Story originally printed in the Coulee News or online at www.couleenews.com
Published - Friday, May 16, 2008
Bangor baseball team clinches title; perfect season still alive
The Bangor baseball team stayed hot last week with four more victories, including a 10-0 rout of Brookwood that clinched their fourth straight Scenic Bluffs title. Then, in a game played against Royall Monday, May 12, they avoided their first loss of the season with a spectacular comeback in the final inning.
The Cardinals won their 10th game of the season against Cashton on May 5. John Piske went 4-for-4 with a double in the 15-3 win. Craig Gollnick pitched all five innings in the shortened game. Ethan Gollnick was 3-for-4 with a double that highlighted a six-run third inning that put the game out of reach. Cashton scored its only three runs of the game in the first inning.
The Cardinals swept a doubleheader against New Lisbon Wednesday, May 7. The first game was originally to have been played May 2 but was rescheduled because of bad weather. Luke Weber struck out 11 while walking three as Bangor won its 11th straight game 7-1.
In the other contest, Weber and Ethan combined for another 11 strikeouts — Gollnick had seven — as the Cardinals’ bats pounded out nine hits. Those hits, combined with the eight walks yielded by New Lisbon pitchers, led the team to another blowout, 15-3.
On Thursday, May 8, Bangor hosted Brookwood in an attempt to clinch the Scenic Bluffs title. Mike Craig was on the mound for the Cards and, after two innings, neither team had scored. That changed in the bottom of the third as Bangor pushed across four runs.
Craig would hold Brookwood to only two hits in his five innings of work. Meanwhile, the team exploded for six more runs — led by a grand slam by Justin Johnson — in the bottom of the fifth to end the game with the score 10-0 in favor of Bangor. It was Bangor’s 13th win for the season.
On May 12, Bangor was at home again, this time against Royall. Their 13-game win streak appeared to be in serious jeopardy as they trailed 7-4 going into their final at-bat.
But a combination of Royall errors and Bangor hits allowed the Cardinals to claw their way back. Zach Langrehr’s clutch two-out single was the deciding blow in a thrilling and unlikely victory that kept Bangor’s Scenic Bluffs record at a perfect 14-0.
All stories copyright 2006 Coulee News and other attributed sources.