WIAA Finals: Lake Country Lutheran Wins Second Straight State Title
June 18, 2015
By Spencer Flaten
Staff Writer
APPLETON, WI – Lake Country Lutheran won its second consecutive state championship with a dramatic win over Aquinas in the Division 3 title game on Thursday afternoon. They beat the Blugolds 5-4 in walk-off fashion.
LCL’s Ben Wilkins and Aquinas’s Rudy Rott both pitched well for most of the game, which made runs hard to come by.
The Lightning plated the game’s first run in the 2nd inning. Jack Euclide doubled in Jake Hall to give Lake Country Lutheran a 1-0 lead.
The Blugolds answered in the top of the 3rd with a run of their own. Alex Dee ripped an RBI double to center to tie the game.
Lake Country Lutheran immediately broke the tie in the bottom of the 3rd thanks to an RBI by Hall. The score remained at 2-1 until the 7th inning, which turned out to be about as dramatic as it can get in high school baseball.
The Blugolds nailed off three straight hits in the top of the frame, highlighted by an RBI single by Alex Schulte to tie the game back up at 2. The damage didn’t stop there, though. A fielding error by Lake Country Lutheran allowed another run to score and the Blugolds to take the lead. Jacob Horstman finished the run-scoring for Aquinas with a sac fly to make the score 4-2 headed to the bottom of the 7th.
The Lightning’s explosive offense was on full display in the frame. They bashed out four straight singles to bring the score to 4-3, thanks to an RBI by Jake Hall. Then Joe Lipsky stepped up to the plate for the Lightning with the bases loaded.
Lipsky ripped a walk-off single to right field to win the game and state title for the Lightning. His teammates chased him all the way to the left field wall in celebration.
Ben Wilkins pitched 6.1 innings for the Lightning, and allowed two earned runs on seven hits and five walks. He struck out six. Rott went six innings for Aquinas and got a no-decision. He allowed two earned runs and six hits. Alex Dee took the loss for the Blugolds. He pitched 0.2 innings and allowed three earned runs.
Hall, Lipsky, Euclide, and CJ Teske all had 2 hits for the Lightning. Rott, Schulte, and Dee also had two hits for Aquinas.
It is Lake Country Lutheran’s second consecutive state title, and first in Division 3.
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