The
Stevens Point Sixers American Legion baseball team kept their season alive with
a win over the rival Plover Black Sox at the AAA Region 2 Regional Tournament
at Jack Hackman Field in Marshfield Wednesday, July 20.

The
Sixers lost 15-3 to third-ranked Marshfield (22-6) in seven innings in their
Regional opener Tuesday, July 19, but then came back and beat the Black Sox
(12-18) 9-5 in an elimination game Wednesday afternoon.

Point
(11-14) is set to face Marshfield again in an elimination game at 4 p.m.
Thursday, July 21, as it looks to battle back to earn a trip to the AAA State
Tournament at Jack Hackman Field in Marshfield Tuesday through Saturday, July
26-30.

“It
was just a good win, and a great feeling to beat Plover,” said Point pitcher
Jacob Piotrowski, who earned a complete-game victory over Plover. “Marshfield’s
a good team, we know that, but we beat them in the season.

“If
we play like we did today, put up a lot of hits and our defense plays good,
we’ll be fine going ahead,” he said.

“We
could’ve very easily came out and rolled over for Plover,” said Point manager
Jason Rieck. “Plover’s always been on top the last handful of years, it’s nice
for us to go out there and knock them off this year.

“And
to beat them two times this year, split with them and then finally win the
series, that was huge,” he said.

After
finishing in second place in the Wisconsin Valley Legion League (WVLL) this
season, the Sixers opened the unseeded Regional against WVLL Champion
Marshfield Tuesday afternoon.

The
two teams split a pair of meetings during the regular season, as Point lost 5-1
on the road June 17 and won 3-2 at home June 29, while Marshfield got out to a
quick lead Tuesday afternoon with two runs in the bottom of the first inning to
go up 2-0.

Point
answered with two runs in the top of the second inning to tie the game at 2-2,
but Marshfield responded with four runs in the bottom of the second inning off
Sixers starting pitcher Matt Helms to build a 6-2 lead.

Point
scored a run in the top of the fifth inning to close within 6-3, but Marshfield
loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the fifth against Sixers
relief pitcher Zach Ksicinski.

In
the middle of a strikeout and back-to-back walks, Marshfield scored on three
wild pitches to build a 9-3 lead with one out and then scored another run on an
error to go up 10-3, as it had four runs on zero hits, four walks and one error
in the four-run rally.

Marshfield
tacked on five more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning off Point relief
pitcher Ryan Glodowski to go up 15-3, and closed out the Sixers in the top of
the seventh inning to win 15-3.

Center
fielder Gus Turner-Zick and designated hitter Joe Strigel each went 2-for-3 to
lead the Sixers at the plate, while Helms took the loss after he struck out
three and walked three over three innings. Marshfield scored 15 runs on nine
hits, 14 walks and three Point errors in the win.

“It’s
tough,” said Rieck. “When we give up 14 free passes, you’re not going to win
many games.

“But
I have a lot of confidence in our boys moving ahead,” he said. “I think we can
easily come back and give everybody a run for their money.”

The
Sixers were back Wednesday afternoon to face Plover, in a game that was pushed
back three hours due to rain.

Plover
scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning off Point starter Jacob
Piotrowski to take a 2-0 lead, which it remained until Strigel led off the top
of the third inning with a single, stole second and came around to score on a
sacrifice fly from Turner-Zick to pull the Sixers within 2-1.

Point
continued to come back, as Ksicinski doubled with one out in the top of the fourth
inning and scored on a RBI single from third baseman Hunter Lodzinski to tie
the game at 2-2, while designated hitter Nathan Olds led off the top of the
fifth inning with a double off Plover starter Jamison Kryshak and scored on a
two-out, RBI single from left fielder Jake Dufresne to give the Sixers a 3-2
lead.

After
Plover scored a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie it at 3-3,
Ksicinski led off the top of the sixth with a single, was bunted to second by
Lodzinski, stole third and then scored on a sacrifice bunt by Strigel to give
the Sixers a 4-3 lead.

