The Stevens Point Sixers American Legion Baseball team won the 47th Ed Kardach Firecracker Classic with a 3-2 win over Wisconsin Rapids in the Championship Game at Bukolt Park Sunday, July 7. (John Kemmeter photo)

Portage County Gazette

By John Kemmeter

Stevens Point Sixers highlights from the Championship Game of the Ed Kardach Firecracker Classic against Wisconsin Rapids at Bukolt Park Sunday, July 7, as well as postgame interviews with Reese Gaber and Isaac Perner, and Zach Zimmerman and Brady Franz.

The Sixers (13-6) trailed defending Tournament Champion Oshkosh 2-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning in the Tournament Semifinals Sunday, when Zimmerman had a RBI single, and Franz followed with a single to score two runs and give Point a 3-2, walk-off victory.

In the Championship Game later Sunday, Gaber hit a two-run, inside-the-park home run in the top of the fifth inning to give the Sixers a 2-0 lead over Wisconsin Rapids, which answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth off Gaber to tie the game at 2-2.

Franz led off the top of the sixth inning with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly from JD Schultz to give Point a 3-2 lead, and the Sixers held on for a 3-2 victory to win the Firecracker Classic for the first time since 2013.

Complete coverage will appear in this week’s issue of The Portage County Gazette.