The Quad Cities River Bandits scored four runs in the first inning and held the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers offense in check to cruise to a 7-2 victory on Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field.  Carson Roccaforte drove in four runs to lead the Bandits to their series-clinching victory.

Justin Johnson gave the River Bandits (63-61 overall, 33-26 second half) the lead three pitches into the game with a lead-off home run.  Roccaforte added to the Bandits lead later in the inning with a two-run triple.  Shervyen Newton drove in Roccaforte with a sacrifice fly for a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

Roccaforte tripled again in the top of the third.  This one knocked in one run for a 5-0 advantage.  Wisconsin starting pitcher Will Rudy would retire the final seven batters he faced.  Rudy allowed five runs on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts over five innings.

Eduardo Garcia got the Timber Rattlers (74-50, 32-26) on the scoreboard with a two-out, solo home run to center in the bottom of the third.  The homer was Garcia’s third of the season.

Aidan Maldonado was activated from the Wisconsin Injured List earlier in the day and he came on to pitch the top of the sixth inning.  Trevor Werner doubled to start the inning.  Roccaforte singled him home for a 6-1 lead.  Maldonado had to escape a bases-loaded one-out jam to keep the game from getting out of hand.  He did with a little help from himself and a lot of help from Luis Lara in center field.  Maldonado got the second out with a strikeout.  Johnson, who hit a grand slam on Thursday night, sent a sinking line drive to center.  Lara raced in and made the diving catch for the final out to keep the deficit at five.

It was the second stellar grab of the game for Lara, who has made numerous spectacular catches this season while patrolling the outfield for the Rattlers.  He also robbed Johnson of extra bases in the second inning with a leaping grab against the fence in front of the Quad Cities bullpen after a long run.

The Rattlers nearly took a big bite out of that deficit after Lara’s big defensive play in the sixth inning.  They had runners at the corners with two outs against Hunter Patteson and Hedbert Pérez at the plate.  Pérez hit a deep drive down the line in right.  The ball just barely went foul at the last moment for a long, loud strike.  Patteson got Perez to tap out in front of the plate moments later for the third out.

Milwaukee Brewers reliever Enoli Paredes entered the game for the Rattlers in the top of the seventh inning for his second rehabilitation appearance of the series.  Spencer Nivens hit a lead-off home run, his eighteenth homer of the season.  Jac Caglianone was next, and he tripled.  Paredes stranded Caglianone at third with a pair of strikeouts and a popup.  In the eighth, Paredes struck out the side on ten pitches.

In the bottom of the ninth, Wisconsin had runners at the corners with no outs after a walk to Ram?n Rodríguez and a single by Pérez.  Eduarqui Fernandez got the run home, but it was on a 5-4-3 double play.  The next batter was retired for the final out.

Quad Cities maintains their two-game lead over the Peoria Chiefs in the race for the second half West Division playoff spot.  The Chiefs won 8-4 at Beloit on Saturday night.  There are seven games remaining in the regular season.

The Timber Rattlers have lost four in a row and will try to avoid their first five-game losing streak on Sunday in the series finale.  Alexander Cornielle (6-5, 4.30) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Rattlers.  Oscar Rayo (5-0, 2.14) is set to start for the Bandits.  Game time is 1:10pm CDT.

Two Kewaunee County volleyball teams posted great starts to their season in tournament play.

The Luxemburg-Casco volleyball team opened their 2024 campaign in impressive fashion by going 7-0 on the weekend and sweeping Bay Port in the championship to win the Beast of the Northeast Tournament in Appleton.

After losing their first match of the tournament, the Algoma volleyball bounced back to win their final two at the Reedsville Invite this weekend.

The Sturgeon Bay Clippers soccer team fought a tough Division 1 team Saturday morning but ultimately fell to Kenosha Tremper 3-0.

The Clippers ended up breaking even at their quadrangular at The Prairie School. They split their two games after beating The Prairie School 4-1 on Friday and posted aggregate of 0 on the weekend.

Picture courtesy of Clipper Soccer

North meets south for the Door County League baseball playoff crown on Sunday when Sister Bay welcomes Kolberg.

The Kolberg Braves ensured a second title game appearance in three years and a rubber match with its northern Door rivals thanks to its 6-3 win over Maplewood on last Sunday. Austen Rohe led the way with two of the nine Braves' hits, driving in a run along the way. Nick LeCaptain also had an RBI. Jake Schneider earned the win, allowing three runs (3 ER) on three hits across five innings, with Trevor Reinhardt pitching three innings of scoreless relief and Charlie Neinas nailing things down.

Sister Bay punched their ticket to the DCL Playoff Championship on Sunday afternoon 7-2 over the Washington Island Islanders. Sam Forkert pitched 7 innings in the semi-final contest. He gave up five hits and one run. Matt Hecht pitched the final two innings in relief giving up four hits and one run for Sister Bay. Stew Larsen led the Bays with two runs batted in. Laughlin, Krause, Cole, and Weddig also each batted in one run.

Tim Kowols and Henry Annen will have the call on Sunday on 105.1 The GOAT, 1051TheGOAT.com, and NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com beginning at 1:15 p.m. with the pregame show followed by the first pitch at 1:30 p.m.

The Sturgeon Bay Clippers dropped a 27-20 decision to the Antigo Red Robins at home on U102.1 where all the scoring came in the second half.

The Luxemburg-Casco Spartans battled but could not overcome turnovers in dropping a 31-20 decision to the Xavier Hawks on 104,1 WRLU. 

While the gridiron hit a fever pitch across the state, some of the area's soccer teams took to the pitch for their own Friday night lights.

Sturgeon Bay picked up a rare win against one of its rivals on Friday night, toppling The Prairie School on the road 4-1. The Clippers close their weekend with a 10 a.m. match against Kenosha Tremper.

The Luxemburg-Casco soccer team dropped their second match of the week on Friday, falling to Seymour 3-1.

The course will be a lot more crowded this time around for the Luxemburg-Casco golf team when they visit Hilly Haven Golf Course in De Pere on Friday.

Ashwaubenon, Bay Port, Bonduel, De Pere, Denmark, Freedom, Green Bay Preble, Kiel, Marinette, Notre Dame Academy, Oconto, Pulaski, Seymour, Shawano Community, Sheboygan North, Waupaca, West De Pere, Wrightstown, and Xavier are all scheduled to appear when the first golfers head out at 9 a.m. 

In their round earlier this week, Luxemburg-Casco shot a 225 to take third in its triangular meet against Freedom and Fox Valley Lutheran at Irish Waters Golf Course in Freedom. Morgan DeJardin was the top golfer for the Spartans with a score of 54. 

The area's football teams hope to have a better night on Friday than they did on Thursday as the season hits full throttle this week.

Sevastopol's Logan Schuh piled up nearly 300 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns in Sevastopol's 60-6 win over Wild Rose Thursday night.

It was a rude welcome to high school football for many of the Gibraltar Vikings players as they lost to Almond-Bancroft on the road 52-0 Thursday night.

The Algoma Wolves fought until the bitter end, but ultimately fell to Oneida Nation/NEW Lutheran 36-28 in triple overtime.

In other Thursday night action, Southern Door lost to Brillion 28-12 while Kewaunee fell to Negaunee (MI) 28-7.

The NEW Radio Sports Network will present the two other local games of note that will take place on Friday night.

The Luxemburg-Casco Spartans hope some home cooking will help them bounce back this Friday as they take on the Xavier Hawks in non-conference football. The pregame is set for 6:45 p.m. on 104.1 WRLU, and kick-off is set for 7 p.m. from the Luxemburg-Casco Sports Complex. The game will also be streamed on New Radio Sports Network with Paul Schmitt and Eric Fischer on the call.

The Sturgeon Bay Clippers hope that home-field advantage will cure the ailments of week one. After falling on the road in week one, a matchup with the 1-0 Antigo Red Robins awaits under the Friday Night Lights. Jacob Nate and Brogan Ray will host the call on U102.1 and NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com, beginning with a 6:45 p.m. pregame show and ending with a 7:00 p.m. kickoff.

Door County's soccer teams entered Labor Day weekend with impressive wins on Thursday. 

The Sturgeon Bay Clippers soccer team took their frustrations out on Peshtigo after a loss to Kiel earlier this week in an 11-0 victory Thursday night. The Clippers will face stiffer competition this weekend when they head to The Prairie School for a pair of games. They will play Prairie School tonight (Friday) at 7 p.m. before closing the weekend with Tremper on Saturday at 10 a.m.

The Gibraltar/Sevastopol United boys varsity soccer team continued their winning ways in a home contest on Thursday, August 29, defeating the Providence Academy Paladins 5-1 in Fish Creek.

Owen McGreevy proved to be too much for the Luxemburg-Casco soccer team as he led Xavier past the Spartans 5-0 on Thursday.

The Luxemburg-Casco cross-country teams found themselves at the top of the podium of Thursday's Chief Kahquados Invitational hosted by Gibraltar.

The girls won their division with a score of 32 thanks to an individual title by Claire DuChateau with a 5K time of 20:16. The boys had a little more drama with their win over Mauston. Kyan Lynts led the team with a second-place finish and a 5K time of 17:25, but it was Zach Tassoul's time of 19:32 that was used the tiebreaker to earn the victory.

Algoma's Sierra Slaby, Sturgeon Bay's Delaney Skiba, and Gibraltar's Emilie Glocke led their individual teams in the girls' race, while Algoma's Alex Kirchman, Gibraltar's Graham Devoe, and Sturgeon Bay's Luke Selle did so for the boys.

Full Results can be found here

BOYS

1. Luxemburg-Casco 28

2. Mauston 28

3. Denmark 85

4. Oconto 98

5. Reedsville 138

6. Hilbert 185

7. Sturgeon Bay 203

Gibraltar and Algoma had incomplete teams

GIRLS

1. Luxemburg-Casco 32

2. Denmark 81

3. Sturgeon Bay 89

4. Algoma 109

5. Mauston 110

6. Oconto 117

7. Gibraltar 168

Picture courtesy of Luxemburg-Casco Cross Country

The area's volleyball teams are sprinting through their first full week of competition with tournaments stretching into the weekend.

Luxemburg-Casco and Sturgeon Bay find themselves at the  Community First Champion Center in Appleton with chances to play Altoona, Appleton East, Aquinas, Bay Port, DC Everest, Fox Valley Lutheran, Freedom, Grafton, Green Bay Southwest, Holmen, Houghton, Kaukauna, Kewaskum, Kingsford, Little Chute, Mosinee, New Berlin West, Newman Catholic, Notre Dame Academy, Oconto, Oconto Falls, Pulaski, Randolph, Ripon, Seymour, Sheboygan Falls, St. Mary's Springs Academy, Waupaca, West De Pere, and West Salem with action beginning at 8 a.m. both days.

Sevastopol makes its way to the Dells this weekend to potentially play Rhinelander, Wausau West, Stevens Point Area Senior High School, Oshkosh North, Antigo, Lodi, Wisconsin Dells, Cashton, Amherst, Auburndale, Bruce, Clintonville, Fall River, Pembine, Milwaukee School Of Languages, Peshtigo, Riverdale, Royall, Sheboygan North, Wittenberg-Birnamwood, Marshall, and Rio Community beginning at 8 a.m. Matches will also take place on Saturday.

Algoma travels to Reedsville for their tournament beginning at 8:30 a.m. where they could face Marshfield, Kiel, Mishicot, Roncalli, Two Rivers, and Winnebago Lutheran Academy. 

Gibraltar leaves town to head to Central Wisconsin Christian for 1 p.m. first serve against the likes of Living Word Lutheran, Catholic Central, Valley Christian, Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, Hustisford, Lourdes Academy, Parkview, Sheboygan Lutheran, Sheboygan Christian, and Deerfield.This tournament also stretches into Saturday. 

Justin Johnson’s grand slam home run was all the Quad Cities River Bandits needed to beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-2 on Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field.  The slam was the eighth of the season for the River Bandits. 

The River Bandits (61-61 overall, 31-26 second half) opened the scoring in the second inning.  Wisconsin starting pitcher Tyler Wehrle, making his first start since May 14, 2023, had pitched out of trouble in the first after allowing a walk and a single to start the game.  In the second, Wehrle got the first out before Quad Cities loaded the bases on an infield single, another single, and an error on a potential inning-ending double play.  Then, Johnson unloaded the bases with a home run to the scoreboard for a 4-0 lead.  This was the fourth bases-loaded homer for the River Bandits against the Timber Rattlers this season.

Wisconsin (74-46, 32-24) rallied for a run in the bottom of the third against Bandits starter Ethan Bosacker.  Eduarqui Fernandez singled and stole second with one out.  Luis Lara followed with a single to left to score Fernandez.

In the fourth, Hedbert Pérez lined a double high off the wall in left-center with two outs to score Ram?n Rodríguez from first base.  Dustin Dickerson denied the Jheremy Vargas an RBI moments later when the Bandits shortstop made a diving catch in shallow left to end the inning.

Bosacker ran into a jam in the fifth inning as Fernandez singled and stole second again.  Matt Wood drew a walk with two outs to bring the lead run to the plate.  A grounder to first ended the inning and Bosacker’s evening.  He allowed two runs on five hits over five innings to put himself in line for his seventh consecutive win.

Rodríguez singled to start the bottom of the sixth against Quad Cities reliever Nate Ackenhausen to bring the tying run to the plate.  However, the River Bandits bullpen went into shutdown mode.  Ackenhausen retired the next six batters he faced and turned the 4-2 lead over to Chazz Martinez, who closed out the game with a perfect eighth and a perfect ninth for his second save of the season.

Wehrle struck out five and allowed four runs – three earned – on five hits over 4-2/3 innings to be charged with the loss.

