GRAND CHUTE — This one had been coming for a long time.
In its first state baseball championship appearance since 1977, the Cedar Grove-Belgium Rockets won the WIAA Division 3 title on Thursday, June 18 with a 13-9 victory over Dodgeville.
“It’s so exciting, I’m so proud of the boys,” Cedar Grove-Belgium coach Tom Race said. “Best day ever with these kids.”
The Rockets lost in the sectional finals last season, so it didn’t take long to begin planning what it would take to not just get to state, but finish the job.
“We were talking about it in January already,” Race said.
Senior Carter Schmitz, who earned the win on the mound, says it goes back a lot further.
“We’ve been playing since we were four years old, this has been a goal for a long time,” Schmitz said. “We’re like brothers.”
After trailing 2-0 after the top of the first inning, Cedar Grove-Belgium took the lead on a Seth Race three-RBI triple and never looked back.
The son of the Rockets coach, Seth says the championship will be a memory which will never fade.
“It feels amazing,” Seth said. “We put in a lot of hard work. I’m very proud, going to remember this forever.”
The Dodgers were focused on Cedar Grove-Belgium junior Ira Hilbelink, the NCAA Division I Minnesota verbal commit, who set a Division 3 state record in the semifinal with three triples.
Tom though says he’s far from the only capable hitter.
“Everyone on this team can hit,” Tom said. “You can pitch around Ira, but you got to be careful. We can hit 1-9.”
The Rockets though, got a scare, seeing a 13-3 lead after four innings get dwindled to just a four-run advantage entering the top of the seventh.
“A team like that, they’re here for a reason and they’re going to battle,” Schmitz said. “Nobody is going to go away in the state championship.”
But when push came to shove, the Rockets weren’t about to be knocked over.
And now they get to call themselves state champions.
Contact Tom Dombeck at 920-686-2965 or tdombeck@htrnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Tom_Dombeck.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Cedar Grove-Belgium wins first-ever WIAA state baseball championship
Reporting by Tom Dombeck, Sheboygan Press / Sheboygan Press
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By Tom Dombeck, Sheboygan Press | USA TODAY Network
