Black Sox win home opener behind strong all-around play

By Jacob Heid
Sports Editor
PLOVER – The Plover Black Sox finally got to take to its home field on Jun. 19 after postponing the start of the season due to the WIAA state baseball tournament.
In a matchup vs. the Marshfield Blue Devils, Plover walked away victorious in a 5-2 win.
Offensively, the Black Sox sprayed 11 hits, while Braylen Nystrom (SPASH), Chase Geyer (SPASH), Bryce Ehr and Matt Glodowski (Amherst) had two hits each for Plover.
2022 SPASH graduate Kaden Thauer got the start on the mound, pitching six strong innings to earn the win.
He gave up two runs (zero earned) on seven hits and struck out eight Blue Devils.
Plover got on the board first with two runs in the first inning. A balk called on Marshfield’s Aden Cherney scored Jackson Fox from third.
SPASH’s Ben Fonti scored another run later in the inning to make it a 2-0 game.
Thauer kept Marshfield off the board in the second and third before the offense tacked on an important run in the bottom half of the third.
A 3-0 game turned quickly to a one-run game after Marshfield’s offensive pressure brought in two runs in the top of the fifth.
The Black Sox retaliated in the bottom half of the sixth, starting with runners on first and second with no outs.
Fox laid down a great bunt in front of home plate that advanced the runners into scoring position.
A wild pitch during Nystrom’s at-bat made it a 4-2 game, then Geyer muscled one to right center field for a double. That scored Glodowski from third without a doubt.
Fonti came in for the seventh inning and pitched a pretty clean inning for the save.
Marshfield had two hits in the inning, but that’s all Fonti gave up. He also picked up a strikeout to help finish the game.
Plover is 6-1 as of Jun. 20, winning all six games in four days, and will play at D.C. Everest tonight, Jun. 20, at Simon Field in Schofield.