Red Hawks split with West Salem, remain in conference title hunt

A gutting one-run loss against West Salem ended the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau baseball team’s control of their own destiny to a Coulee Conference championship. However, a redemptive blowout win against the Panthers later in the week made sure the Red Hawks at least enter the final full week of the regular season still in the Coulee title mix.

If G-E-T sweeps its two games against Black River Falls this week, they would finish at 9-3 in Coulee play for the 2025 season. That would be good enough for a share of the conference title if Viroqua wins at least one of its two games against Westby this week.

The Red Hawks (12-8, 7-3) must win both games against BRF to remain in conference championship contention. If they do that and Viroqua and Westby split their two games, it’s a three-way tie for the Coulee crown. If G-E-T and Viroqua both sweep their games, those two will share the conference title. If Westby sweeps against Viroqua, the Norsemen lock up the conference championship outright.

G-E-T’s final Coulee game comes on the road against the Tigers on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in Black River Falls. The Red Hawks wrap up the regular season by hosting Altoona on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

West Salem 7 G-E-T 6

An early lead slipped away from the Red Hawks last Monday in West Salem in what could prove to be a costly loss for their conference title aspirations.

After G-E-T scored a run on Adain Busch’s bases-loaded walk in the top of the first, the Panthers (7-10, 5-7) responded with a trio of runs in the bottom half of the inning. The Red Hawks leapfrogged back ahead 4-3 in the top of the second with a three-run rally capped off by Busch’s two-run single, then extended the advantage to 6-3 on a Calvin Davis two-run double an inning later.

West Salem landed a counterpunch with two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to retake a 7-6 lead. With two outs and men on first and second in the top of the seventh, Davis hit a grounder to second. Sam De Jager was called for offensive interference while advancing to second, ending the game.

Davis went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and one run and De Jager finished 2 for 3 with two walks and three runs scored.

G-E-T 12 Blair-Taylor 5

A tied game became a decisive G-E-T win against the Wildcats (9-7) thanks to an eight-run rally in the final inning last Tuesday in Blair in a non-conference tilt.

Each team scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. The Red Hawks got those runs on Caiden Brady’s two-run double in the fourth, followed by a De Jager RBI single and a Busch sac fly in the fifth. Blair-Taylor’s Brady Thompson hit an RBI single and a run scored on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the fourth, followed by RBI singles courtesy of Ryan Oldendorf and Tavian Shramek in the fifth.

G-E-T broke the deadlock in a big way in the top of the seventh, pouring on eight runs in a rally that featured RBI singles by Brady, Tucker McDonah and Mitchell Thell. Blair-Taylor got one run back in the bottom of the seventh on a Shramek RBI single, but that’s all the Wildcats managed in their final at-bat.

Brady led the charge for the Red Hawks by going 3 for 4 with a triple, a double and a run scored. As for the Wildcats, Shramek went 4 for 5 with a pair of RBIs.

G-E-T 18 West Salem 1

Three days after a one-run loss to West Salem, the Red Hawks got their revenge with an 18-1 throttling in five innings this past Thursday in Galesville.

Almost all of the damage by G-E-T was done via two giant rallies: seven runs in the bottom of the first and 10 runs in the third.

Jackson Burns was on fire at the plate, going 3 for 3 with a home run, two doubles, six RBIs and three runs scored, while De Jager finished 2 for 2 with a home run, a double, a walk, three RBIs and three runs. Nathan Holthaus went 2 for 2 with a double, a walk, an RBI and three runs.