Marquette Edges Brookfield East in State Baseball Tourney

After a complete washout on Wednesday, the WIAA Summer Baseball State Tournament finally got under way on Thursday at Bukolt Park in Stevens Point.

Brookfield East and Milwaukee Marquette put on a show that was well worth the wait.

Marquette edged East 3-2 in a game filled with late-inning drama.

Nate Siudak put the Hilltoppers on the board in the first inning with an RBI single. Teammate Gino D’Amato tacked on another run with an RBI single of his own.

The Spartans, who had managed just three hits in the first five innings, appeared to be down for the count when Sudiak gave Marquette some insurance with a solo home run to center in the fifth. But back-to-back Marquette errors and a walk gave East new life in the top of the sixth.

The team that had only had four base runners prior to the start of the inning now had the bases loaded with no outs.

Mike Eberle brought the Spartans within one with a two RBI single.

“When we came within one, oh my heavens, that was it. I knew we had a shot at it,” said East head coach Bill Woodring.

Later in the inning, John Foley came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Woodring hoped to force the tying run across with a suicide squeeze. Foley got the bunt down and the runner was initially called safe at the plate. But before the Spartans celebration was over, the umpires got together and overturned the call.

Woodring conceded that the umpiring crew eventually came to the right decision. He stated that the home plate umpire didn’t recognize that with the bases loaded, the play at home was a force play and the runner did not need to be tagged out. This confusion led to the runner being called safe.

“He was looking at the tag,” Woodring said of the umpire in question. “He and I both knew it. We looked each other in the eye and I knew he was out. I let him stew a little bit with his other umpires and that is all that can happen. “

George Kotsonis followed by flying out to end the inning.

Back-to-back base hits from Patrick O’Brien and Nick Kanavas put East in business in the seventh. The tying run was 90 feet away when Brian Sylla grounded out to end the game.

Sylla took the loss for the Spartans. He pitched six innings, allowed six hits and struck out five.

Eberle finished 2-3 with a walk and two RBI for the Spartans. The underclassman’s performance impressed his skipper.

“He’s a sophomore, I kind of like that,” said a laughing Woodring. “He’s going to be one for the future and it’s going to be nice working with him for the next couple of years.”

Sudiak led the Hilltoppers going 3-3 with a home run and two RBI.

In Woodring’s eyes his team’s late-inning surge simply came up a bit short this time around.

“That’s what we’ve been doing for the last few days, last few games,” Woodring said. "We’ve been doing it when we needed to do it at the end.”