Wisconsin’s bullpen also pitched scoreless baseball with a pair of pitches making their Midwest League debut by combining for 4-1/3 shutout innings.  Brailin Rodriguez took over for Wehrle with two outs in the fifth and struck out three while allowing one hit and one walk over 2-1/3 frames.  Dikember Sanchez gave up two hits in two innings but faced the minimum thanks to a pair of 6-4-3 double plays.

Quad Cities is starting to solidify their playoff position for the right to face the Timber Rattlers in the first round of the Midwest League playoffs.  The Peoria Chiefs lost to the Beloit Sky Carp on Thursday night.  That result moved the River Bandits lead to two games on the Chiefs.  The River Bandits have the tie-breaker on the Chiefs due to winning the season series.  Beloit and the Cedar Rapids Kernels remained four games behind the River Bandits with nine games remaining in the regular season.

Game four of the series is Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field.  Ryan Birchard (0-0, 5.14) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  The River Bandits have named Frank Mozzicato (5-10, 3.75) as their starting pitcher.  Game time is 6:40pm.

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had opportunities for a memorable comeback against the Quad Cities River Bandits on Wednesday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field.  Each time the Rattlers made the situation sticky, the Bandits wiggled through with minimal or no damage.  Quad Cities took an early lead and carried it all the way to the last out for a 3-1 victory, a crucial win for them in their push for the playoffs.

The River Bandits (60-61 overall, 30-26 second half) scored twice in the top of the third.  Jac Caglianone stepped up with runners at the corners and one out.  His high pop down the left field line landed just fair for a double to score the first run of the game.  Trevor Werner made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly later in the inning.

The Timber Rattlers (74-47, 32-23) cut into the deficit in the bottom of the fifth inning but left themselves wondering what could have been. Jesus Chirinos and Hedbert Pérez singled to start the inning against reliever Ben Hernandez.  The next batter grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to move Chirinos to third base.  Felix Valerio singled to center to drive in Chirinos.  He would also steal second before Hernandez got the final out of the inning to keep Quad Cities up 2-1.

The first two Bandits hitters reached in the top of the fifth against Wisconsin starting pitcher Stiven Cruz.  Reliever Yerlin Rodriguez took over and kept the score where it was at with a pair of strikeouts and a flyout to center.

However, Rodriguez was not as fortunate in the top of the sixth.  He hit the lead-off batter and threw a wild pitch to move an insurance run into scoring position.  Dustin Dickerson singled to cash in that insurance run for a 3-1 advantage.

Wisconsin threatened with a lead-off single by Luis Lara in the sixth and a lead-off double by Chirinos in the seventh.  Both were left stranded.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Rattlers put together one more opportunity.  Lara walked with one out and Eduardo Garcia singled to put the tying runs aboard versus reliever Andrew Morones and Jadher Areinamo coming to the plate.  Areinamo worked the count full.  Then, he hit a sharp grounder to short that was converted into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Ben Sears pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth to close out the Rattlers and pick up his thirteenth save of the season.

Both teams have won a game in this six-game series.

Quad Cities is now briefly 1-1/2 games clear of the Peoria Chiefs for the second half West Division playoff spot.  Peoria is at Beloit later tonight.  The River Bandits have ten games remaining in the second half.

Game three of the series is Thursday night.  Tyler Wehrle (2-2, 4.32) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  The River Bandits have named Ethan Bosacker (6-1, 1.56) as their starter.  Game time is 6:40pm CDT.

The area's volleyball teams continue to hit the tournament circuit before the school year begins.

Many of the area teams began their season with tournaments on Tuesday. Here are the limited results we have from those matchups

• Algoma loses 2-0 to Shiocton
• Gibraltar loses 2-0 to Mercer, 2-1 to Florence
• Sevastopol wins 3-0 over Gillett
• Sturgeon Bay loses 2-0 to Iola-Scandinavia, wins 2-1 over Almond-Bancroft, loses 2-0 to Marathon, beats Rosholt 2-1

Southern Door is scheduled to play against Berlin, Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran, Green Bay East, Menasha, New London, Plymouth, and Shiocton on Thursday at Green Bay East beginning at 3 p.m.

Several area teams, including all three eight-player squads, will kick off their Labor Day weekend early with games on Thursday night.

The new-look Gibraltar Vikings will take the field for the first time Thursday night when they travel to Almond-Bancroft to take on the Eagles. Tim Kowols will have the call from Almond-Bancroft on 105.1 The GOAT beginning at 6:15 p.m. with the pregame show followed by the kickoff at 6:30 p.m. You can also tune in online at NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com and 1051TheGOAT.com.

Other football action includes Kewaunee visiting Negaunee, MI for a 6 p.m. kickoff and Algoma traveling to face Oneida Nation/NEW Lutheran, Sevastopol hosting Wild Rose, and Southern Door playing at home against Brillion at 7 p.m.. 

After Sevastopol kicked off the season on Wednesday, many other area cross-country teams will travel to Fish Creek to get their years going on Thursday.

The Sevastopol Pioneers cross-country teams started their season with a rare Wednesday meet hosted by Freedom. Jarius Dadam paced the Pioneers boys with a time of 21:28, while Naomi Rikkola did the same for the girls with a time of 23:11. The girls took eighth with a score of 173, while the boys did not have enough runners to qualify as a team. 

Tradition returns to Gibraltar Area Schools on Thursday, hosting the annual Chief Kahquados Invitational. Algoma, Crivitz, Denmark, Gibraltar, Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran, Hilbert, Kewaunee Valders, Mauston, Oconto, Providence Academy (Green Bay), Reedsville, Roncalli, Sevastopol, Sturgeon Bay, and Wausaukee will join the Vikings on the course that also traverses a small portion of Peninsula State Park. 

Below is the timing of the high school races with the community run taking place before.

3:00 pm Girls Varsity

3:40 pm Boys Varsity

4:20 pm Boys & Girls JV

5:20 pm Awards

After dodging raindrops on Tuesday, several soccer teams will head back to the pitch for matches on Thursday.

Matches include Luxemburg-Casco visiting Xavier (6:30 p.m.), Gibraltar/Sevastopol hosting Providence Academy (6:30 p.m.), and Kewaunee hosting NEW Lutheran (4:30 p.m.).

Sturgeon Bay will hold off until Friday and Saturday when they travel south to play in The Prairie quadrangular. 

The Door County United swim team will stick around for their conference relays meet on Thursday.

Clintonville, Marinette, New London, Seymour, Shawano Community, and Wittenberg-Birnamwood will make the trip to the Sturgeon Bay YMCA to face the United squad when the meet starts at 5 p.m.

In their last action, the United competed in the Marinette Pentathlon for their first conference matchup of the 2024 season. Each swimmer competed in the same five events, and scoring was completed according to grade level. The team continued their success from last season with high placements within each grade. For freshmen, Megan Quaderer (SBHS) tied for third, and Amelia Michalski (SBHS) finished sixth. Sophomore Shaeffer Rass (SEV) finished second overall. Kailyn Neville (SDHS)  and Chloe Bissen (SBHS) finished fourth and fifth overall for juniors. Julia Michalski (SBHS) finished first overall for the seniors, followed closely by Caitlyn Hasenjager (SBHS), who finished second.

The area's golf teams will have the weekend off after competing on Tuesday.

In Freedom, Luxemburg-Casco shot a 225 to take third in its triangular meet against Freedom and Fox Valley Lutheran at Irish Waters Golf Course. Morgan DeJardin was the top golfer for the Spartans with a score of 54. 

The Sturgeon Bay golf team got to stay close to home on Tuesday with a home meet at Cherry Hills Golf Course against its Bay Conference foes. With a score of 262, the Clippers took sixth out of seven qualified teams. Junior Keira Wesley continues her string of strong performances to start the season, leading the Clippers with a score of 55.

One local team will compete in a Cross-Country competition in Freedom on Wednesday. The Sevastopol Boys and Girls will be at the Irish Waters Golf Course for a multi-school meet starting at 8:30 a.m.

The rare Wednesday sporting event for high schools comes a week before school is in session for most schools. 

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers used a pair of two-out walks to spark a five-run rally in the bottom of the third inning and added five more runs in the fourth to cruise to a 10-4 victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits Tuesday night at Neuroscience Group Field.  Jesus Chirinos drove in four runs and Ram?n Rodríguez added three RBI for the Rattlers.

Quad Cities (59-61 overall, 29-26 second half) went with a red-hot pitcher in Ryan Ramsey as their starting pitcher.  Ramsey was 4-0 and had not allowed a run in 22 innings over his last four starts heading into Tuesday’s game.  He started out by retiring the first eight batters he faced in the game.  Then, he walked Eduarqui Fernandez and Jadher Areinamo to put two runners on base in the bottom of the third.

Eduardo Garcia gave Wisconsin (74-46, 32-22) the lead when he laced a double to center on a 1-2 pitch.  Both Fernandez and Areinamo scored for the 2-0 lead.  Wisconsin was just getting started.

Luis Lara singled on the next pitch to get Garcia home.  Lara would steal second and score on a single by Chirinos.  Rodríguez blooped a double to right to put runners on second and third.  Hedbert Pérez singled to knock in Chirinos for a 5-0 lead and an end to Ramsey’s night.

Alexander Cornielle, the Wisconsin starting pitcher, gave up a double and a single to open the top of the fourth before getting the first two outs on strikeouts.  He was up 1-2 on Dustin Dickerson, but a double by Dickerson knocked in a run for the Bandits.  Cornielle walked the next batter to load the bases before he got the final out of the inning.  He threw 34 pitches in the fourth and 76 for the game to end his evening.

Wisconsin got back to work in the top of the fourth against AJ Block.  Areinamo reached on an error, Garcia was hit by a pitch, and Lara reached on a fielder’s choice when Garcia beat the flip to second on a potential force play to load the bases.  Chirinos unloaded the bases with a double to right for an 8-1 lead.  Rodríguez was next and he lined a home run to left, his ninth of the season, to put the Rattlers up 10-1.

Mark Manfredi relieved Cornielle to start the top of the fifth and he walked the first two batters on eight pitches.  An error loaded the bases for the River Bandits.  Trevor Werner had a sacrifice fly that was deep enough to score the runner from third and move the runner from second to third.  Carson Roccaforte drove in the second run of the inning with a force play at second.

Manfredi would pitch a scoreless sixth with a pair of strikeouts.  Enoli Paredes, who joined the Rattlers on for a second rehab stint at Neuroscience Group Field earlier in the day, pitched around a one-out double in the seventh and retired the first two batters in the eighth.  Paredes issued a four-pitch walk with two outs in the eighth and that was the end of his night.

Aaron Rund, the fourth Wisconsin pitcher in the game, allowed an RBI double to Omar Hernandez to let the inherited runner score.  Rund would get the final out of the eighth and close out the game with a scoreless ninth.

The River Bandits, who currently hold the West Division’s second half playoff spot, stayed one game in front of the Peoria Chiefs.  Peoria lost at Beloit on Tuesday night. 

The series continues Wednesday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field.  Stiven Cruz (2-2, 3.81) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  The River Bandits have announced Henry Williams (5-4, 3.95) as their starting pitcher.  Game time is 12:10pm CDT.

The Milwaukee Brewers could not hold on to a late lead Tuesday night and fell to the San Francisco Giants 5-4 at American Family Field.

The Brewers let leads of 2-1 and 4-3 slip away as the used the long ball to overtake the Crew.

Mike Yastrzemski’s two-run homer in the top of the seventh off Brewer reliever Joel Payamps was the decisive blow in the Giant’s win

Tobias Myers started for Milwaukee and went five innings allowing three hits and three runs while walking one and striking out four.  Payamps (3-6) took the loss allowing two runs and two hits in 2/3 of an inning.

The Brewers opened their scoring on a majestic two-run home run by rookie Jackson Chourio in the second inning that hit the scoreboard.

Willy Adames crushed a two-run homer in the sixth inning to give the Brewers a brief 4-3 lead as the Brewers left 11 men on base and were only one for seven with runners in scoring position all night.

Milwaukee (75-56) and San Francisco (67-66) will return to action Wednesday night with Freddy Peralta (8-7) taking the mound for the Brewers and Kyle Harrison (7-5) going for the Giants.  Game time is set for 7:10 p.m. in Milwaukee.  

With the regular season complete and stats tallied, the Door County Baseball League has announced its 2024 Awards.  The top batter was identified using statistics from the DCBL statistician, Chad Michaels.  With a batting average of .431, Sister Bay’s Spencer Krause captured the Batting Championship award. It was down to the wire with stats from the last regular season game pushing Braves Trevor Reinhardt’s .429 down to second.  Elvis Torres, Baileys Harbor, earned third for the season with a .404.

In addition, the DCBL Managers voted Jeramiah Janke, Maplewood Mets, as Pitcher of the Year.  Jahnke finished with 101 strikeouts and allowed 32 runs in 80 innings during the regular season. 

Congratulations to Kevin Brauer, Maplewood Mets, who has been chosen Manager of the Year. Brauer coached Pitcher of the Year and pulled his team into third place for the season. He continues to share his players' successes with the media and efficiently coordinates all the aspects of managing a DLC team.

Sunday’s post-season championship playoff game will be at the Sister Bay Sports Complex, with the Sister Bay Bays hosting the Kolberg Braves. An awards presentation will be held after the game.

Several Packerland Conference schools will get their volleyball season underway on Tuesday with tournament action after playing in scrimmages over the weekend.

Sevastopol will visit Gillett for a quad meet featuring Stockbridge and White Lake. Matches begin at 4:30 p.m. 

Sturgeon Bay will set up its residency at the Justagame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells for a tournament beginning at 8 a.m. No other participating schools were listed.

Gibraltar will travel to Crivitz for its tournament against Coleman, Florence, Pembine, Laona-Wabeno, Marinette, MercerNiagara, and the host school when the first serve takes place at 9 a.m.

