After the final week of Germantown baseball’s perfect regular season came down to three comeback wins and a dicey fly ball in left hauled in by Vinny Inga to clinch a 4-3 victory over Kettle Moraine in the finale, coach Jay Wojcinski was candid about when he thought a 26-0 run might be possible.
“Today,” Wojcinski said after the win over Kettle Moraine on May 28. “To do that and what these guys have done all year, I mean any day, anything can happen. We’ve had some close ones in the last couple weeks, we just managed to find a way. Even down to that last out, when [Chace] Staude hit that ball, it looked like it was going over Vinny’s head. I didn’t think we were going to do it until that last out, that’s for sure.”
Germantown’s program-first undefeated regular season, which included the Greater Metro Conference’s first undefeated run in league play, has been characterized by absorbing the types of setbacks that usually derail seasons. After graduating multiple top pitchers from the 2025 staff, returning senior Liam Hagland has also been shelved for the year due to injury. Hagland had thrown a six-inning no-hitter against Wauwatosa East on April 27 and was rolling five innings into his next start with no hits allowed against Marquette on May 4 when he was removed after feeling a twinge in his pitching elbow. He would later be diagnosed with a partial UCL tear, requiring season-ending internal brace surgery.
In his stead, the Warhawks have rounded out the rotation and pen around senior Tye Cretens (24⅓ IP, 1.44 ERA, 26 Ks) with a group of sophomore arms who had not pitched at the varsity level prior to this year. Brady Lauer (33 IP, 2.12 ERA, 24 Ks), Liam’s younger brother Landon Hagland (25⅓ IP, 2.49 ERA, 38 Ks), Brady Keller (21⅓ IP, 2.62 ERA, 21 Ks) and Nolan Vogt (14 IP, 0.50 ERA, 20 Ks) have all stepped up to cover valuable innings.
“We’ve started five sophomores, and four of those sophomores because of injury are our top four pitchers,” Wojcinski said. “We had so many seniors [in 2025], so the way that the sophomores have produced, both offensively and on the mound, I mean, it says a lot for the young guys to be able to do that. They’re a huge part of what we’re doing.”
With the inexperience admittedly has come occasional struggles, but that has also been where a robust returning lineup has shined at the plate to pick up whoever is on the mound. Seniors Jon Murkowski (.458 AVG, 21 RBI, 1.137 OPS) and Ty Olszewski (.319 AVG, 16 RBI, .944 OPS), as well as juniors Grady Cheever (.361 AVG, 23 RBI, 1.042 OPS) and Carter Gordon (.362 AVG, 22 RBI, 1.040 OPS), set the tone for an offense generating just over eight runs per game.
In the running game, Murkowski (36 SB) and Olszewski (25 SB) lead an aggressive group that as a team has tallied 119 stolen bases. A deficit like Germantown experienced May 28 with an early 3-0 hole after two innings against Kettle Moraine is never an insurmountable one for the Warhawks offense.
“We kind of go down, and it’s just a matter of getting on base and somebody always finds a way to get everybody in,” Wojcinski said. “Top five guys in our order have really been getting it done all year, and then sophomores, they’re going to be sophomores, they’re going to have rough days, but the good days have far outweighed the rough days so far.”
Germantown’s perfect run to 26-0 has not been about each individual player capitalizing on every opportunity that is presented to them. In a game of failure, it has been about how the Warhawks have responded when a teammate may be experiencing a far from perfect day on the diamond.
“I wish I could highlight one person in specific, or three, maybe, but I feel like – and coach touches on this a lot during the postgame meetings – but everyone steps up. There’s always one guy to pick someone else up,” Murkowski said. “Lead-off guy’s having a bad day, three hole’s gonna pick them up, and that goes along with pitching, fielding and all the above. So everyone picks each other up, and bench guys step up, everybody steps up.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Germantown baseball perfect in regular season, hopes high for state run
Reporting by Zac Bellman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
