By Steve Nielsen
Scouting Supervisor – Wisconsin/Illinois

APPLETON, WI – No. 2 Sun Prairie won the Big 8 conference this year and split their season series with No. 8 Janesville Parker. On Tuesday in the Division 1 State Semi-Finals, the Cardinals won a thriller in extra innings 8-7 over Parker to move on to the state championship game for the third consecutive year.

The eight inning thriller was a back and forth affair with Sun Prairie tying it up on two separate occasions only to finally get the walk off win in the eighth on a Michael Marchese RBI single.

Parker got on the board in the first with a Logan Coulter RBI single but Sun Prairie responded with two runs in the bottom half. Parker then tied it up in the top of the second with Cullen Osmund’s RBI double.

A 2-2 ballgame in third, Parker looked to have Sun Prairie on the ropes. They chased starting pitcher Kanyon Fellers from the game and hung a three spot on the Cardinals, capped off by a two-run homerun by Connor Osmund.

The Vikings failed to hang on to their lead when Sun Prairie answered with a three run inning of their own. The Cardinals did all their damage with two outs in the fourth. Stringing together three hits and two walks, Conner Funnell capped off the scoring with his two out, two RBI single to tie the game at five.

The two teams exchange two run innings in the fifth thanks to some shoddy defense and pressure on the bases, tying the game again at seven.

Locked in a stalemate for the next three innings, neither team could push a run across until the eighth. With two outs and the winning run at third, Michael Marchese stepped up a delivered a walk off single right back up the middle sending the Cardinal fans in a frenzy and Sun Prairie back into the state title game for the third year in a row.