Algoma joins Suring in Shiocton for a triangular meet that begins at 5 a.m.

It will be two rounds in two days when the Sturgeon Bay girls' golf team welcomes Bay Conference teams to Cherry Hills Golf Course in Sturgeon Bay on Tuesday.

The Clippers took seventh out of eight teams at Monday's conference meet hosted at Golden Sands Golf Course in Cecil with a score of 227. The Clippers' Keira Wesley led the way for the team with a score of 51, 11 strokes behind meet winner Sophia Eggert of Shawano.  The top 11 golfers all shot sub-50 on the day. Sayde Jeanquart (55) and Hayden Montevideo broke 60 strokes with Tiviana Andropolis (62), and Merrill Kelsey (66) also completing the course. Seymour won the meet with a score of 177.

The Clippers will welcome the same teams to their home course on Tuesday with a tee time of 10 a.m. 

In other golf action, Luxemburg-Casco will head to Irish Waters Golf Course in Freedom to face Fox Valley Lutheran and Freedom at 10 a.m.

The area's soccer teams will get their first taste of competition on Tuesday when the regular season begins.

Sturgeon Bay will look to keep their era of dominance going beginning on Tuesday when they travel to Kiel for their first match of the season. Other fixtures scheduled for Tuesday include Gibraltar/Sevastopol traveling to New Holstein, Algoma heading to Roncalli, and Luxemburg-Casco hosting Kewaunee.

The roster has to be trimmed by 3 p.m. Tuesday, and the Green Bay Packers may have sent out a signal about what could come.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Packers traded a 2025 seventh-round draft pick for Tennessee Titans quarterback Malik Willis. With starter Will Levis and backup Mason Rudolph ahead of him, the Titans thought the former Auburn and Liberty quarterback and third-round draft pick was expendable. He will likely be Jordan Love's backup after 2023 draft pick Sean Clifford and 2024 draft pick Michael Pratt underwhelmed coaches during the preseason. 

The league's top two teams during the regular season will have a final say next Sunday after Sister Bay and Kolberg won their respective Door County League playoff games on Sunday.

Sister Bay punched their ticket to the DCL Playoff Championship on Sunday afternoon 7-2 over the Washington Island Islanders.

The Kolberg Braves ensured a second title game appearance in three years and a rubber match with its northern Door rivals thanks to its 6-3 win over Maplewood on Sunday.

The Sturgeon Bay girls' golf team will waste no time getting their week started as they prepare for a fourth Bay Conference golf meet on Monday.

In their last action, Sturgeon Bay junior Keira Wesley paced the Clippers once again in girls' golf action as the Bay Conference met for the second time this week. Wesley's nine-hole score of 52 was good for a top-15 performance, with all golfers chasing Shawano's Sophia Eggert (43) and Xavier's Caroline Vanden Heuvel (43) for the top of the leaderboard. The Clippers finished sixth out of seven qualified teams and eight overall with a score of 244. Shawano and Seymour tied for first with a score of 190.

All of the same teams will compete at Golden Sands Golf Course in Cecil beginning at 10 a.m.

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers earned the split in their six-game series against the Great Lakes Loons at Dow Diamond with a 5-2 win on Sunday afternoon in the series finale.  Hedbert Pérez had two hits, including a solo homer, Jadher Areinamo had three hits, and Felix Valerio added two hits with an RBI to lead Wisconsin’s ten-hit attack.

The Rattlers (73-46 overall, 31-22 second half) took the lead in the first inning with an unearned run.  Areinamo and Eduardo Garcia started the game with singles on the first two pitches from Loons starter Christian Romero.  Matt Wood’s fly ball to right moved Areinamo to third base.  Then, Garcia stole second with Jesus Chirinos at the plate and drew a throw.  Garcia was safe with Areinamo taking a short lead from third but not heading for home.  That changed when second baseman Jordan Thompson threw wildly to third to catch Areinamo.  The ball went to the fence in front of the Wisconsin dugout and Areinamo trotted home with the first run of the game.

Back-to-back singles by Wood and Chirinos to open the fourth inning set up the Rattlers second run.  Pérez moved both runners over with a slow grounder to first.  Ram?n Rodríguez was robbed of a single on a ground ball up the middle on a nice play from Jordan Thompson, but the 4-3 putout was enough to score Wood for the 2-0 lead.

Great Lakes (62-56, 28-24) got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out rally.  San McLain singled on a 3-2 pitch after Rattlers starting pitcher Will Rudy retired the first two batters of the inning.  Thompson made up for his first-inning error with a double off the wall in center to score McLain.

The Rattlers responded with a run in the top of the fourth.  Eduarqui Fernandez drew a walk.  Felix Valerio was next, and he doubled to the corner in left to score Fernandez.

Hedbert Pérez added to the Wisconsin lead with a long solo homer to right field off Romero.  Pérez had also homered off Romero in the sixth inning on Tuesday night in game one of the series.  This one put the Rattlers up 4-1.

Rudy worked four innings with four strikeouts and only allowed one run.  Jeferson Figueroa tossed three scoreless innings out of the Wisconsin bullpen to hold the Loons in check.

Wisconsin added one more run when Areinamo grounded into a 6-4-3 double play in the top of the ninth inning with runners on the corners.

Tyler Bryant, the third Wisconsin pitcher of the game, had pitched a perfect eighth inning, but Nick Biddison started the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer.  The Loons would have runners at the corners with two outs after a pair of singles to bring Sam Mongelli to the plate as the tying run.  Mongelli, who delivered a walkoff, RBI double in the bottom of the twelfth inning on Wednesday, sent a grounder to short and Garcia flipped to Areinamo covering second for the game-ending force out.

Bryant earned his third save of the season despite allowing his first run in 10-2/3 innings as a Rattler.
 

Wisconsin is off on Monday.  They will return to action on Tuesday night with game one of a six-game series against the Quad Cities River Bandits at Neuroscience Group Field.  Alexander Cornielle (6-5, 4.39) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  The River Bandits have announced Ryan Ramsey (5-3, 2.13) as their probable starter.  Game time is 6:40pm.

The Green Bay Packers ended their preseason with a 30-7 win over the Baltimore Ravens Saturday afternoon.

The Packers opened the game with two field goals before the Ravens found the end zone in the second quarter to make it 7-6. The Packers took control from there when Michael Pratt found Bo Melton for a touchdown before Anthony Johnson went the distance on a scoop and score to make it 20-7 at halftime.

Sean Clifford would match his teammate with his own touchdown pass to Malik Heath before Greg Joseph kicked his second field goal of the day to cap the scoring.

The Packers will now have two weeks before they head to Brazil to face the Philadelphia Eagles.

A rematch of last year's title game will be hosted one round earlier this time around when Sister Bay and Washington Island meet in the Door County League playoff semifinals on Sunday afternoon.

Both teams needed one extra game to settle their seeds last weekend. A pair of errors allowed Washington Island to score the game-tying and eventual game-winning runs of a 4-3 victory over Egg Harbor while a three-run rally in the seventh inning led Sister Bay past their southern rivals to win 5-3 against Kolberg to win the regular-season Door County League championship.

The Bays swept the season series from the Islanders with a pair of lopsided victories, winning 17-3 in the May season opener and 4-1 in June. The winner of Sunday's game will go onto face either Kolberg or Maplewood in the playoff championship next Sunday. The Mets play the Braves in Kolberg at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Eric Fischer and Henry Annen will have the call from Sister Bay on 105.1 The GOAT, NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com, and 1051TheGOAT.com beginning at 1:15 p.m. with the first pitch at 1:30 p.m.

The high school football season got underway Friday night with local teams posting mixed results.

The Sturgeon Bay Clippers ran out of gas in the second half, but the Waupun Warriors powered through to win 32-22 Friday night.

Kewaunee cruised past Racine Lutheran 34-14. 

Southern Door was edged by Oostburg 11-8.

Luxemburg-Casco fell on the road to Seymour 20-14.

The Door County United swim team will hit the pool for the first time this season against competition on Saturday when they travel to Marinette.

The United and Marines will be joined for the pentathlon meet by Wittenberg-Birnamwood, Shawano Community, Seymour, New London, and Clintonville. 

The first events begin at 9 a.m.

 The Green Bay Packers will have a clearer picture of who's in and who's out after Saturday's noon game against the Baltimore Ravens.

The two teams scrimmaged against each other on Thursday as part of the Packers' final public practice of training camp. They worked out separately on Friday. The Packers and Ravens have split their preseason matchups so far this year.

There is a new face in the organization after the Packers signed DL Keonte Schad on Thursday. According to Packers.com, Schad (6-2, 284) is a first-year player out of Oregon State, who played for the New Orleans Breakers of the USFL in 2023, finishing No. 2 in the league with 7.5 sacks. In 2024, he played in the UFL for the Houston Roughnecks, posting 19 tackles (seven solo), a tackle for a loss, and a half-sack.

The area's volleyball teams will get their first taste of competition ahead of the regular season with scrimmages on Saturday.

Luxemburg-Casco will head to Appleton North to face the likes of Appleton North, Howards Grove, and River Falls beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Kewaunee will join Chilton in Denmark for scrimmages at 9 a.m.

Southern Door, Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran and Omro will scrimmage alongside Green Bay East in Green Bay beginning at 9 a.m.

Algoma, Kohler, and Sevastopol will travel to Shawano for their 9 a.m. scrimmages.

The 11-man football season gets underway in earnest Friday night with all four local teams in action, including two games that will be featured on the NEW Radio Sports Network.

There will be plenty of new faces on the sideline for the Sturgeon Bay Clippers when they take on the Waupun Warriors on Friday night. Jacob Nate and Tim Kowols have the call on U-102.1 and NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com beginning at 6:45 p.m. with the pregame show followed by the kickoff at 7 p.m.

After an incredible state run last year in Division 4 football, the Luxemburg-Casco Spartans will open the 2024 campaign on the road in Seymour to take on the Thunder in non-conference action Friday night. The game will kick off from Seymour High School  at 7 p.m. Friday with the pregame show starting at 7:15 p.m. with Paul Schmitt on 104.1 WRLU and streamed NewRadioSportsNetwork.com.

Other games include Kewaunee hosting Racine Lutheran and Southern Door traveling to Oostburg for 7 p.m. kickoffs.

The area's eight-man football teams (Algoma, Gibraltar, and Sevastopol) will scrimmage against each other this morning at Sevastopol. 

Sturgeon Bay junior Keira Wesley paced the Clippers once again in girls' golf action as the Bay Conference met for the second time this week.

Wesley's nine-hole score of 52 was good for a top-15 performance, with all golfers chasing Shawano's Sophia Eggert (43) and Xavier's Caroline Vanden Heuvel (43) for the top of the leaderboard. The Clippers finished sixth out of seven qualified teams and eight overall with a score of 244. Shawano and Seymour tied for first with a score of 190.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Keira Wesley (JR) 52

Tiviana Andropolis (SR) 61

Sayde Jeanquart (SR) 62

Merrill Kelsey (SR) 69

Hayden Montevideo (SO) 72

You can experience a portion of Gibraltar's cross country course for yourself next Thursday when the school hosts its Chief Kahquados Invitational.

The community open race returns for its second year in a row after Jacob Thiry won the inaugural running with a time of 12:06 for 2.1 miles. Megan Wuaderer won the female division at 14:20. The race is free to participate in, but you can donate money to support the Gibraltar cross-country team. Registration begins at 1 p.m., and the race starts at 2 p.m.

You can find more details below.

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had another frustrating night at the plate with runners in scoring position heading into Tayden Hall’s at bat in the top of the ninth inning.  One night after Wisconsin had gone 3-for-24 in a twelve-inning loss to the Great Lake Loons at Dow Diamond, the Rattlers were down 4-3 with one out in the ninth and had gone 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position.  Hall came through with a huge hit off the Great Lakes closer to score runners from second and third to send the Rattlers to a 5-4 victory.

Jesus Chirinos doubled in the top of the second inning to drive in two runs and give the Rattlers (71-45 overall, 29-21 second half) a 2-0 lead.  Chirinos scored later in the inning on a balk by Loons starting pitcher Peter Hubeck.
 

Great Lakes (61-54, 27-22) scored twice in the bottom of the third inning.  They loaded the bases on a double and back-to-back hit batsmen by Wisconsin starting pitcher Josh Timmerman.  Dylan Campbell grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to allow the first run to score.  Timmerman, who was making his Midwest League debut, walked the next batter to extend the inning and put runners on the corners.  Kyle Nevin followed with an RBI single to score the runner from third and cut Wisconsin’s lead to one run.
 

Wisconsin had opportunities to add to their lead in the fourth and fifth innings as they loaded the bases with one out in each frame.  In the fourth, a 5-4-3 double play ended the threat.  In the fifth, a strikeout and a deep fly to right halted the rally.

The Loons made the Rattlers pay for those missed opportunities in their half of the fifth inning.  Timmerman retired the first batter and was ahead of Campbell with two quick strikes before issuing a walk.  Josue De Paula hit the next pitch over the wall in right for a two-run home run to put the Loons up 4-3.

In the seventh, Eduardo Garcia was hit by a pitch and stole second to get into scoring position with no outs.  He was left stranded at third when the inning ended after a ground out, a strikeout, and another grounder to run Wisconsin to 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position for the game at that point.

Wisconsin reliever Mark Manfredi escaped a jam in the bottom of the seventh after consecutive singles put Loons on the corners with no outs.  The lefty got a lineout, a strikeout, and a tapper back to the mound.  Manfredi allowed two hits and struck out two over 2-1/3 scoreless innings to keep the game close.

Jeisson Cabrera gave Wisconsin hope in the top of the eighth as he walked Tayden Hall to start the inning, Fernandez with one out, and Cooper Pratt with two outs.  Cabrera ran the count full on Eduardo Garcia before getting the strikeout to end the inning.

