On Monday, July 29, Wagner’s Post 7319 16U teener squad played host to Madison. This would be the beginning of a best of three series, with the winner advancing to the state tournament.

In game one Brady Cournoyer took to the mound for Wagner. He would go 5.1 innings giving up five runs, four earned, on eight hits and no walks while striking out eight. Preston McFayden then came in and went 1.1 innings. Preston allowed two unearned runs on two hits while giving up one walk and striking out one. Kingston Brunelle then came on to get the final out.

There was not much action for Wagner offensively as we could only muster three hits for the game. Cournoyer, McFayden, and Javian Pesicka all collected one hit as Wagner would fall in game one by the count of 7-0.

In game two Wagner got on the board first as Frank Soukup walked and would end up scoring on a McFayden ground out. That would be it on the offensive side of things for Wagner as we would go down in the second game by the count of 11-1. Trasin Dilts would collect Wagner’s only hit this game.

Soukup was the starting pitcher for Wagner. He went 4.2 innings allowing eight runs, five of which were earned, on six hits while walking five and striking out three. Brunelle came on and pitched 2/3 of an inning and gave up three runs, one earned, on one hit while walking three and striking out one.

The loss in this series to Madison put us in a bracket with losers from the other six regions to determine the last spot in the state tournament. Wagner would get matched up against Milbank to start things off.

This game was a back and forth affair the whole way. Milbank would score one run in the top of the first. Wagner answered with two in the second. Milbank scored three in the third and then both teams scored two in the fifth. Wagner trailed 6-4 heading into their last at bat. After a ground out, both Soukup and Pesicka would walk, putting the tying run on base. McFayden then flew out, and Malakai Segura walked to load the bases with two out. Dilts then hit a sharp ground ball that the shortstop couldn’t handle to bring in one run. Two pitches later Pesicka would score on a wild pitch before a fly out to left field, sending the game to extra innings.

After two were out in the eighth inning, Milbank used four straight singles and two errors to plate two runs. Wagner did put their first two runners on in the bottom half, but two fly outs and a ground out ended the season with an 8-6 loss.

Colton Zephier was the starting pitcher for Wagner. He went 4.2 innings giving up six runs, three earned, on eight hits and zero walks while striking out two. Javian Pesicka would be the pitcher of record. He allowed two earned runs on six hits. Javian walked one batter and struck out three.

Once again, Wagner’s bats just could not come through as we only managed five hits. Dominic Doom collected two of the five. Soukup, Pesicka, and Segura each added one. Dilts drove in one run with a sacrifice fly. Zephier drew a bases loaded walk to score one. And Paxton Kuhlman collected an RBI with a ground out.

These boys were just not playing their best baseball at the end of the season like you would want. Our pitching was good enough, our bats and our defense were not. These boys played good baseball at times, however, and did end up with a winning record finishing their season at 8-6.