Posted: July 14, 2010 |(0) Comments

Shorewood baseball

After a series of tough loses, the Greyhounds finally saw their hard work pay off, as they were able to split a doubleheader with Pewaukee on Monday, after routing St. Francis last Friday, 11-4.

Shorewood entered the second half of the week at 7-23 overall and 6-16 in Woodland Conference play.

"What any team seeks is consistency," said Greyhound coach Tom Meyer. "Some games we're able to do that very well, and others, we leave things to be desired. Still, we are encouraged."

The Greyhounds will have a Woodland makeup game at home with South Milwaukee on Thursday at 5 p.m. and then will host Grafton in their nonconference season finale at 7 p.m. Friday.

Shorewood was only able to pick up the eighth seed in the WIAA Cedarburg sectional and so will open play at top-seeded Nicolet on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in a regional final.

Sectional play will be July 23 at Cedarburg.

The Greyhounds dropped the nightcap of the twin bill to Pewaukee by a 13-1 score as the Pirates scored in each of the first four innings.

In the opener, however, Shorewood used a 10-run fifth to erase a 3-0 deficit and cruise to a 12-5 win over the visitors. The Greyhounds took advantage of six errors and got two hits each from Dylan Knutson, Joe Kelley, Andrew Mueller (two RBI) and Charlie Dixon (two RBI).

Sophomore Ian Roudebush went the distance for the win, with two strikeouts and two walks.

In the win over St. Francis last Friday, the Greyhounds surrendered three runs in the top of the first, but then took the lead for good with five in the bottom of the frame. That was enough for Roudebush, who scattered five hits with two strikeouts and a walk.

"Ian's our best pitcher," said Meyer of Roudebush. "He's learning to change speeds and when he gets to doing that more consistently, he'll be even more effective."

A four-run sixth put the game away, as Declan Gruber had three hits and four RBIs, while Knutson and Mueller (two RBI) had two hits apiece.

Homestead baseball

Before their loss to Nicolet (see separate story), the Highlanders gained a little momentum with a solid 4-2 victory over West Bend East on July 6. Doug Mueller pitched well over four innings (two strikeouts and two walks) but departed with a 2-0 deficit.

Kevin Koch then threw three shutout innings for the win (three strikeouts and two walks). Homestead took the lead for good with a four-run fifth, as Max Beckers had a three-run double. Zach Enea also contributed two hits.

The day before that, the Highlanders won a wild 12-9 decision over Slinger, scoring three runs in each of the sixth and the seventh to overcome a 9-6 deficit. Beckers and Jake Erfourth had three hits and three RBIs apiece.

Mueller got the win, throwing two shutout innings as the last of three Highlander pitchers of the night. Homestead was down 8-2 at one point.

Whitefish Bay baseball

Good efforts against high-level teams came up a bit short for the Blue Dukes (16-19) overall last week.

Bay will host Waukesha South on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and then will close out the regular season against Wauwatosa West on Saturday at Breitlow Field in a nonconference twin bill starting at 9 a.m.

The Blue Dukes earned the fourth seed in the WIAA Cedarburg bracket and will host Homestead at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in a regional final. The sectional will be July 23. The two teams have split this year.

Bay showed plenty of competitive instincts this past week as it dropped a 14-10 nonconference decision to powerhouse Oak Creek on Saturday as the Knights scored seven runs in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead 11-8. Oak Creek added three insurance runs in the sixth.

Justin Alt had three hits while James Stecker had two hits and two RBIs for the Blue Dukes.

That came just a day after the Blue Dukes pushed North Shore champion West Bend West (27-2) to the limit for the second time in a week in an 8-5 loss. Bay actually took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the second before the Spartans went ahead for good with four scores in the top of the third.

It was still 6-5 when West added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh.

Bay used five different pitchers in the tilt.

Stecker and John Markwiese had two hits apiece while Jordan Milkie knocked in two runs.

Bay picked up a badly needed 8-7 win over Port Washington July 8, overcoming a 7-4 deficit after three innings. A three-run rally in the sixth finally put Bay ahead for good.

Joe Fiorita pitched two shutout innings at the end to get the win and contributed a double and three RBIs. Jeff Kerr, Mike Leckie (two RBI), and Milke had two hits apiece.