Aaron Rund, who took the loss on Tuesday by allowing two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning of a tie game with the Loons, got the bottom of the eighth on Thursday.  He retired the first two batters before giving up a double.  He ended the inning with a flyout to center to give the Wisconsin bats one more chance.

In the top of the ninth, Kelvin Ramirez, who earned the save on Tuesday for the Loons, was called into the game as the sixth pitcher of the night for Great Lakes.  He gave up an infield single to Jadher Areinamo and a walk to Matt Wood.  Felix Valerio replaced Wood as a pinch runner.

A passed ball by catcher Jesus Galiz allowed both runners to move into scoring position.  Ramirez got the first out of the inning on a popup.  That brought Hall to the plate.

Hall, who had doubled in the ninth inning against Ramirez on Tuesday night, ripped a hard grounder just off the glove of Nevin at first base.  The ball trickled into the outfield grass to allow both Areinamo and Valerio to score and Wisconsin had a 5-4 lead.

Rund retired the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth.  Then, things got interesting.  Campbell doubled to right.  The decision was made to walk De Paula and have Rund face Nevin. 

The decision paid off as Rund struck out Nevin on a 2-2 pitch to end the game and Wisconsin’s four-game losing streak.

Game four of the series is Friday night at Dow Diamond.  Stiven Cruz (1-2, 4.02) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Great Lakes has named Wyatt Crowell (0-0, 2.79) as their starter.  Game time is 6:05pm CDT.

The golf season is in full swing this week as Luxemburg-Casco and Sturgeon Bay keep trading days on area courses.

On Wednesday, the Luxemburg-Casco girls' golf team fell 15 strokes short of earning its first win of the season on Wednesday, losing to Wrightstown 213-228.

Sturgeon Bay returns to the links on Thursday after previously competing on Tuesday with a Bay Conference meet. Bonduel, Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran, Oconto, Seymour, West De Pere, Winneconne, and Xavier will join the Clippers at Shawano Lake Golf Course in Shawano beginning at 10 a.m.

Packers fans will not just see green and gold on the practice field when they show up at Ray Nitschke Field on Thursday.

The Baltimore Ravens will join the Green Bay Packers for an open joint practice in preparation for their noon kickoff on Saturday at Lambeau Field. Joint practices have become more commonplace, with the Packers hosting the Houston Texans, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, and New England Patriots in recent years.

Thursday's joint practice is also the final open practice of the year for the Green Bay Packers. Practice starts at 10:30 a.m.

A celebration a century in the making will take over the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall on Saturday when Luxemburg-Casco celebrates 100 years of wrestling.

According to its website, George Gregor ran the program from 1924 to 1949, producing one state champion along the way.  Frank Chalupa took the program's reins in 1950, compiling a 224-46-5 dual meet record thanks to coaching 68 state qualifiers, 16 state place winners, and two state champions. In 1974, Emil Kuhn only led the Spartans to even more success in his quarter century of coaching, leading the Spartans to a 318-55-2 dual meet record and Team State championships in 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1999.  Kuhn mentored 77 state qualifiers, 61 state place winners, and nine state champions under Kuhn.

The Team State dynasty picked up steam under Bob Berceau, who led the Spartans to titles in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2012, and 2013. Chas Treml took the torch from his old coach, guiding the Spartans to state championships in 2018, 2023, and 2024. The support the wrestling team gets year after year was not lost on Treml earlier this year after the Luxemburg-Casco wrestling team won its most recent state championship.

Food, beverages, live music, and other activities will be a part of the celebration, which will take place on August 24th from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds. 

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have lost four games in a row for the first time in 2024 after a 5-4, twelve-inning loss to the Great Lakes Loons at Dow Diamond on Wednesday night.  The nearly four-hour marathon ended as the Loons scored twice in the bottom of the twelfth inning to rally past the Rattlers.

Wisconsin (70-45 overall, 28-21 second half) took the early lead with a run in the third inning.  Eduarqui Fernandez walked, and Luis Lara doubled to put runners at second and third with one out.  Eduardo Garcia was hit by a pitch with two outs to load the bases.  Jadher Areinamo drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch from Loons starting pitcher Maddux Bruns to force in Fernandez for the 1-0 lead.

Great Lakes (61-53, 27-21) tied the game in the fourth inning.  Sam Mongelli hit a lead-off homer, his sixth home run of the season, to even the score.  That was the only run allowed by Wisconsin starting pitcher Alexander Cornielle.
 

Cooper Pratt responded in the top of the fifth with a one-out, solo home run and the Rattlers were back in the lead.  Pratt has hit three home runs since joining the Timber Rattlers.

Cornielle recorded his eleventh strikeout of the game for the second out in the bottom of the fifth inning.  However, he gave up a single to the next batter and left the game with 94 pitches under his belt.  Cornielle allowed four hits and walked three in the game.  His eleven strikeouts in the game are the most by a Timber Rattlers pitcher this season.
 

Bayden Root got a strikeout to end the fifth inning, and a strikeout for the final out of his scoreless sixth.

Chase Costello, who was just activated from the Wisconsin Injured List earlier in the day, entered the game in the bottom of the seventh.  Dylan Campbell tied the game with a lead-off homer to right.

The game remained tied through regulation and went to extra innings with neither team scoring in the tenth in very different ways.

The Rattlers got their placed runner to third on a grounder to the right side before a strikeout and a foul out ended the threat.  Jeferson Figueroa, the fifth Wisconsin pitcher of the night, faced two batters to keep the game tied.  Kyle Nevin, the Loons runner at second to start the bottom of the tenth, tried to advance on a pitch in the dirt on a strikeout of Jake Gelof only to be thrown out on a strong, accurate throw by catcher Ram?n Rodríguez.  Then, Figueroa struck out the final batter of the tenth.

In the Wisconsin eleventh, Fernandez put the Rattlers up 3-2 with a one-out, run-scoring double.

Figueroa walked the first two batters in the bottom of the eleventh to load the bases.   He got the first out on a force play at the plate and the second out on a strikeout, Wisconsin’s 23rd strikeout of the game.  That brought Campbell back to the plate and the count went quickly to 3-0.  Figueroa fought back with two strikes to get the count full.  A foul ball by Campbell extended the drama.  The final pitch of the sequence missed low, and Campbell didn’t offer at the pitch to draw the walk to force in the tying run.  The inning ended on the 24th and final strikeout of the game by Wisconsin pitchers.

Eduardo Garcia put Wisconsin back in front in the top of the twelfth inning with a lead-off, RBI double to scored Pratt from second base.  The hit by Garcia extended his hitting streak to seven games.  However, the Rattlers could not push Garcia across the plate with an insurance run and the Rattlers were 3-for-24 with runners in scoring position in the game.  They are 5-for-34 with runners in scoring position in the first two games of the series with the Loons.

Great Lakes had been 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position through the first eleven innings.  In the twelfth, they became 0-for-14 on a grounder by Nevin that moved the placed runner from second to third.  Gelof delivered the Loons first hit with a runner in scoring position with a single to center to drive in the tying run.  Mongelli ended the marathon nine minutes before the game hit the four-hour mark when he lined a double to the corner in left on a 2-2 pitch from Figueroa to score Gelof from first base for the 5-4 win.

The 22 strikeouts are most in an extra-innings game by a Timber Rattlers team since at least 2005.  The previous high post-2005 was twenty strikeouts by the Rattlers in a ten-inning game at home against the South Bend Cubs on May 22, 2022.

The Rattlers have lost seven straight games at Dow Diamond dating back to a trip here in the 2022 season.

Wisconsin is now 6-2 in extra-innings this season.  Wednesday was just their third walkoff loss in 2024.

Game three of the series is Thursday night at Dow Diamond.  Josh Timmerman is scheduled to make his Midwest League debut as the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  The Loons have named Peter Heubeck (2-5, 2.81) as their starter.  Game time is 6:05pm CDT.

The Milwaukee Brewers kept their winning ways going on the road Tuesday night as they edged the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 at Busch Stadium.

The Brewers took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning, thanks to outstanding pitching by starter Frankie Montas.  Montas went seven strong innings allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out three.

The Cardinals made things interesting in by cutting the lead to 3-2 with a two-run pitch-hit home run by Matt Carpenter off reliever Nick Mears in the eighth inning. 

Devin Williams pitched out of a one-out jam with runners at second and third in the ninth to pick up his fifth save of the season.  Williams struck out Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Gorman to end the game and give the Brewers their sixth consecutive wins.

William Contreras led the Brewer attack with three hits and one RBI, while Sal Frelick added two hits and one RBI.

The Brewers and Cardinals will go at it again Wednesday night with Tobias Myers getting the start for Milwaukee and Kyle Gibson getting the nod for St. Louis.  First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. 

The Spartans will compete against the Wrightstown Tigers and the Freedom Irish at Hilly Haven Golf Course in De Pere at 9 a.m.

On Monday, the Spartans finished five strokes behind Freedom at their meet in Waupaca. Marissa Annoye led the way with a team-best score of 50. Reese Bandow and Morgan Dejardin each had a score of 55 while Katie Ledvina registered a 58 and Ashley Fameree posted a 71. The Irish were buoyed by Kaylee McClintock's meet-best 45.  

The Great Lakes Loons rallied late to defeat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-2 at Dow Diamond on Tuesday night.  The Loons needed the win to keep up their chances for a third consecutive trip to the playoffs, but a frightening incident in the third inning muted the celebration for the home team.

The Timber Rattlers (70-44 overall, 28-20 second half) grabbed the lead with a two-out rally in the top of the first inning.  Eduardo Garcia doubled, and Matt Wood walked to keep the inning going.  Then, Jadher Areinamo punched a single through the right side of the infield to score Garcia for the 1-0 advantage.

The mood turned very serious in the top of the third inning.  Luis Lara walked to start the inning against Great Lakes starting pitcher Patrick Copen.  Cooper Pratt was next, and Pratt hit a line drive right back at the right-handed pitcher.  Copen could not get his glove up in time and the ball hit him in the face.  The game was delayed 21 minutes while Copen received medical attention from the training staffs of both teams and on-site paramedics.  Copen, wearing a neck brace, was carted off the field on a stretcher while the grounds crew cleaned up the blood from the mound.
 

The game restarted with a single from Garcia against new Great Lakes pitcher Christian Romero, who started warming in the bullpen as Copen was taken off the field, to load the bases.  Romero escaped the inning with a strikeout and a double play.

The Loons (60-53, 26-21) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the third to tie the game.  Jake Vogel reached on an infield single and took second on a throwing error by Garcia.  Josue De Paula singled up the middle with one out to score Vogel.

This was the only run allowed by Wisconsin starting pitcher Will Rudy.  He allowed three hits, walked two, and struck out four over five innings.  He was also in line for his third straight win due to what happened in the top of the sixth inning.

Hedbert Pérez, who suffered a season-ending injury with the Carolina Mudcats on July 18, 2023 and had only returned to game action last Tuesday with the Rattlers, crushed a two-out, solo home run in the top of the sixth inning.  The homer was the first for Pérez since July 6, 2023.  It also gave Wisconsin a 2-1 lead.

The lead was short-lived.  De Paula hit the first pitch from Yerlin Rodriguez in the bottom of the sixth inning for a solo homer to tie the game.

Great Lakes got to reliever Aaron Rund in the bottom of the eighth inning and it was De Paula who got things started with a lead-off walk.  Kyle Nevin had a hit-and-run single to get De Paula to third.  Jake Gelof got a high chopper over the head of Garcia at third for a double to score De Paula.  Sam Mongelli was next.  He singled to knock in Nevin with an insurance run.

Tayden Hall doubled with one out in the top of the ninth inning against Loons closer Kelvin Ramirez, but he was left stranded as the next two batters were retired.  Wisconsin stranded eight runners and was 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

The defeat was the third straight loss for the Timber Rattlers.  This is the fourth time Wisconsin has lost three in a row.  They have not lost four games in a row this season.

Great Lakes has beaten Wisconsin six straight times at Dow Diamond dating back to winning the final five games of a series in Midland in June of 2022.

Game two of the series is Wednesday night at Dow Diamond.  Alexander Cornielle (6-5, 4.52) is scheduled as the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Maddux Bruns (0-1, 1.96) is set to start for the Loons.  Game time is 6:05pm CDT. 

The Sturgeon Bay girls' golf team is back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Vernon Hills Golf Course to take on some of their conference foes.

Bonduel, Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran, Seymour, Shawano Community, West De Pere, Winneconne, and Xavier are scheduled to compete in the meet. 

Last week at Last Breeze Golf Course, the Clippers shot a score of 281, finishing seventh out of eight teams. Seymour won the meet with a score of 195, while Shawano finished one stroke behind and Winneconne six strokes behind. Keira Wesley and Sayde Jeanquart both broke 70 on the day. Seven golfers broke 50 strokes, including Reece Osowski of West De Pere, who won the meet with a score of 42.

Tee time is set for 10 a.m.

Sister Bay Bays' Spencer Krause earns the Batting Championship with a .431 batting average.

Here are the top 22 batters and top pitchers. DCL Team Managers will be voting on Manager of the Year and Pitcher of the Year this week. The awards ceremony will be held at the Post-Season Championship Game on Sunday, September 1.

