Leading hitters (Marinette): W. Hanson 2x2; L. Hanson 1x3; Stauss 1x3; Doubek 1x3, BB

Leading hitters (FVL): Cook 1x1, 2B, SB, 2BB, RBI; Schuleter 1x2, BB, RBI; Alex Torino 0x3, SB; Burington 1x3, R