By: Nick Witwer
GREEN BAY, WI – The Blue Ribbons entered the weekend up a game and a half, all alone, at the top of the standings in the Northeastern Wisconsin Baseball League. With hopes to extend that lead, Green Bay was faced with back-to-back double headers on Saturday and Sunday against the Kewaskum A’s.
On Saturday, it was a rare early double header at Joannes as the first game started at noon. Game one and two on Saturday saw the Green Bay offense go quiet as they managed to score just one run in both games. In game one, first baseman James Bornick launched a ball over the wall in left field to lead off the 2nd innining giving the Blue Ribbons their lone run. Kewaskum would later add three runs by the end of the 5th inning. And that would be all the runs scored as the A’s beat the Blue Ribbons 3-1. The Blue Ribbons were able to stay within striking distance all the way to the end thanks to another solid relief outting from Bret Whiffen who gave up zero runs on zero hits and struck out two batters in the final 2 and ⅓ of an inning.
In game two, the Blue Ribbons struck early once again. Brendan Willadesn, who reached base three times, made it to first on a Kewaskum throwing error. A hit batter and a fielders choice would then put runners on the corners with just one out. Landon Lozier would then come through with a clutch rbi single to give the Blue Ribbons their only run of the game. Green Bay pitching would then give up five runs between the 3rd and 4th innings. That would wind up being all the runs scored in the game as Green Bay would drop game two 5-1. The Blue Ribbons bullpen was solid once again, this time it was Logan Lange allowing just one run while also striking out four batters in 4 and ⅔ of an inning. Despite the loss, a piece of history was made in the game as center fielder Tyler Blum’s stolen base in the 7th inning would give the Blue Ribbons a new single season team record in stolen bases.
Sunday’s double header was another noon start time but this time at Carl Kuss Field. The A’s got to the Blue Ribbons pitching early, putting Green Bay in a 5-0 hole by the end of the first inning. The Blue Ribbons offense attempted to cut into the lead as Bryson Webb would get hit by the first pitch he saw in the top of the third inning. Webb would get batted around and later score on a ground out from Tyler Blum. Both teams would add one more run each as Green Bay would drop game one 6-2. Taylor Middaugh, despite a rough 1st inning, would settle in and have a strong start through the rest of the game pitching for all six innings and striking out four batters.
In the game two, and the weekend’s fourth and final game, Green Bay got on the board first in the second inning stemming from a Jake Petasek single that platted two runs. After the A’s scored a run in the bottom half of the inning The Blue Ribbons scored another run following a Brendan Willadsen single. Leading now 3-1, Kewaskum would wind up scoring 7 run through the remainder of the game to take an 8-3 lead into the final inning. The Blue Ribbons attempted to fight back adding one more run of their own on another Willadsen single. In the end the Ribbons would fall 8-4. Brendan Willadsen had three hits and two rbis. Ashton Long got himself three hits. Jake Petasek wound up with two hits and two rbis. On the mound, Jared Hanson took the loss but struck out seven batters in four innings of work. Gavin Rusch struck out another three batters in his two innings of work.
Overall, the Blue Ribbons dropped all four games on the weekend and have fallen into a five game losing streak. Green Bay will get their first chance to get back to their winning ways coming up on Tuesday at Joannes against the Denmark Devilbears. First pitch against the Devilbears is scheduled for 7:30 p.m