(Photo by Deanna Reinhardt)

Final Season Stats as reported by DCBL Statistician Chad Michaels:

Batting

Spencer Krause, Sister Bay .431 25X58

Trevor Reinhardt. Kolberg .429 24X56

Elvis Torres, Baileys Harbor .404 21X52

Nick Kita, Egg Harbor .393 22X56

Tom Sawyer, Sister Bay .390 23X59

Caleb Cornell, Washington Island .388 19X49

Alec Schartner, West Jacksonport .382 21X55

Jaeger Brusky, Institute .375 18X48

Cody Giesseman, Egg Harbor .372 16X43

Jack Peterson, Kolberg .354 23X65

Tory Jandrin, Maplewood .351 20X57

River Pawelski, Baileys Harbor .351 20X57

Eric DeJardine, Egg Harbor .346 18X52

Cory Fuller, Egg Harbor .345 19X55

Matt Hecht, Sister Bay .341 14X41

Austen Dart, Kolberg .341 14X41

Kody Kissinger, Maplewood .340 17X50

Alex Laughlin, Sister Bay .327 17X52

Troy Jorgenson, Washington Island .327 16X49

Luke Geiger, Washington Island .321 17X53

Woody Schartner, West Jacksonport .304 14X46

Frankie Ash, Institute .300 15X50

Griffin Cole, Sister Bay .300 18X60

Pitching

Jake Schneider

~70IP 28runs / 78K / 36BB

Jeremiah Yahnke

~80IP 32 runs / 101K / 14BB

Sam Forkert

~60.1IP 31 runs / 37K / 20BB

Jon Kordon

~46.2IP 24 runs / 44K / 19BB

Only two open practices remain for the Green Bay Packers this training camp year, and both come this week.

The Packers are looking to bounce back from a dismal weekend in Denver, where they lost their preseason matchup to the Broncos 27-2 after a poor performance in their joint practice on Friday. They will carry the hosting duties later this week when they practice against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday.

Both open practices take place at 10:30 a.m.

The Luxemburg-Casco girls' golf team is back in action on Monday.

The Spartans will join Freedom and Waupaca at Waupaca Country Club beginning at  10 a.m. 

The team started their season last week at Oconto Falls, but no results were shared online.

Every fall sports team will finally be in action after more practices occur on Monday.

Volleyball, cross country, and boys soccer all kick off their seasons with training sessions after the schools' other teams started earlier this month. You can find some of the key dates below:

CROSS COUNTRY

Earliest Practice: August 19th

Earliest Meet: August 27th

Algoma: August 29th at Gibraltar

Kewaunee: August 29th at Two Rivers

Luxemburg-Casco: August 29th at Gibraltar

Sevastopol: August 28th at Freedom

Sturgeon Bay: August 29th at Gibraltar

Southern Door: August 29th at Two Rivers

Gibraltar: August 29th at Gibraltar

BOYS SOCCER

Earliest Practice: August 19th

Earliest Match: August 27th

Luxemburg-Casco: August 27th vs. Kewaunee

Kewaunee: August 27th at Luxemburg-Casco

Sturgeon Bay: August 27th at Kiel

Algoma: August 27th at Roncalli

Gibraltar/Sevastopol: August 27th at New Holstein

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

Earliest Practice: August 19th

Earliest Match: August 27th

Algoma: August 27th in Shiocton (Triangular)

Kewaunee: August 28th in Sheboygan Lutheran (Triangular)

Luxemburg-Casco: August 30th in Appleton (Tournament)

Sevastopol: August 27th in Gillett (Tournament)

Sturgeon Bay: August 27th in Wisconsin Dells (Tournament)

Southern Door: August 29th at Two Rivers

Gibraltar: August 29th in Green Bay East (Tournament)

The Green Bay Packers had a forgettable night in Denver Sunday night as they lost to the Broncos 27-2 with most of its starters in street clothes.

The Packers' defense held the Broncos to just three points in the first half, but Bo Nix and Jarrett Stidham led Denver on two touchdown drives to close out the first quarter to make it 17-0 at the break. Zach Morton sacked Broncos quarterback Zach Wilson for a third-quarter safety to register the only points in the game for the Packers. Wilson bounced back to throw for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to secure the final margin of victory for the Broncos.

Neither backup quarterback inspired much confidence for Packers fans. Michael Pratt nor Sean Clifford broke 60 yards passing despite each quarterback taking a half in the game. A late interception in the second quarter by Sean Clifford set up a back-breaking touchdown drive by the Broncos ahead of halftime. The Packers were outgained 263-168 on the night.

The Packers will return home for the final week of training camp as they prepare for the Baltimore Ravens at Lambeau Field. The two teams will have a joint session on Thursday to close out the public portion of training camp. 

The wait was not worth it for the Casco A's as they lost to the Denmark Devilbears 2-0 Sunday night.

They were rained out for much of last week before sneaking in one inning on Saturday. A double by Bryce Urbanek and a fielder's choice by Logan Paplham drove in the only runs in the contest, both of which occurred in the fourth inning. The Devilbears' pitching staff took care of business from the mound, combining to strike out 12 A's.

Darlin Moquette hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning moments after his manager had been ejected from the game gave the Peoria Chiefs a 3-1 lead over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Sunday at Neuroscience Group Field.  The Timber Rattlers had runners at second and third with no outs in the bottom of the ninth but only managed one run as they fell 3-2 to the Chiefs.

The game was scoreless through 5-1/2 innings in very different ways for the two teams.
 

Ixan Henderson, the starting pitcher for the Chiefs, allowed two hits, hit one, walked one, and struck out three through his five innings.

Wisconsin (70-43 overall, 28-19 second half) used five pitchers to get the first eighteen outs.  Ryan Birchard was the starter for the Rattlers.  He allowed a hit and walk in a scoreless first.  Mark Manfredi was next, and he gave up hit with two hit batsmen and a walk without allowing a run.  The Timber Rattlers defense turned three double plays in the first three innings, including a pair of unusual twin killings with Manfredi on the mound.

The first double play came after the first two batters reached in the second inning.  Brayden Jobert hit a shallow fly to center.  Luis Lara made a diving catch, but the ball popped free and Jobert was ruled safe.  However, both runners had started to head back to their bases.  Lara threw the ball to Cooper Pratt and the shortstop tagged the runner at second and the base for an 8-6 double play.  This was the first time Peoria manager Patrick Anderson disagreed with a decision.

Manfredi walked the leadoff batter in the top of the third.  The Chiefs tried to hit-and-run, but it backfired as the runner at first rounded second and failed to retouch as he headed back to first after a flyball to right was caught.  The runner was out on appeal.  This was the second time Anderson disagreed with a decision.

The next two pitchers were rehabbing Milwaukee Brewers relievers.  Trevor Megill tossed a perfect fourth inning on ten pitches (nine strikes).  Enoli Paredes worked a perfect fifth inning with nine pitches (eight strikes).

Tyler Wehrle was next man up for the Rattlers and he kept the game scoreless with a perfect top of the sixth.

Henderson retired the first two batters in the bottom of the sixth and appeared ready to send the game to the seventh without a score.  Cooper Pratt had other ideas.

Pratt, the #2 prospect in the Brewers system, launched a solo home run to left.  The homer, his second with the Rattlers, made it 1-0.

Peoria (50-63, 24-24) is a team that is fighting for a playoff spot for the second straight year. They fought back to beat Wisconsin on Saturday.  They did it again on Sunday.

In the top of the eighth, Miguel Villaroel and Kade Kretzschmar singled to start the frame against Wehrle.  A sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position.  Chase Davis scored Villaroel with an RBI grounder to tie the game.  Wehrle got the final out of inning to keep the game tied.

There was controversy in the top of the ninth.  Tre Richardson foul tipped strike three into the webbing of catcher Matt Wood’s glove.  Richardson dislodged the ball from Wood’s mitt with the follow through on his swing.  The play was originally called a drop by plate umpire Isabella Robb.  The call was reversed into a strikeout after a discussion between Robb and base umpire Stone Garver.  This was the third and final time Anderson disagreed a decision.  He was eventually ejected from the game.

Four pitches later, the Chiefs had the lead.  Alex Iadisernia singled on an 0-1 pitch to get on base.  Moquette, who had homered in the ninth inning against Wehrle on Wednesday afternoon, hit an 0-1 pitch over the Left Field Lofts for a two-run homer and a 3-1 lead.

Wisconsin wasn’t dead.  Luke Adams singled and Eduardo Garcia doubled to put runners at second and third with no outs in the bottom of the ninth.  Jadher Areinamo was called off the Rattlers bench with one out and runners still at second and third.  Areinamo blooped a single to left to score Adams and send Garcia to third.
 

The Rattlers tried to steal the tying run with Tayden Hall at the plate.  Areinamo stole second and drew a throw from catcher Leonardo Bernal.  Shortstop Brody Moore threw back home with Garcia breaking for the plate and nabbed the runner to prevent the tying run from scoring.

Hall extended the inning with a walk on a 3-2 pitch.  Hedbert Pérez followed with a hard grounder right at the first baseman for the final out of the game.

The Timber Rattlers are off on Monday.  They return to action on Tuesday with the first game of a six-game series against the Great Lakes Loons.

The field is set for the start of the Door County League playoffs next Sunday after two thrilling games settled three of the four seeds.

A three-run rally in the seventh inning led Sister Bay past their southern rivals to win 5-3 against Kolberg to win the regular-season Door County League championship.

A pair of errors allowed Washington Island to score the game-tying and eventual game-winning runs of a 4-3 victory over Egg Harbor Sunday afternoon.

The Bays capture the regular-season crown and will host Washington Island next Sunday for a 1:30 p.m. tilt. The game will be broadcast on 105.1 The GOAT, NEWRadipSportsNetwork.com, and 1051TheGOAT.com. The Braves will host idle Maplewood in the other semifinal matchup on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

The Green Bay Packers will play under the lights on Sunday when they take on the Denver Broncos.

The Packers have spent some extra time in Denver before this matchup after going against the Broncos in a joint scrimmage on Friday. As a result, many of the starters for both teams will sit Sunday's match-up out.

Last week, the Packers' offense got off to a fast start, winning a 23-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns on the lakefront.  Jordan Love and the first-string offense ensured they would have a quick afternoon when he connected with Dontayvion Wicks for a 65-yard score in the opening two minutes. Sean Clifford would lead his own touchdown drive after the Browns got onto the scoreboard with a field goal. Emmanuel Wilson capped off that drive with a five-yard rushing touchdown to make it 14-3. After that, it was a field goal clinic for the Packers as they made Greg Joseph and Anders Carlson kick for the job.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had a 2-0 lead after the second inning in their seven-inning game against the Peoria Chiefs on Saturday at Neuroscience Group Field.  The Rattlers were looking for a sweep and a four-game winning streak after their 8-1 win in the conclusion of Friday’s suspended game earlier in the evening.  However, the Chiefs fought for their playoff lives to rally to a 5-2 victory over the Rattlers.  Chase Adkison had two huge RBI for the Chiefs in their comeback.

Wisconsin (71-42 overall, 28-18 second half) scored twice in the bottom of the second inning with a key two-out hit and some aggressive base running.  Felix Valerio was at second and Eduardqui Fernandez was at first with two outs and a 3-2 count on Luis Lara.  The runners were going on the pitch and Lara lined a single to center.  Valerio scored easily to put the Rattlers in front.  A slight bobble by Chase Davis in center was all Victor Estevez needed to send Fernandez home for a 2-0 lead. 

An error on the throw to the plate and another error on a Cooper Pratt grounder gave the Rattlers runners on the corners, but they could not add to their lead.

Peoria (49-63, 23-24) broke through in the top of the fourth inning against spot starter Stiven Cruz.  A hit-and-run single by Miguel Villaroel sent Alex Iadisernia to third base.  Adkison’s sacrifice fly got the run on the board for the Chiefs.

In the fifth inning, Cruz gave up back-to-back singles to the first two batters he faced.  Bayden Root was called in from the Wisconsin bullpen and he issued a walk to Chase Davis to load the bases.  Wisconsin got the first out on force play at the plate. 

Tre Richardson followed with a hard grounder to the right side of the infield.  Jadher Areinamo made a diving stop and threw out Richardson at first for the second out.  They tying run had scored on the play, but Davis tried to score from second on the play.  First baseman Jesus Chirinos didn’t panic and immediately threw to the plate to get Davis for the final out of the inning to keep the game tied.

Root got the first two outs of the top of the sixth on three pitched.  However, he hit Villaroel to extend the inning.  Villaroel would steal second base with Adkison at the plate.  The count went full and Adkison cracked a double to right-center.  Villaroel scored on the play with Adkison getting thrown out at third for the final out.

The Chiefs added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning on just one hit against Yerlin Rodriguez.  A hit batsman, a single, and a walk loaded the bases.  A walk on a 3-2 pitch to Leonardo Bernal allowed the first run of the inning to score.  A one-out wild pitch let the final run score.

Wisconsin went down in order in the bottom of the seventh and the Chiefs had broken Wisconsin’s three-game winning streak.

Luke Adams went 1-for-2 with a single, a walk, and a hit batsman.  Adams has been hit by pitches 38 times this season and is tied with Nick Sanay for the Midwest League record for being hit by pitches in a season.  Sanay was hit 38 times during the 2017 season.

Peoria’s split moved their second half record to 23-24.  The Chiefs and the Cedar Rapids Kernels are both 23-24 and trail the 24-23 Quad Cities River Bandits for the second half West Division Playoff spot and the right to face the Rattlers in the Midwest League playoffs.  There are nineteen games remaining in the regular season.

The series finale is set for Sunday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field.  Ryan Birchard (0-1, 12.00) is set to be the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Milwaukee Brewers relivers Trevor Megill and Enoli Paredes are scheduled to make rehabilitation appearances out of the Wisconsin bullpen on Sunday, too.  The Chiefs have Ixan Hernandez (1-0, 4.50) as their starter.  Game time is 1:10pm CDT.

Maybe the fourth's time is the charm for the Casco A's and the Denmark Devilbears.

After being rained out completely Thursday and Friday, the two teams squeezed in one inning on Saturday.

