GRAND CHUTE – The Seymour baseball team was hoping to win the WIAA Division 2 state championship in the program’s first attempt.
A runner-up will have to do.
Seymour lost 5-4 to New Berlin Eisenhower in the title game June 19 at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium, a showdown between two of the top five ranked teams in the state that both were making debut appearances on the big stage.
“Historic season,” said Seymour coach Curt Jefson, whose squad finished 26-4. “Just about a storybook game. Just so much pride and appreciation for this team. They deserve to put something in the trophy case and be the first. They put a special mark on my heart, and I think everyone that knows the team and our school and our community.”
Eisenhower walks it off in the seventh
The score was tied at four entering the bottom of the seventh, but the Lions didn’t take long to end the game.
Carter Hollenback drew a walk to start the inning and scored after cleanup hitter Sam Hirthe followed with a double to left field.
The ball rolled to the wall and allowed Hollenback to motor around the bases and score the winner, sliding into home feet first before everyone rushed out to Hirthe to start the title celebration.
Hirthe also started the game on the mound for the Lions and went the first six innings and threw 96 pitches before sophomore right-hander Max Nemori replaced him in the seventh.
Nemori struck out two in his only inning and worked around a two-out error by the shortstop that briefly gave Seymour some hope of taking a late lead.
Hirthe’s double a short time later ended a game that saw some thrilling individual plays and one big inning for both teams until the final frame.
Eisenhower, Seymour trade big innings
Eisenhower put up four runs in the bottom of the third, loading the bases without nobody out and chasing Seymour starter Kobe Barth.
Thunder junior Carson Staffeldt moved from center field to the mound in relief and hit Hollenback on his first pitch for the game’s first run, then allowed a two-run single to Hirthe before one more run scored on a throwing error by the second baseman.
Seymour’s response?
It came right back with four runs in the top of the fourth on a two-run double to right center by Micah Byers and a huge two-out single by Colten Nieland on a 3-2 pitch.
Just like that, it was a tie game.
“It was just one play at a time,” Nieland said. “Just keep going. Just keep doing what we think we can do.”
Jefson must have delivered one heck of pep talk in the dugout after falling down four runs.
“I might have asked Coach (Jason) Nieland to talk to them after that inning,” Jefson said, laughing. “I don’t really remember. It was a little bit of a blur. But just to answer, we didn’t flinch. We kept on battling. That is probably the message overall.”
Neither team scored again until Hirthe played hero.
Seymour makes memorable plays
It doesn’t mean quite as much since the Thunder lost, but Seymour made a few run-saving plays in the field that kept the score tied and were two of the biggest highlights of the state tournament.
The first came with a runner on second and two outs in the bottom of the fourth, when Staffeldt caught a line drive right back to him off the bat of designated hitter Alex Michna.
Staffeldt lost his glove but somehow caught the ball with his bare arm. He was in clear pain after the catch, holding his left throwing wrist as he walked to the dugout. He didn’t return.
Staffeldt is used to taking hits as Seymour’s star wide receiver during the football season, but a missile off a bat is a different story.
“It hit him in the forearm,” Jefson said. “I mean, I think he was in shock a little bit initially. I put in Caden Steffens, and I have all the faith in the world in Caden.
“That’s the team, though. They are guts. They are tough. They are hard-nosed kids. I’m just thankful to have had them.”
The second great play came with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.
With Eisenhower’s Caleb Johns on second base, Michna hit a grounder to third that Colten Nieland kept from going into the outfield while leaving his feet. He got up and was able to tag Johns, who initially broke for third before Nieland chased after him and tagged him out in the basepaths.
Johns gave Nieland a football-style hit after being tagged out, which resulted in his ejection.
“He didn’t say anything to me,” Nieland said. “It was just kind of an energetic play. He thought he could outrun me or whatever. It’s just playing baseball. You get angry sometimes. Eh, it’s that.”
Should the umpires have ejected Johns?
“Is that one I’m supposed to answer?” Jefson said. “Is that one you get fined for, I don’t know. But I was running out of the dugout after the play. Maybe I was thinking the same thing. It was what it was. Two kids competing.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Seymour baseball finishes runner-up in Division 2 after loss to New Berlin Eisenhower
Reporting by Scott Venci, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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