The matchup for this year’s Dairyland League Grand Championship baseball game is set, while there’s still one more round of playoffs for the Badger Amateur Baseball Association.
Bonduel will host Hortonville in the Dairyland championship game at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 30.
That’s the same day that the BABA has scheduled its two semifinal games. Scandinavia will host Gresham, and Little Falls will head to Antigo to face Antigo/Polar. The BABA Grand Championship will be played Sept. 6, with the winner of the Gresham/Scandinavia game hosting.
Dairyland
League semifinals
Bonduel 5, Cecil 0
The top-seeded Broncos are returning to the league’s Grand Championship game for the first time since 2019 after shutting out the fourth-seeded Mudhens at Jack Reinke Field in Bonduel.
Winning pitcher Jett Thielke struck out 16 batters over seven innings and kept Cecil hitless. Brooks Hartlaben worked the final two innings to get the save and gave up the Mudhens’ only hit.
Bonduel opened the scoring with a run in the third inning. Cooper Campshure drew a walk, Eric Yogi Gruenewald singled, Chase Reinke flied out and a double from Adam Frost.
The Broncos added four more runs in the seventh inning. Gruenewald started the rally by reaching on an error. Reinke followed with a base hit, the Mudhens intentionally walked Frost and Easton Reinke drove in a pair of runs with a hit. Frost later scored on J.C. Reinke’s sacrifice fly and Jack Reinke drove in the game’s final run.
Gruenewald had three of Bonduel’s eight hits.
Hortonville 2, Waupaca 1
Hortonville topped Waupaca in a rematch of last year’s Grand Championship game that Waupaca won by the same score.
BABA
Division Finals
East Division
Gresham 17, Clintonville 15
Ray White’s two-run walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning broke a 15-15 tie and gave the top-seeded Gophers the win over the second-seeded A’s.
White wasn’t the only Gresham player who hit a homer, as Crew Weisnicht hit two and Mike Pecore added one.
Pecore led the Gophers at the plate with five hits, while Weisnicht added four and Nate Ejnik, Mequon Frechette, Carter Weisnicht and White added two each.
Turner Doornink led Clintonville with five hits, including a home run and double, while James Mutchie and Brock Smejkal added three each, Aaron Morse had two and Matt Morse hit a home run.
Lukas Pecore got the win on the mound, and Smejkal took the loss.
West Division
Little Falls 8, Birnamwood 1
The top-seeded Loggers moved a step closer to the team’s third straight Grand Championship with a win over the second-seeded Pilots.
Carter Kurki picked up the win on the mound for Little Falls.
North Division
Antigo/Polar 18, Eland 7
Antigo/Polar ended the top-seeded Engineers’ season by knocking them off in Eland.
The Bears had 23 hits, including four from Brady Renfro and Will Kubeny. Renfro ended up with three home runs, while Milo Salvesen and Reed Kuenzli added three hits, and AJ Kirsch, Logan Doering and Alec Knapkavage had two each.
Eland’s 13 hits included home runs from Jacob Ligenza, Ryan Richter and Jeremy Jensen. Lukas Mandich and Jarod Richter added three and two hits, respectively.
Chris Sippl picked up the win on the mound, and Tyler Nelson took the loss.
South-Central Division
Scandinavia 6, New London 0
The third-seeded Vikings ended the season for the top-seeded Irish by handing them a shutout loss in New London.
Aug. 30 schedule
Dairyland
Grand Championship: No. 3 Hortonville at No. 1 Bonduel, 1:30 p.m.
BABA
Semifinals: Gresham at Scandinavia (South-Central champion hosts game), 1:30 p.m.; Little Falls vs. Antigo/Polar at Antigo (North champion hosts game), 1:30 p.m.
Carter Kurki delivers a pitch for Little Falls on Aug. 23 during the Loggers’ 8-1 win over Wittenberg in the BABA West Division final. (Greg Seubert)