They will resume the game in the top of the second inning on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

Eduardo Garcia drove in three runs, including a two-out, two-run double, to lead the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to an 8-1 win over the Peoria Chiefs in the conclusion of Friday’s suspended game at Neuroscience Group Field.  The win was the third started for Wisconsin.

The Timber Rattlers (70-41 overall, 28-17 second half) had a 1-0 lead when play was halted after four innings on Friday night.  Hedbert Pérez tripled to start the bottom of the third.  Garcia drove in Pérez with a sacrifice fly for the run.

Peoria (48-63, 22-24) tied the game in the top of the seventh inning against reliever Jeferson Figueroa.  Brody Moore walked and went to third on a hit-and-run single by Leonardo Bernal to give the Chiefs runners at the corners with no outs.  Johnfrank Salazar singled to center to drive in Moore with the tying run. 

The Chiefs elected to bunt the runners into scoring position, and it would cost them.  Won-Bin Cho got the bunt down to put runners on second and third with one out. Kade Kretzschmar was next.  He sent a grounder to Cooper Pratt at short.  Pratt threw home and got Bernal by a lot for the second out.  Figueroa ended the inning with a strikeout.

The Rattler bats got to work in the bottom of the seventh with Matt Wood drawing a lead-off walk and Pérez singling to center with one out.  They were still at first and second with two outs when Garcia stepped to the plate.  Garcia lined a 1-2 pitch to right-center for a double to score both runners for a 4-1 lead.  Cooper Pratt followed with a single to left on an 0-2 pitch to drive in Garcia for a 4-1 lead.

Figueroa went back out for the top of the eighth inning and pitched a perfect frame with a strikeout.  He allowed one run on two hits with a walk and five strikeouts over four innings.

Wisconsin added four insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.  Jadher Areinamo walked, and Wood singled to put runners at first and third.  Tayden Hall singled to score Areinamo.  Jheremy Vargas doubled with two outs to score Wood.  The final two runs scored on an errant throw to first.

Tyler Bryant worked a scoreless top of the ninth inning to close out the game.

Wood had two hits, two walks, and scored two runs in four plate appearances. 

Being visible in your kayak is important, especially on those busy weekend days with watercraft of all types enjoying the beautiful waters of Door County!   With kayaks having such a low profile, they are sometimes hard to see. Often pleasure boaters have several people in the boat talking, laughing, and probably not always looking for or able to see small watercraft like kayaks. For this reason, I have liked having fishing and recreational kayaks that are brightly colored. Bright orange, lime green, chartreuse, white, red or a combo of these colors are very visible with darker green, gray, brown and tan less visible as they tend to blend into the water.  Also, my PFD is blaze orange giving me added visibility.  Nicely, many kayak paddles come with blades in bright colors like yellow, orange and white, which adds to your visibility.  If you are out early or late with low light you should have some sort of light attached to your kayak.

Part of being on the water in Door County is being out in the sun. Most of us have most likely had far too much sun exposure and don’t need any more.  I’m on the beautiful waters of Door County many days a year and see the barely dressed to people like me who take protection from the sun to an extreme.      

For me, whether out in my fishing boat or one of my kayaks chasing smallmouth bass or just enjoying a pleasant paddle on the lake, I’m protected from the sun.  Starting from top to bottom, I always wear a hat with brim, polarized sunglasses, a gaiter to protect my ears, neck and part of my face.  I wear a good sunscreen of at least 50 SPF on any exposed areas, including areas of my face not covered by the gaiter. I wear sun gloves, long sleeve fishing shirts and pants that have UPF protection built in. Even with the pants and water shoes, don’t forget to put sunscreen on your ankles and the tops of your feet not covered.  When giving talks at sports shows I note that I’m on the water to catch and release smallies, not to get a suntan.  If the fishing is slow, I’m usually off the water, although I do enjoy recreational kayaking. 

As always, if you have any questions about kayaking or kayak fishing you can email me at kayakfishingwisconsin@gmail.com

It's do-or-die for Washington Island and Egg Harbor as they fight for their playoff lives on Sunday.

Both teams picked up wins against teams in the bottom of the standings to force the play-in game. The winner of this will play the winner of  Sister Bay and Kolberg, which need to sort out the playoff's top two seeds in a matchup taking place in Sister Bay at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Maplewood is waiting as the third seed to find out if they will need to travel to Kolberg or Sister Bay to face the playoffs' second seed. 

A six-run third inning guaranteed that Egg Harbor would play at least one more game this season as they beat Baileys Harbor in a Friday night game 16-4 in eight innings.  The Indians got on the board right away when Nick Kita drove in his brother Brady with a single to make it 1-0. The A's would state their case for an upset bid in the second inning as Danny Lodl delivered the frame's big blow with a two-run single to make 3-1. The Indians answered in a big way in the third inning. After Isaac Berkley drove in one run with a single, an error by Aaron Brey set the wheels in motion as the Indians bat around in the inning, scoring six runs on eight singles, including a two-run knock by Brady Kita. The Indians added runs in the fourth and seventh innings before dealing the fatal blow in the eighth inning in the form of a three-run home run by Eric Dejardine off of Brey.

Early drama was quickly replaced in the sixth and seventh innings as Washington Island beat Institute 12-4 to earn a chance to play for the fourth-seed of the Door County League playoffs. The two teams traded runs through the fourth inning, each tallying three runs. The Islanders took control in the sixth inning when they scored on a fielder's choice, an error, and a wild pitch to make it 6-3. They would blow the game wide open in the seventh inning thanks to a two-RBI single from Ray McDonald and a three-run blast from Luke Geiger. The Islanders were led by McDonald, who scored three hits and three RBIs. Geiger drove four runs on two hits, while Matt Petersilka also registered a pair of hits. Jon Kordon won in relief as he pitched the final three innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out three. Bennett Isaacson-Krueger pitched well in his five innings, striking out six while allowing one run on three hits.

Tim Kowols and Shelly Lau will have the action on 105.1 The GOAT, NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com, and 1051TheGOAT.com beginning at 1:15 p.m. followed by the first pitch at 1:30 p.m.

Wisconsin fans may become more acquainted with the Friendly Confines over the next few months.

Earlier this summer, rumors around the Badgers' football matchup with Northwestern began to swirl again when it was reported by the Daily Herald that the game could be moved to Wrigley Field if the Chicago Cubs are out of playoff contention by September 21st, something that looks likely after they were swept by the Cleveland Indians earlier this week. After a matchup at Lambeau Field was floated past Northwestern donors earlier this year, the matchup is currently set for a temporary stadium along Lake Michigan that will seat less than 15,000.

Two teams guaranteed to take place at Wrigley Field are the Badgers' hockey teams. The men and women are slated to play games on Saturday, January 4th at Wrigley Field as a part of the Frozen Confines Big Ten Hockey Series featuring Big Ten hockey programs. The women will play national title contender Ohio State while the men will battle Michigan State. The men's teams from Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Penn State will make up the games on Friday.

One Green Bay Blizzard player continues to rack up honors long after their season ended in the playoffs.

Ravarius Rivers was named the 2024 IFL Defensive Player of the Year this week after being named to the league's First-Team. He finished the season tied for first place in interceptions and posted 91.5 tackles on the season.

Two weeks in, area football teams will finally hit somebody not wearing their colors on Friday when they travel around northeast Wisconsin for scrimmages.

Luxemburg-Casco will visit Kaukauna for scrimmages against the Ghosts and Pulaski beginning at 10 a.m.

Southern Door will travel to Kohler to play with the host school, Lomira, and Sheboygan Falls at 4 p.m.

Sturgeon Bay hosts Seymour for a 4 p.m. scrimmage with the Thunder.

Kewaunee will join New London and Oconto Falls for 4 p.m. scrimmages at Wrightstown.

The first regular season games of the 11-player football season are next Friday.

For eight-player football, Gibraltar, Sevastopol, and Algoma will scrimmage against each other next Friday at 10 a.m. 

The Sturgeon Bay girls golf team wasted no time getting their season underway, playing at Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne.

The Clippers shot a score of 281, finishing in seventh out of eight teams. Seymour won the meet with a score of 195, while Shawano finished one stroke behind and Winneconne six strokes behind.

Keira Wesley and Sayde Jeanquart both broke 70 on the day. The seven golfers broke 50 strokes, including  Reece Osowski of West De Pere who won the meet with a score of 42.

Keira Wesley (JR): 66

Sayde Jeanquart (SR): 67

Hayden Montevideo (SO): 74

Tiviana Andropolis (SR): 74

MerrillKelsey (SR): 85

Full Results here

In other girls' golf news, no scores were reported from Thursday's NEC meet featuring Luxemburg-Casco. 

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers rallied from a 3-1 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and outlasted the Peoria Chiefs on a rainy Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field.  The Rattlers won their second straight with a 6-3 decision over the Chiefs.

Milwaukee Brewers reliever Trevor Megill made the start for the Timber Rattlers on Thursday as part of a rehabilitation assignment.  He worked a scoreless first inning, allowed one hit, and struck out one while using eighteen pitches – fifteen strikes.

Wisconsin (69-41 overall, 27-17 second half) took the lead in the bottom of the first inning.  Cooper Pratt reached on an error with one out.  Jadher Areinamo drove in Pratt with a two-out double for the 1-0 advantage.
 

The Chiefs (48-62, 22-23) tied the game in the top of the second.  Will Rudy, who relieved Megill, walked Won-Bin Cho to start the inning.  Michael Curialle doubled to right to score Cho.  However, Curialle was out at third as he tried to stretch his hit into a triple.

Curialle put the Chiefs ahead 3-1 with a two-out, two-run double in the top of the fourth.

The Rattlers went back in front in the bottom of the fourth as Peoria starting pitcher Inohan Paniagua lost the strike zone and was let down by his defense.  Areinamo and Eduardo Garcia started the inning with singles.  Matt Wood sent a grounder to second that was booted for an error to load the bases with no outs.  Tayden Hall drew a walk to force in the first run of the inning.  Hedbert Perez was next and his popup to left dropped in just fair to score the tying run.

Luis Lara put Wisconsin back in the lead when he drew another walk with the bases loaded.

Rudy maintained the lead with a scoreless fifth and a scoreless sixth.  He struck out five over five innings to put himself in line for his fifth win of the season.

The Rattlers bullpen held onto the lead with Mark Manfredi working a scoreless seventh inning and Aaron Rund tossing a scoreless eighth.

In the bottom of the eighth, Areinamo and Garcia started a rally for some insurance runs.  Areinamo drew a walk and Garcia had a ground rule double.  Matt Wood drove in the first insurance run with a sacrifice fly.  Then, Perez made it 6-3 with a two-out, RBI single.

Rund closed out the game for his seventh save of the season with a perfect ninth inning that included two strikeouts.

Game four of the series is Friday night.  Alexander Cornielle (6-5, 4.67) is scheduled to be the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Peoria will put Hancel Rincon (8-6, 3.82) on the mound as their starter.  Game time is 6:40pm CDT.

The Casco A's have had two major opponents this week: the Denmark Devilbears and Mother Nature.

In game one of the series, Kordell Draves (Maplewood Mets) slugged a grand slam to help lead the A's past the Devilbears 5-4. Trevor Reinhardt (Kolberg Braves) drew the walk-off walk to put the A's on the brink of bringing home the title. When the series shifted to Denmark, the Devilbears staved off elimination with a 9-0 win. Attempts to settle the series with a rubber match have been easier said than done with rainouts on Wednesday and Thursday. 

The Devilbears and the A's will try again in Demark on Friday at 7 p.m.

The distinction of being the first team out of the gates this fall high school sports season belongs to the Luxemburg-Casco girls' golf team.

The team will face off against Bonduel, Denmark, Marinette, and Oconto Falls when they tee off at 9 a.m.

The Spartans may have lost their top golfer, Bowie Bredael, to graduation, but they bring four players back for this season, including senior Marissa Annoye. Junior Ashley Fameree and sophomores Reese Bandow and Ariel Buresh also return to the squad that took ninth in last year's Notre Dame Sectional. 

Four Door County League batters headed into August with averages above .400, three of which are preparing for playoff precursors this weekend.

The top two batters, Kolberg's Trevor Reinhardt (.451) and Sister Bay's Spencer Krause (.423) will play against each other on Sunday as the Braves and the Bays battle in Sister Bay for the regular season championship and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Finishing behind Baileys Harbor's Elvis Torres (.417), Caleb Cornell (.413) and the Washington Island Islanders will head to Egg Harbor to face the Indians in a win-or-go home for the playoffs matchup. The game will be carried on 105.1 The GOAT, 1051TheGOAT.com, and NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

You can find the full rankings below:

There is still time to catch the leaders in the 2024 Run the Door Standings.

The races series finished its busiest stretch of the season last Saturday with the Algoma Shanty Days Run. The race itself was won by Appleton's Matt Kasten, who finished the 5K course in 15:38. Three others covered the course in less than 17 minutes. Kewaunee's LaNea Bartel was the fastest local finisher, winning the women's race with a time of 19:36.

