The Luxemburg-Casco Spartans came up just short in a WIAA Division 2 baseball regional final Wednesday evening, falling to the Notre Dame Tritons 5-4.
The game started as a pitcher’s duel as Spartan Owen Deprez, and Triton Bruce Herman pitched four scoreless innings, with Deprez striking out eight batters. Notre Dame then opened the scoring with three runs in the fifth inning on two hits.
The Spartans responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Max Ronsman that scored Ryland Day.
After both teams missed opportunities to score in the sixth inning, Notre Dame was able to add two more runs in the top of the seventh to take a 5-1 lead.
The Spartans were able to mount a comeback bid in the bottom of the seventh when they loaded the bases with no one out. After a run scored on a wild pitch, Peyton Mrotek doubled home two runs to pull the Spartans within one run before a strikeout ended the game.
Mrotek led the Spartan attack going 2/3 with 2 RBIs. Blake Robillard and Day went 2/3, but the Spartans stranded eight runners in the loss.
Deprez took the loss, pitching 4 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out nine.
Notre Dame will now travel to Seymour next Tuesday in a sectional semi-final game.
