Each of the American Legion baseball teams currently ranked
in the Top Four of the state rankings will be in Plover next weekend for the
27th annual Dan Schlutter Central Wisconsin Classic.

The reigning AAA State Runner-up Plover Black Sox will host
the eight-team tournament at Memorial Park and Woyak Park
Thursday through Sunday, July 14-17, in the final tune-up before Regional
Tournaments begin throughout the state the following week.

“It’s been noted as one of the toughest tournaments in the
state, with in-state teams, right before the playoffs,” said Plover manager
Wayne Sankey. “That’s why a lot of teams like to come play in that tournament,
because it prepares a lot of teams for their Regionals.”

Each of the four teams ranked at the top of the Wisconsin
Baseball Central Legion Baseball Power Rankings will compete in the tournament,
with top-ranked and defending State Champion Madison Impact, second-ranked Eau Claire, third-ranked Janesville and
fourth-ranked Chippewa
Falls among the eight
teams in the field.

Plover will compete in Pool 1 along with Eau Claire, Janesville and Green Bay Southwest, with
Madison Impact, Chippewa
Falls, Sheboygan and D.C. Everest, which won the
Firecracker Classic in Stevens Point
last weekend, in Pool 2.

“Madison
just won the Rochester
(Minn.)
Tournament that we were in (last weekend), we played them in Sheboygan, and they’re just a very, very
good, older Legion team this year,” said Sankey. “Eau Claire, I think has only one or two
losses this year, and is a very deep team in pitching.

“Janesville is drawing from the high school team (Janesville
Craig) that went to state too,” he said. “And then D.C. Everest is our final
team that came in, and they just won the Firecracker, so there are some pretty
darn good teams in there and some high-quality competition.”

The Black Sox finished as the Runner-up in last year’s
Central Wisconsin Classic after they lost to Madison Impact in the Championship
Game, before the two teams went on to meet again in the State Championship Game
two weeks later.

Plover will play each of its games next weekend at Memorial
Park, while there will be one game Friday and two games Saturday at Woyak Park,
with the rest of the tournament scheduled for Memorial Park.

The Black Sox will open Thursday at 8 p.m. against second-ranked Eau Claire, which is comprised mostly of
players from Eau Claire Memorial WIAA Division 1 State Quarterfinalist Eau Claire
North, the team that beat Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) 9-3 in
the Sectional Semifinals June 7.

Plover will then play a non-pool game at 8 p.m. Friday, July 15, against Wisconsin
Valley Legion League (WVLL) foe D.C. Everest, after the two split a pair of
games so far this season.

The Black Sox will play two games Saturday, July 16, as they
take on Green Bay Southwest at 5:30 p.m., and face third-ranked Janesville in
the game immediately after at 8 p.m.

The top two teams in each pool will advance to the semifinals
Sunday at Memorial Park, as the Pool 1 runner-up will face the Pool 2 winner at
10 a.m., with the Pool 1
winner taking on the Pool 2 runner-up at 12:30
p.m., followed by the Championship Game at 3 p.m.

“It’s important for us to be playing well,” said Sankey.
“And we know that some of the competition that we get at that tournament is
just as good, if not better, than what we’ll see the next weekend.

“So it’s going to help us, hopefully, going into the
playoffs,” he said.

27th annual Dan Schlutter Central Wisconsin Classic in Plover

Thursday, July 14

Game 1: Janesville
vs. Green Bay Southwest (two points), 3
p.m.

Game 2: Madison
vs. Sheboygan
(two points), 5:30 p.m.

Game 3: Plover vs. Eau
Claire (two points), 8 p.m.

Friday, July 15

Game 4: Sheboygan
vs. Green Bay Southwest (one point), 10
a.m.

Game 5: Eau Claire
vs. Madison Impact (one point) at Woyak
Park, 12:30 p.m.

Game 6: Chippewa
Falls vs. Janesville (one point), 12:30 p.m.

Game 7: D.C. Everest vs. Chippewa Falls
(two points), 3 p.m.

Game 8: Eau Claire
vs. Janesville
(two points), 5:30 p.m.

Game 9: Plover vs. D.C. Everest (one point), 8 p.m.

Saturday, July 16

Game 10: Madison Impact vs. Chippewa Falls
(two points), 10 a.m.

Game 11: D.C. Everest vs. Sheboygan (two points), 12:30 p.m.

Game 12: Eau Claire
vs. Green Bay Southwest (two points), 3
p.m.

Game 13: Plover vs. Green Bay Southwest (two points), 5:30 p.m.

Game 14: Chippewa Falls vs. Sheboygan (two points) at Woyak Park,
6:30 p.m.

Game 15: D.C. Everest vs. Madison Impact (two points) at Woyak Park,
8:30 p.m.

Game 16: Plover vs. Janesville
(two points), 8 p.m.

Sunday, July 17

Game 17: Pool 1 Runner-up vs. Pool 2 Winner, 10 a.m.

Game 18: Pool 1 Winner vs. Pool 2 Runner-up, 12:30 p.m.

Game 19: Championship Game, 3 p.m.