You can find the up-to-date standings and the calendar of upcoming races below:

ALPHABETICAL

Michael Ahrens, Green Bay-Carlsville 0-0-0-0-13-0-12-0-12=37

Jennifer Aldrich, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-10-10-0-0-0-0=20

Raissa Ashman, Seymour 0-10-16-16-16-0-0-13-13=84

Heidi Bader, Sturgeon Bay

Scott Bader, Sturgeon Bay

Beth Barnstorff, Green Bay

Bill Bartnik, Howards Grove 0-11-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=11

Ted Baszler, Milwaukee

Alec Bath, Sturgeon Bay 15-11-13-0-0-0-0-0=39

Shelley Bath, Sturgeon Bay 15-10-15-0-0-0-0-0=40

Emily Bilodeau, Sturgeon Bay 11-10-11-10-10-10-12-13-10=97

Joe Bilodeau, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-10-0-10-10-10-13-10=73

Jackie Birmingham, Sturgeon Bay

Jerry Bjarnarson, Sturgeon Bay 10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Mary Bjarnarson, Sturgeon Bay 10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Shauna Blackledge, Sturgeon Bay

Colton Blackley, Sturgeon Bay

Faith Blackley, Sturgeon Bay

Annie Bley (Kapolnek), Egg Harbor 10

Hanna Bordeau, Sturgeon Bay

Renee Borkovetz, Sevastopol 0-0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Scott Borkowetz, Sevastopol

Tiffany Born, Green Bay

Cheryl Bournoville, Sturgeon Bay

Robert Brown, Kenosha

Karen Brunk, Mundelein, IL

Sam Brunk, Mundelein, IL

Carol Burlew, Sturgeon Bay

Liz Butler Gilbert, Sturgeon Bay

Cindy Carter, Appleton

Todd Charnetski, Green Bay 0-0-0-11-0-11-0-0-0=23

Laurel Ciohon, Ephraim

David Clowers, Sturgeon Bay 13-13-0-0-13-10-13-13-13=88

Michael Cosgrove, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-0-11-0-0-0-0=11

Dan Crooker, Baileys Harbor

Kate Crooker, Baileys Harbor

Jake Cummings, Sturgeon Bay

Lauren Daoust, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-14-0-0-0-0-0-0=14

Julie Davis, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-10-0-0-0-12-0-0=22

Eleanor Dean, Sturgeon Bay

Erika DeFere, Sevastopol 0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Bobby Deggendorf, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-10-0-0-0-0-0=10

Bob Desotelle, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-0-10-0-0-0-0=10

Lu Ann Desotelle, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-10-0-11-0-0-0-0=21

Danielle DiCarlo, Green Bay

Dawn DiCarlo, Sturgeon Bay

Stacia Dick-Schuster, Sturgeon Bay 10-0-10-10-10-0-0-0-0=40

Jeff Dickman, Grayslake, IL

Karen Dickman, Grayslake, IL

Mary Ellen Dreutzer, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-13-0-13-0-0-0-11=37

Krista Eliot, Baileys Harbor

Barbara Enigl, Brussels 11-0-0-0-0-10-13-13-10=57

Tahna Evers, Sturgeon Bay

Sverre Falck-Pedersen, Egg Harbor

Anne Farmer, Sturgeon Bay

David Farmer, Gardner/Brussels

Jerry Feldhausen, Green Bay

Ben Fitzgerald, Ephraim 0-0-0-13-0-11-0-0-0=24

Tracey Fitzgerald, Ephraim

Mary Franklin, Sturgeon Bay

David Furjanic, Orland Park, IL

Maureen Furjanic, Orland Park, IL

Leslie Gast, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-0-11-0-0-0-0=11

Janice Galt, Sturgeon Bay 10-10-0-0-10-10-11-0-12=63

Lynn Gilchrist, Sturgeon Bay 13-13-13-0-13-13-0-0-13=78

James Gothard Jr., Tampa, FL

John Glowicki, Oak Park, IL/Baileys Harbor

Julie Grant, Greendale 0-10-10-0-0-0-0-0-0=20

Heather Gronseth, Wrightstown

Sean Grorich, Sturgeon Bay

Janet Grota, Sturgeon Bay

Jennifer Grota, Sturgeon Bay

Gary Gruenisen, Egg Harbor 12-10-0-12-11-13-0-13-11=82

Kay Guberud, Sturgeon Bay

Christina Haberli, Sturgeon Bay 10-10-10-10-10-10-11-12-11=94

Anna-Helena Hamann, Manitowoc

Amy Hamann, Stevens Point

Mark Hamann, Manitowoc

Joe Hargis, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-12-0-0-0-0-0-0=22

Melody Hargis, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-12-0-0-0-0-0-0=22

Caitlyn Hasenjager, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-10-0-0-0-0-0=10

Nate Hasenjager, Sturgeon Bay

Tanya Hasenjager, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-10-0-0-0-0-0=10

Adam Hauser, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-11-0-0-0-0-0=11

Ken Heinz, Egg Harbor

Linda Heyse, New Berlin

Tim Heyse, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Kate Higginbotham, Sturgeon Bay

Lee Hildebrand, Mequon 0-13-0-0-0-0-0-12-0=25

Mark Hilsabeck, Sturgeon Bay

David Hoffman, Sturgeon Bay

Emily Hoffmann, Green Bay

Liz Hoffman, Sturgeon Bay

Jan Hucek, Sturgeon Bay

Pete Hurth, Sturgeon Bay

Matt Huston, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-0-10-11-0-0-0-10=41

Mary Jackson, Forestville

Amy Jacobs, Fish Creek 0-0-0-0-0-10-0-0-0=10

Michelle Jacobson, Algoma

Debbie Jacques, Appleton

Peter Jacques, Appleton

Courtney Janson, Egg Harbor

Amy Jeanquart, Forestville 19-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=19

Colt Jeanquart, Forestville 13-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=13

Wyatt Jeanquart, Forestville 10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Kay Jensen, Sturgeon Bay 10-10-10-10-0-10-10-10-10=80

Joe Kash, Naperville, IL

Barb Keith, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Heather Khan, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-0-11-0-0-0-0=11

Deb Kiedrowski, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-11-0-13-0-0-0-0=24

Morgan Kiedrowski, Sturgeon Bay

Jeremy Kimber, Sturgeon Bay

Kevin Kindt, Colgate

Lisa Kloskin, Shoreview, MN

Julie Knox, Baileys Harbor

Merritt Knox, Baileys Harbor

Brett Kosmider, Baileys Harbor

Alicia Krueger, Forestville 0-0-11-0-0-0-13-0=24

Becca Krueger, Forestville 0-0-10-0-13-0-13-0-10=46

Elizabeth Krueger, Forestville 0-0-10-0-10-0-13-0-10=43

Emily Krueger, Forestville 0-0-0-0-11-0-0-0=11

Lois Kurschner, Sturgeon Bay

Kevin LaFountain Lipscom, Menomonee Falls

Amy Lautenbach, Sturgeon Bay

Jen LeCloux, Luxemburg 13-10-14-10-12-10-0-0-10=79

Kristin Leeming, Dyckesville

Kayla Lehman, Sturgeon Bay

Dale Logan, Sturgeon Bay

Ashley Maas, Sturgeon Bay

Dan Madigan, Green Bay 0-0-0-11-12-11-0-0-11=45

Hanna Mallien, Sturgeon Bay

Jodi Mallien, Sturgeon Bay

Scott Mallien, Green Bay 0-10-0-0-0-13-15-0-0=38

Mary Kate McCormack, Fish Creek 0-10-0-13-13-0-0-0-0=36

Smitty McGowan, Ephraim

Kelly Meyer, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Vicki Minten, Sturgeon Bay 13-0-13-10-12-0-0-0-10=58

Kari Mitchell, Brussels

Donna Mleziva, Casco 0-10-0-10-0-0-0-0-10=30

Bob Moellenberndt, Sturgeon Bay 10-10-10-10-0-0-0-12-10=62

Carol Moellenberndt, Sturgeon Bay 12-10-10-10-10-10-13-12-10=97

Jaclyn Moeri, Ephraim/Green Bay 0-10-11-0-0-0-0-0-0=21

Susan Morgan, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-10-10-12-11-0-13-10=76

Steve Muchoney, Aurora, IL

Annie Mudliger, Oak Creek

Carol Mulinix, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-0-0-13-0-0-0-0=23

Tom Mulinix, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-0-11-0-0-0-0=11

Deb Neuville, Sturgeon Bay

Andrew Nicoli, Grafton 0-0-0-10-0-0-0-0-0=10

Brady Nieman, Sturgeon Bay

David Nieman, Sturgeon Bay

Lynne O'Flynn, Sturgeon Bay 13-10-10-0-0-0-11-0-10=54

Karon Ohm, Fish Creek 0-10-0-0-0-0-0=10

Angela Olsen-Luberger, Sturgeon Bay

Doug Otopalik, Sturgeon Bay

Suzanne Osorio, River Forest, IL

Nancy Pagel, Grafton

Cathi Parks, Oak Brook, IL 0-0-0-0-0-11-0-0-10=12

Olivia Pelkey, Egg Harbor

Ryan Pelkey, Egg Harbor

Greg Peters, Green Bay

Karen Peterson, Egg Harbor

Haley Petrina, Sturgeon Bay

Leanne Pinkert, Sturgeon Bay

Patti Pollina, Mt. Prospect, IL 0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Leslie Potter, Greendale 0-10-11-0-0-0-0-0-0=21

Josh Puetz, Sturgeon Bay

Lori Putzer (Leist), Sturgeon Bay

Lindsey Rainey, Chicago, IL

Selena Reyes, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-0-0-13-0-13-0-0=36

Susan Reynolds-Smith, Ephraim 0-11-0-13-0-0-0-0-13=37

Bob Richards, Sturgeon Bay/Villa Park, IL 13-13-0-13-0-0-13-!0-13=65

Allison Ripp, Waukesha

Carle Rollins, Evanston, IL 0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Nancy Rollins, Evanston, IL 0-13-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=13

Kathryn Rogalski, Egg Harbor

Brittany Roob, Brookfield 0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Bob Ross, Brussels

Heidi Ross, Sturgeon Bay

Michael Ross, Sturgeon Bay

Katie Ruenger, Sturgeon Bay

Morgan Rusnak, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-12-10-10-0-0-0-0=42

Pat Saladin, Sturgeon Bay

J. Schaefer, Madison

Mary Schaefer, Madison

Lee Ann Schlimm, Greenville

Gretchen Schmelzer, Sturgeon Bay 12-11-10-10-10-0-0-0-0=53

Greg Schneider, Madison 0-10-0-10-0-10-0-0-0=30

Rodee Schneider, Madison 0-12-0-16-0-13-0-0-0=41

Tom Schneider, Kewaunee 11-10-13-0-0-0-0-0-0=34

Tamara Schoof, Colgate

John Schopf Jr., Green Bay 0-10-0-0-10-0-12-0-10=42

John Schopf Sr., Sturgeon Bay 13-10-0-10-10-10-13-0-10=76

Brandi Schroeder, Monticello

Skya Scrimgeour, Sturgeon Bay 16-12-0-0-16-0-15-0-0=59

Dawn Shefchik, Brussels 0-0-0-12-0-0-13-0-0=25

Mike Sherwood, Oak Creek

Dave Smith, Baileys Harbor 0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Kirsten Smith, Sturgeon Bay

Stephanie Smith, Chicago, IL

Bonnie Spielman, Fish Creek

Darcy Strasman, Sturgeon Bay

Mark Stencel, Appleton/Northbrook, IL 0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Jed Stone, Highland Park, IL

Megan Stoneman, Madison 0-0-0-0-10-0-0-0-0=10

Carol Tadych, Sturgeon Bay

Markus Tassoul, Sturgeon Bay

Jeffery Theys, Germantown

Nicole Theys, Germantown

Katie Thomas, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=10

Lauren Thomas, Appleton

Seth Thomas, Sturgeon Bay

Scott Thompson, Green Bay

Deva Thyme, Sturgeon Bay 0-10-0-0-12-0-0-0-0=22

Jen Trustem, Neenah

Barbara Tuttle, Green Bay

Marc Vandenhouten, Brussels 26-10-14-10-12-10-15-0-0=97

Devin Vandertie, Maplewood

Logan Vandertie, Sturgeon Bay

Lewis Vandover, Kirkwood, MO

Sherry VanSkyhawk, Sturgeon Bay

Denise Victorin, Aurora, IL

Barbara Wagner, Sturgeon Bay

Mike Weber, Egg Harbor

Cheryl Wederquist, Sturgeon Bay 0-0-0-0-13-0-0-0-0=13

Deb Whitelaw-Gorski, Sturgeon Bay

Tabitha Will, Sturgeon Bay

Christy Wisniewski, Baileys Harbor 0-0-13-0-0-11-0-0-0=24

Thomas Witek, Green Bay

Jon Wolfe, Sturgeon Bay

Rena Zaid, Highland Park, IL

Amber Zetwick, New Berlin

Beth Ziolkowski, Sturgeon Bay 10-0-11-10-10-0-0-0-0=41

Tom Zwicky, Egg Harbor

SEPT. 21 -- Hey, Hey 5K, Baileys Harbor. POINTS EVENT!

OCT. 12 -- Run Wild Quarter Marathon, 5K, Kids Run , Potawatomi State Park, Sturgeon Bay. Virtual option available. POINTS EVENT!

OCT. 26—Fall 50 Relay and Individual 50-Mile, Gills Rock to Sturgeon Bay. POINTS EVENT

NOV. 2—Pen Park Trail Fest 14K and 30K, Peninsula State Park, Fish Creek. POINTS EVENT!

NOV. 23—One Barrel 2.62 (Miles) Run, Egg Harbor. POINTS EVENT!

DEC. 7—Northern Door YMCA Ugly Sweater 5K Fun Run/Walk, Fish Creek. POINTS EVENT.

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers bounced back from a rough loss to the Peoria Chiefs on Tuesday to pick up a 7-2 victory over the visitors on Wednesday at Neuroscience Group Field.  The Rattlers built an early 4-0 lead and that was more than enough for Brian Fitzpatrick to cruise to his fifth win of the season.

Luis Lara, the Wisconsin lead-off hitter on Wednesday, gave the Rattlers (68-41 overall, 26-17 second half) a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when he hit the second pitch from Chiefs starting pitcher Brycen Mautz for a long home run to left.    The homer was the third of the season for Lara.

