Late comeback effort falls short for Patriots

Using Monday’s regular-season finale as a pitching exhibition for this week’s regional, Shawano Legion head coach Ryan Koenig wanted to get five players on the mound.

The Patriots held Iola to one run over the final three innings and mounted a comeback that fell just short in an 8-7 loss at Memorial Park.

“They never give up. They don’t. They want to win. They’re competitors, which is what you want,” Koenig said. “It’s really refreshing to see that this year, and just the maturity from last year to this year.”

Jacob Lacy sparked the Patriots’ offense with four RBIs. He hit a two-RBI single in the fifth inning, and then, after Alex Hoffman walked with the bases loaded in the sixth, Lacy followed it up with his third and fourth RBIs of the game to pull Shawano within two.

Iola’s Seth Korb walked the bases loaded in the seventh inning before Dylan Sumnicht singled in the team’s seventh run. Parker Pues had an infield single to load the bases, but instead of throwing to first base, shortstop Nate Korb caught Cole Nelson rounding third base to end the game.

“You could tell the first time through the order, we weren’t having good at-bats, and then the second and third times, we were starting to get back our timing,” Koenig said. “You just can’t have a long layoff, a week. That’s why we wanted this game.”

Casey Baumann, Cole Nelson and Kasey Kristof each threw one inning, giving up a combined four hits and one run.

“I thought Kasey had a quick inning that inning, and then Cole as well. We don’t really have a backup catcher, so Kasey hasn’t pitched much for us this year, but you never know,” Koenig said. “If we have someone step up and do that in regionals, if we’re playing four, five, six games, whatever it is to get to the end, we’re going to need everybody to pitch. We’re going to need arms, especially.”

Iola reliever Carter Kurki was responsible for five hits and three earned runs while walking three batters.

“(Seth Korb and Kurki) haven’t thrown in like a week, a little rusty, a little up in the zone, but if I’m a guy that’s coming in fresh that’s normally a starter and I get one inning, I’m throwing fastballs,” Iola head coach Brian Korb said. “I’m seeing more curveballs than I’d like to see tonight.”

Shawano starter Steve Hoffman pitched three innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs. Iola got to him in the first inning for three runs on three hits and an error.

Shawano (6-10) committed four errors.

“We had a lot of errors, a lot of mistakes today, and you can’t have that come tournament, so hopefully we’ve got that out of our system tonight,” Koenig said.

Iola tacked on another run in the third inning on Cam Grunwald’s leadoff home run to left field before expanding its lead to seven runs in the fourth inning against Bryce Gagnow. Nate Korb reached base on a fielder’s choice, and then Kurki singled to center field. Grunwald’s single to center gave the visitors a 5-0 lead. Seth Korb’s two-RBI double to the left-field fence made it a 7-0 game.

“We really put the bat on the ball the first four, five innings,” Brian Korb said. “Kind of built up a pretty good lead, and then kind of relaxed a little bit.”

Sumnicht, Pues, Hoffman, Lacy and Baumann each had two hits. Sumnicht and Gagnow each scored two runs.

Shawano will face Rhinelander in the opening game of the Legion Class AA Regional tournament in Rhinelander at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The double-elimination competition continues through Saturday.

“I think the guys have a little bit different attitude than we had last year. We had some success. We’re almost .500. We’ve got to jell a little bit team-wise, and everybody has got to fill their roles,” Koenig said. “If you get a team that buys into each other, you can do great things, and we have a great chance up there, so hopefully they realize it, especially the seniors.”

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

Iola 3 0 1 3 1 0 0 8 13 2

Shawano 0 0 0 1 2 3 1 7 12 4