Truckers’ magical ride comes to an end

The Clintonville baseball team endured a season of highs and lows.

The regular season saw the Truckers pick up just two wins. The postseason gave the team new life though and Clintonville took full advantage of it, claiming three straight upset wins to earn a regional title.

Clintonville’s next test was a matchup against Mosinee, a team that made it to state in 2017. Mosinee took a step closer to making it back to state, keeping the pressure on after taking an early lead to claim to a 9-2 win over Clintonville in a Division 2 sectional semifinal at Chilton High School Tuesday morning.

After two scoreless innings, Mosinee, which was acting as the away team, put together a threat in the third. After a walk and error, a double by Seth Kuhn and single from Trey Fitzgerald pushed across three runs. Cole Vandehey drove in Mosinee’s fourth run of the inning on a single.

Mosinee tallied four hits in the inning and took advantage of two Truckers’ errors.

After the inning, Clintonville coach Ben Smejkal noticed a change in the demeanor of his team.

“The minute they put up four runs in that inning, you could see the winds come out of our sails,” Smejkal said.

Mosinee tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning on RBIs from Ben Vandehey and Brandon Bernarde. Ben Vandehey was hit by a pitch with the bases-loaded before Bernarde delivered a run-scoring single.

Mosinee posted three more runs in the sixth on four hits and another Clintonville error. For the game, Mosinee collected 12 hits while Clintonville committed four errors.

“I think they heard from other teams that we are a good fastball hitting group so they threw a guy that had some pretty good offspeed stuff,” Clintonville senior Kyle Finger said.

“He (Mosinee starting pitcher Luke Spink) had a really nice breaking ball that kind of fooled us guys a little bit,” Keenan Doornink, another Truckers’ senior, said. “We just couldn’t come up with the hits today. We hit a couple right to them and only got a few over or past them. We just didn’t really bring the bats today.”

At the plate, the Truckers were able to put plenty of traffic on the bases, but could not string together hits to push runs across.

Kyle Finger opened the second inning with a double before moving to third on a sacrifice bunt from Logan Liesenfelder. Presley Rosenow was then hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners with just one away. Mosinee starter Luke Spink escaped the jam by inducing a popup and fly ball.

Nick Schoen led off the fourth inning with a double before moving to third on a groundout. Spink again worked out of trouble, getting a foul popup and groundout to end the threat.

The Truckers started another rally in the bottom of the fifth after Doornink reached on an error and Sean Finger walked with one out. Another foul popup and groundout kept Clintonville off the scoreboard.

The Truckers plated a pair of runs in the seventh after coach Smejkal went to the bench, allowing some seniors an at-bat. Colton Kluth reached base after an error to open the inning before Doornink laced an opposite field single. After pinch-hitter Riley Yaeger lined out to Spink for a tough first out to the inning, pinch-hitters John Klein and Jacob Viergutz each picked up RBIs.

Klein drove home Kluth on a groundout. Viergutz then singled home Doornink to cut the Truckers’ deficit to seven.

Spink struck out the next batter to seal the victory for Mosinee. Spink earned the win, striking out five batters in a complete game effort. He walked two batters while surrendering four hits.

Kluth was dealt the loss after working the first 3 1/3 innings. Kluth allowed six runs, only four of which were earned, on three walks and five hits. Schoen worked the final 3 2/3 innings, striking out a batter while walking none. Schoen surrendered the final three runs, only two earned, on seven hits.

While Clintonville did commit four errors, it also made a handful of great defensive plays.

Matt Morse played a hand in each out in the second inning, including a throw on the run that ended with Doornink scooping a one-hopper. The Truckers took advantage of a slow runner at second on a sacrifice bunt attempt, with Doornink throwing to third to get the lead out during the fourth frame.

In the fifth, catcher Kyle Finger scooped a pitch in the dirt and easily threw out a baserunner trying to swipe third. Left fielder Dylan Danforth ended the seventh by robbing a potential two-run homer off the bat of Ben Vandehey. After making the catch, the Truckers relayed the ball to first to complete a double play.

The loss brought the end to a special playoff run the senior-led Clintonville roster made. The Truckers will need to replace Doornink, Kyle Finger, Klein, Kluth, Liesenfelder, Schoen, Viergutz and Yaeger next year.

“I don’t even know where to start, we’ve been playing together for so long,” Kyle Finger said. “Every moment with them was so special, I’m really going to miss it.”

“We had a really great group of seniors that have played together since we were four or five years old,” Doornink said. “In the last inning, the seniors all went up to bat with a green Mako Torq (bat) for a close friend (Austin Arnold) we lost during our sophomore year. He was a really great guy that unfortunately lost his life. We played each game for him because we wanted to do as much as we could for him.”

Coach Smejkal hopes the underclassman who got to witness the team’s upset-filled playoff run can learn from the departing seniors and help the Truckers continue where the group of eight seniors left off.

“I had a great senior class; we had some great leadership,” Smejkal said. “A bunch of those guys are going to try and play college ball and I think they can. We had one loud bench thanks to some seniors so it was fun to see some of them go in in the seventh and actually have them be responsible for the runs we scored today. There’s the leadership you got to see; there’s that leadership to some of the younger guys coming back.”

Clintonville wraps up the season with a 5-16 record overall.