Weltzien walk-off wins WBA title for Whitehall

A Connor Weltzien home run with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning gave the Whitehall Whitetails the Wisconsin Baseball Association Class B championship in Augusta on Sunday.

The championship game against Osceola was tied when the Arcadia High School graduate came up with two outs in the bottom of the 11th. He took the first two pitches, one ball and one strike, before launching the third over the right field fence to give Whitehall the state title in its first season competing. 

The Whitetails were dominant leading up to the game. They began the state tournament with an 11-0 win over Osprey on Friday night then beat Abbotsford, 7-1, in the semifinal round. 

The team is made up entirely of players who competed at the high school level locally, represented by players from Arcadia, Blair-Taylor, Independence/Gilmanton, Eleva-Strum and Whitehall. The team is coached by Pete Bartingale, the I/G head baseball coach. It finished the season with a 14-11 record, playing in the Chippewa River Baseball League, which had several teams qualify for the Class A state tournament, including runner-up Osseo. 

Whitehall 11 Osprey 0

Tyler Webb was in control as the Whitetails raked 13 hits at the plate. 

Webb held Osprey to just two hits and two walks while striking out 12 in the seven-inning win. 

Whitehall broke the game open with six runs in the bottom of the second inning. Brock Sluga put the team ahead with an RBI single before Devon McCune and Alex Sartor had two-run doubles later in the frame.

Chris Killian had three hits to lead Whitehall while Brandon Sylla, Sluga, Brayden Lisowski and McCune all had two. McCune, Sartor, Sluga and Sylla all had two RBIs.

Whitehall 7 Abbotsford 1

Another strong pitching performance and a big inning helped Whitehall advance to the championship game.

Brandon Sylla got the start on the mound and tossed the first seven innings, limiting Abbotsford to five hits while striking out eight without a walk. Lisowski finished the game without allowing a hit in the final two innings.

Thanks, in part, to two hits in the second, Abbotsford took an early lead. Sluga tied the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the second and Webb singled in another run to give Whitehall the lead.

The team took control with five runs in the bottom of the fourth. The first came home on a wild pitch before Jake Bjerke singled in one. The team scored three more runs without a hit in the inning.

Lisowski had two of Whitehall’s six hits in the game. 

Whitehall 3 Osceola 2

The young arm of Tavian Shramek held up as Whitehall’s offense came alive late.

Shramek, who graduated from B-T last May, threw 150 pitches in the game, striking out 14 batters while holding Osceola to five hits and four walks. He also gave Whitehall the lead by scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth.

Weltzien then singled to bring Sylla home, though Lisowski was thrown out trying to score on the same play.

The two-run advantage wasn’t enough entering the final frame. A one-out error gave Osceola some life. That was followed by a single and a fielder’s choice before a double tied the game.

Both teams went down in order in the ninth and 10th innings.

Osceola led off the 11th with a double and got another runner on with a walk, but Shramek got a strikeout and a fly out to end the threat.

It looked to be more of the same for Whitehall in the bottom of the 11th. Lisowski grounded out and Sartor struck out, bringing Weltzien to the plate. And, on the third pitch, the slugger gave his team a state title.

Weltzien had two hits and two RBIs, accounting for a third of Whitehall’s six hits.