“After
we scored that one run in the third inning, coach Rieck just kept on saying,
‘score one here, score one here,’” said Ksicinski. “‘Just chipping away,
keeping that lead.’”

Plover
answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning off Point starting
pitcher Piotrowski to tie the game at 4-4, but Turner-Zick led off the top of
the seventh with a double and scored when Ksicinski drew a bases-loaded walk
from Plover relief pitcher Kevin Jastromski to give the Sixers the lead at 5-4.

Point
added another run in the top of the eighth, as Strigel drew a leadoff walk, and
came around to score on a squeeze bunt from catcher Brady Erickson to make it
6-4.

Plover
countered with a RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to pull within 6-5,
before Turner-Zick threw out Plover’s Grant Roth at home plate trying to score
from second base on a single to center field, as the Sixers held on to a 6-5
lead.

After
scoring one run in each of the previous six innings, Point used back-to-back
walks to Dufresne and second baseman Brady Franz and a sacrifice bunt from
Ksicinski to put runners on second and third in the top of the ninth inning.

Strigel
followed with a two-out, two-run double to increase the lead to 8-5, and Turner-Zick
added a RBI single to make it 9-5, while Piotrowski closed out Plover in the
bottom of the ninth inning to wrap up his complete-game performance and keep
the Sixers’ season alive with a 9-5 victory.

“You
do or you go home now, so it’s good to see that we finally got it done
tonight,” said Rieck. “We scored in all but the first two innings, and I think
that kept putting the pressure on them.

“And
our guys kept on coming up with that big hit, whether it was two outs, or
getting a suicide (squeeze) down,” said Rieck. “We found ways to score.”

Strigel
was 2-for-3 with a double, three runs scored and three RBI; Turner-Zick went
2-for-4 with a double and two RBI; Olds was 3-for-3 with a double; Ksicinski
went 2-for-2 with a double and two runs scored; shortstop Andy Tepp went 3-for-5;
and Franz was 2-for-4, as the Sixers pounded out 17 hits in the win.

Meanwhile,
Piotrowski walked three, struck out three and allowed 11 hits over nine innings
in the complete-game win.

“Some
people kind of laugh when we throw Pio against them, and in the limited innings
that he’s had this year, he’s been the best to throw strikes,” said Rieck.
“He’s not going to blow it by anybody, but he’s going to give the defense the
chance to make plays behind him, and he did that.

“So
I can’t say enough about what Pio did for the team today,” he said.

“It’s
a great feeling,” said Piotrowski, who only walked one after the first inning.
“It was a big team effort; putting up nine runs and 17 hits was big for me.

“I
knew I wasn’t going to blow it past them, and I trust in my defense,” he said.
“And everything just worked out right.”

The
Sixers will play Marshfield in an elimination game at 4 p.m. Thursday, after
Marshfield lost to Wausau 9-3 Tuesday night.

D.C.
Everest beat Plover 11-1 in seven innings Tuesday afternoon and was set to play
Wausau at 7 p.m. Wednesday, with the winner to move on to the Regional
Championship at 4 p.m. Friday, July 22.

The
loser will meet the winner of the Point/Marshfield game at 7 p.m. Thursday,
with a berth in the Regional Championship on the line.

Marshfield
already has an automatic bid to the State Tournament as the host team, which
means the last remaining team out of Point, Wausau and Everest will also
advance to state next week.

“It
would be a great experience if we could go to state,” said Ksicinski. “But
we’ve got to keep on focusing on the games that we’ve got coming up, and
winning each game, one game at a time.”

“You’ve
got to get the job done, and everybody’s got to do it,” said Rieck.
“(Marshfield’s) going to want to bounce back from (Tuesday) night, we’re going
to want to bounce back from the performance we had against them.

“We
split with them in conference this year, and we know we can beat them,” he
said. “If we play like we did today, it’s going to be a good game.”