After a solid WIAA Division 3 regional run, the Menominee Indian High School baseball team’s season came to an end Friday as the third-seeded Eagles fell 6-0 at No. 1 Oconto.
Oconto clung to a 1-0 lead through the first six innings, but any hopes for a Menominee Indian rally faded when Oconto put together a five-run sixth inning.
“They battled hard all season,” Menominee Indian coach Chris Rice said. “I’m really proud of those guys.”
Sophomore pitcher Nick Corn, who allowed just one run on three hits through the first three innings, was struck by a line drive in the fourth. Corn, who also serves as the Eagles’ lead-off hitter, left the game for two innings before returning and playing center field.
“Nick was pitching a great game,” Rice said. “We had only given up one run up to that point. He hung a curve ball and got hit in the back of the head. Luckily, he was able to come back into the game. A really gutsy performance by him.”
Senior Lowell Chevalier came in for Corn, forcing a ground out and a line out to get out of the inning. Chevalier, who would allow five runs on five hits, was solid again in the fifth, forcing a fly out and striking out pinch hitter Bryce Bostedt, before getting another batter to line out.
The sixth turned ugly for Menominee Indian. The Blue Devils took a 2-0 lead on a pair of singles. With two runners on, Oconto’s Teague Camps took off for second base, only to realize the player on second was not advancing. This prompted a reaction from Chevalier, which the umpires called a balk.
Rice complained about the call to the umpires, but the call stood.
“The one thing we were trying to do was not get rattled,” Rice said. “I think it rattled us a little bit with that balk call. It was something that we had no control over. I think it’s the first time we had something go against us that was not our own doing. It was really tough for the kids to bounce back from that.”
Menominee Indian let three more runs score before getting out of the inning.
With Menominee Indian’s recent late-inning success, the top of the seventh started promisingly with a Dallas Madosh double, but two fly outs and strikeout ended the game.
Grant Frazer, who pitched the first four innings for Oconto, held Menominee Indian to just one hit while striking out seven and walking none. Richard Mataitis came in in the fifth and allowed two hits and struck out two.
Oconto scored on a wild pitch in the first.
Rice said he was proud of how his team matured this season, making it to a regional final for only the second time in school history.
“We’ve been building all year, trying to get better and better each game and practice,” Rice said. “When it came to crunch time, they really stepped it up.”
The team says goodbye to Chevalier, Madosh and Richard Corn.
“All three of them are all-conference players,” Rice said. “They’ve contributed in huge ways, and just their leadership, it’s going to be greatly missed.”
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