When the Shawano and Oconto Falls American Legion baseball teams clash in the second game of the Class AA Region 3 tournament game Thursday at Memorial Park, it will pit Oconto Falls’ lights-out pitching versus Shawano’s big bats.
The real test, Shawano coach Will Gillis said, will be avoiding errors on defense.
“When we hit the ball and play defense, we’re just as good or better than anyone else,” Gillis said. “I think if we get on them early, we have a really good chance of having some success.
“But, really, what most of our games come down to is whether or not we make a multitude of errors. If we don’t make mental errors, then I think we’ll have a really good chance of success.”
Chase Henning leads Shawano’s bats with a .429 average in Fox River Valley-West Division games. Teammate Ky Schmidt is hitting at a .387 clip. Mason Boogren isn’t far behind, with a .367 average.
Oconto Falls ace Hunter Magnin (3-2) leads the FRV-North Division with a 1.30 ERA in 32.1 innings on the mound. He has struck out 39 batters in division games, including seven in Monday’s 5-0 victory over Menominee, Michigan.
“I know he’s thrown two shutouts now,” Gillis said. “He’s their No. 1, and I’m positive we’ll see him.”
Oconto Falls also has the option of throwing Derek Zahn, Taylor Brabandt, Bo Shroyer or Evan Sigmund, but Magnin has been the workhorse.
Shawano (10-5, 8-4 FRV-West) and Oconto Falls (10-9, 7-7 FRV-North) will play the second game Thursday, following Kaukauna and Mosinee, who play at 5 p.m. The losing teams will play at 2 p.m. Friday, followed by a game between the winning teams at 5 p.m. The double-elimination tournament will continue into the weekend with the championship to be decided at 5 p.m., followed by a second game if necessary.
“Kaukauna is a very good team,” Gillis said. “They are pretty fundamentally sound at every position. They hit the ball well up and down the lineup. … Mosinee is kind of the wild card. We kind of know what Oconto Falls has with Hunter and Kaukauna has with their strong lineup.”
With the regional at Memorial Park, Gillis hopes fan support will give Shawano a slight advantage.
“Hopefully a lot of fans come out and support us,” Gillis said. “We’ve had decent support so far with the success we’ve had.”
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