The Timber Rattlers added to their lead in the third inning.  Lara was hit by a pitch to start the frame.  Eduardo Garcia reached on a one-out single.  Then, Luke Adams was hit by a pitch for the 37th time this season.  Mautz got the second out of the inning with a strikeout but walked Jesús Chirinos on a 3-2 pitch to force in a run.  Jheremy Vargas doubled the Wisconsin lead when he jumped on the first pitch after the walk to Chirinos and lined a two-run double to left.

Wisconsin added a run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Jahder Areinamo.

Peoria (48-61, 22-22) had two runners on with no outs in both the second and fifth innings.  In the second inning, Fitzpatrick got Chase Adkison to line out and Alex Iadisernia to ground into an inning-ending double play.  In the fifth, Iadisernia grounded into a double play before Fitzpatrick struck out Michael Curialle to end the inning.

The Chiefs had three infield singles in six innings against Fitzpatrick.  The left-hander walked one, hit two, and struck out three over his six scoreless innings.  He has made three appearances against the Chiefs this season and has not allowed a run over 13-2/3 innings.

An errant throw to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning led to two more runs for the Timber Rattlers and a 7-0 lead.
 

Darlin Moquette drove a two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to put the Chiefs on the scoreboard.
 

Areinamo had three hits, drove in a run, and scored a run for the Rattlers.  He has 32 multi-hit games this season, 110 hits on the season, and raised his average to .307 with his performance on Wednesday afternoon.

Game three of the series is scheduled for Thursday evening at Neuroscience Group Field.  Will Rudy (4-7, 4.99) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Additionally, Milwaukee Brewers reliever Trevor Megill is slated to make a rehabilitation appearance for Wisconsin during Thursday’s game.  Inohan Paniagua (7-7, 3.78) is set to start for the Chiefs.  Game time is 6:40pm CDT.

With the second preseason game awaiting on Sunday, the Green Bay Packers reportedly signed two players to the roster on Tuesday.  According to Packer Wire, linebacker Chris Russell was in Green Bay for a workout and will give depth to a position that has rookie Edgerrin Cooper and Ty’Ron Hopper missing practice time.  Russell was a teammate of Cooper at Texas A&M and is 6’0” and 235 pounds.

In another signing, the Packers brought back running back Nate McCrary who was with Green Bay during training camp last year before being cut, according to MLFFootball.  He rushed 11 times for 37 yards with a touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks last August.  He played for the Michigan Panthers in the UFL this past spring. 

The Milwaukee Brewers dropped their second game in a row to the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-2 at American Family Field Tuesday night.

The Dodgers played long ball again with four home runs in the first four innings, capping a five-run fourth that made the score 7-1 against Brewer starter Colin Rea (10-4), who took the loss.

Will Smith had three hits, including a solo homer in the second inning, to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead off Rea. The Brewers only managed six hits all night off starter Gavin Stone (2-2) and reliever Landon Knack. Rhys Hoskins had two hits to lead Milwaukee, and William Contreras hit his second home run in as many days, but it was not enough as the Brewer bats cooled off after a hot stretch last week.

Milwaukee (67-52) still has a 7.5 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the Central Division and will play game three of the four-game series with the Dodgers Wednesday night, with the first pitch at 7:10 p.m. 

The Peoria Chiefs scored five runs in the first two innings of Tuesday’s game against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers at Neuroscience Group Field on the way to a 6-2 victory.  The Rattlers were held to five hits in the game.

Peoria (48-60 overall, 22-21 second half) took a 2-0 lead with two runs in the first inning.  Chase Davis and Leonardo Bernal had consecutive singles with one out.  Tre Richardson singled to left and an error on the play allowed Davis to score with Bernal and Richardson both taking an extra base.  A wild pitch with two outs allowed Bernal to score.

The Timber Rattlers (67-41, 25-17) cut into the deficit with an RBI grounder by Luke Adams in the bottom of the first.

The Chiefs collected three more runs in the second inning on three straight two-out RBI hits.  Miguel Villaroel drove in the first run with a two-out single.  Davis and Bernal followed with RBI doubles and Peoria was up 5-1.

Peoria added another run in the fourth inning.  They had runners at the corners with no outs when Davis grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to score the runner from third.

Darlin Saladin, the Peoria starting pitcher, retired fifteen of sixteen batters he faced after a single by Blake Burke in the first inning.  Burke had walked with one out in the fourth inning to snap a streak of eight Rattlers retired by Saladin. 

Burke would collect his second hit of the game with a two-out single in the sixth inning to break another streak of eight consecutive Rattlers set down by Saladin.  Wisconsin loaded the bases against Saladin in the frame as Luke Adams walked and Matt Wood singled.  This rally chased Saladin from the game.

Roy Garcia took over for Saladin and got a strikeout to end the inning and strand all three runners.  Saladin allowed one run on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts over 5-2/3 innings for his fifth win of the season for the Chiefs.

Wood tripled with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning.  Eduardo Garcia drove in Wood with a single to give Wisconsin its second run.  Roy Garcia ended any thoughts of a Timber Rattlers comeback with a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Burke and Wood both had two hits for the Timber Rattlers.

The Timber Rattlers have dropped the first game of a series in five straight series.  The last time Wisconsin won game one of a series was on July 9, a 4-0 win over the West Michigan Whitecaps at home.

Game two of the series is Wednesday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field.  Brian Fitzpatrick (4-2, 2.94) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Brycn Mautz (2-12, 5.49) is set to start for the Chiefs.  Game time is 12:10pm CDT.

Another group of high school sports is back in action on Tuesday as girls' swimming, eight-player football, and girls' tennis all start today after girls' golf kicked off things this week. 

They follow girls' golf, which opened its season on Monday, and 11-player football, which started preparing for next week's season openers last week.

IMPORTANT DATES

GIRLS SWIMMING

Earliest Practice: August 13th

Earliest Meet: August 21st

Door County United's First Meet: August 24th at Marinette

GIRLS TENNIS

Earliest Practice: August 13th

Earliest Meet: August 17th

No Area Teams are Being Fielded This Year

8-MAN FOOTBALL

Earliest Practice: August 13th

Earliest Game: August 29th

Algoma: August 29th at Oneida Nation

Gibraltar: September 6th vs. Algoma

Sevastopol: August 29th vs. Wild Rose

The Green Bay Packers kick off their second week of preseason action on Tuesday before heading off to Denver later in the week.

The Packers are coming off a dominant 23-10 win over Cleveland on Saturday. Jordan Love and the first-string offense ensured they would have a quick afternoon when he connected with Dontayvion Wicks for a 65-yard score in the opening two minutes. Sean Clifford would lead his own touchdown drive after the Browns got onto the scoreboard with a field goal. Emmanuel Wilson capped off that drive with a five-yard rushing touchdown to make it 14-3. 

The Packers will have two practices at home on Tuesday and Wednesday before having a joint practice with the Broncos on Friday before their Sunday preseason game. Both practices in Green Bay will begin at 10:30 a.m.

You can start planning your winter after the Green Bay women's basketball team announced their non-conference schedule on Monday. 

The Phoenix women will play more games on the road (six) than at home (five), though three of those games will be in sunny Puerto Rico for a Thanksgiving tournament. First-year head coach Kayla Karius will open her tenure against Kansas State on November 4th after the Wildcats finished last season as the #19 team in the nation. Eight of the 11 opponents played in the postseason last year, including home opponents DePaul and Northern Iowa.

You can see the full schedule here

The Phoenix men announced their non-conference schedule last week, featuring games against Oklahoma State, Ohio State, UC Santa Barbara, and Western Illinois. An October 24th matchup against crosstown St. Norbert will open Doug Gottlieb's tenure as head coach.

You can see the full schedule here

The Green Bay Rockers may not have made the postseason this year, but they still did earn some wins in the offseason over the weekend.

Sam Miller (Columbia), Nick Harms (Case Western Reserve), and Jake Bold (Princeton) were selected to the postseason All-Star team by the League’s coaches and members of the media.

Each player had the top spot in an offensive category, with Miller leading the squad with 53 RBI, Harms posting the best batting average (.326), and Bold leading the team in home runs (12).

According to the Rockers, Green Bay led the Great Lakes West with three selections and was tied for the most in the entire league.

A summer full of baseball will need one more week to settle the playoff picture for the Door County League.

The Kolberg Braves clinched a tie for the Door County League regular season title with a hard-fought 7-4 win over the Maplewood Mets on Sunday.  Kolberg tied with Sister Bay, who beat West Jacksonport on Sunday, atop the DCL. The two teams will meet in Sister Bay next Sunday to decide the regular season championship and the number one seed in the playoffs.

Washington Island forced a one-game playoff against Egg Harbor for the league's fourth and final seed after they beat Institute 12-4. The Islanders will face the Indians in Egg Harbor on Sunday. 

Area high school teams will hit the links today as the girls' golf season begins with their first practices.

Unlike football and other sports that have a week ramp to the start of their competition schedule, girls' golf can start competing later this week. You can see a calendar of important dates below:

Earliest Practice: August 12th

Earliest Meet: August 15th

Sturgeon Bay's First Meet: August 20th at Oconto 

Luxemburg-Casco's First Meet: August 15th at Oconto Falls

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers closed out their road trip to Modern Woodmen Park with a 3-1 victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits on Sunday afternoon.  Ramon Rodríguez drove in all three runs for the Rattlers, including a two-out, two-run single in the top of the eighth to break a 1-1 tie.

The game was scoreless through six innings.  Wisconsin starting pitcher Mark Manfredi was on his game for his second scheduled short start of the series.  He allowed one hit and struck out three over three innings.  Oscar Rayo, the Bandits starter, worked five scoreless innings and allowed three hits with three strikeouts.

Rodríguez gave Wisconsin (67-40 overall, 25-16 second half) the lead in the seventh inning.  The Timber Rattlers catcher hit a lead-off home run against reliever Chase Isbell for a 1-0 lead.  The homer was his eighth of the season, and his fourth against Quad Cities this season.

Stiven Cruz, who had pitched around traffic in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings without allowing a run, walked Deivis Nadal with one out in the bottom of the eighth to start rally for Quad Cities (51-56, 21-21).  Aaron Rund was called into the game to try to preserve the lead.
 

Nadal stole second and moved to third after a sliding catch by Luis Lara in center for the second out of the inning.  Dustin Dickerson tied the game when he lined a 2-2 pitch from Rund to right for an RBI single.

There were more twists and turns in the top of the eighth inning than there have been in most games this season.  Luis Lara singled to start the inning against Isbell.  Lara stole second but was ruled to have overslid the base and was tagged out for the first out of the inning.  Then, Cooper Pratt singled to reach base.  That was the end of the line for Isbell.

Ben Sears took over on the mound for the Bandits.  He hit Luke Adams on a 1-0 pitch to put two runners on base.  It was the second time Adams was hit on Sunday and the 36th time he has been hit this season.  The River Bandits argued that Adams did not attempt to move but the argument did not move plate umpire Shea Graham.

Sears missed with his first two pitches to Jadher Areinamo.  He turned away from the plate and apparently said something that caught the attention of base umpire Jonathan Rector, who ejected Sears from the game.  By the time the arguments ended, Quad Cities manager Brooks Conrad had been ejected by Rector and Hunter Owen, who was the starting pitcher for Quad Cities on Saturday, was tossed from the game for putting in his two cents from the dugout by Graham.

AJ Block took over the count on Areinamo for Sears and issued a walk to load the base.

That brought Rodríguez back to the plate with a chance to put the Rattlers in front again.  Rodríguez with a single to the hole at short that deflected off the glove of Dickerson.  Pratt and Adams both scored for the 3-1 lead.
 

Rund worked around a two-out walk in the eighth.  In the ninth, Kyle Hayes doubled with two outs to give Dickerson another chance to tie the game.  Rund denied Dickerson with a strikeout to end the game.

The Rattlers are back home on Tuesday to start a series with the Peoria Chiefs.  Game time is 6:40pm CDT at Neuroscience Group Field.

The honors keep rolling in for the Green Bay Blizzard after their record-breaking season that ended just one game shy of the IFL Championship game.

Two players were named to the IFL First Team, while Head Coach Cory Roberson earned Coach of the Year honors.

For the second straight season, the Green Bay Rockers won their final game of the season, but this time it hit a different note than last year.

In the Rockers' 9-1 win, the registered single tallies in the first, third, and fifth innings with RBI hits coming from Jake Bold's singles and Sam Miller's homer. The Rockers saved six runs for late in the game, including a three-run seventh inning and two runs in the ninth. Bold, Luke Gregorio, and Harms all homered late to give the Rockers a win, but no playoffs one year removed from their Northwoods League Championship last year. 

Mikel Howell earned the win with seven strikeouts across 5 1/3 innings.

The Green Bay Packers looked sharp in Saturday's preseason opener, beating the Cleveland Browns 23-10 on the road.

Jordan Love and the first-string offense ensured they would have a quick afternoon when he connected with Dontayvion Wicks for a 65-yard score in the opening two minutes. Sean Clifford would lead his own touchdown drive after the Browns got onto the scoreboard with a field goal. Emmanuel Wilson capped off that drive with a five-yard rushing touchdown to make it 14-3. 

After that, it was a field goal clinic for the Packers as they made Greg Joseph and Anders Carlson kick for the job. A late score by the Browns' Aidan Robbins got to within a two-score game before the Packers ran out the clock inside Cleveland's 10-yard line. 

The Quad Cities River Bandits beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 13-2 on Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park.  Wisconsin’s offense was held to three hits while the River Bandits cracked three home runs in the game.

Quad Cities (51-55 overall, 21-20 second half) took the lead with three straight hits to open the bottom of the second inning against Wisconsin starter Alexander Cornielle.  Trevor Werner singled to start the inning.  Carson Roccaforte tripled to the corner in right to drive in Werner.  Justin Johnson followed with a single up the middle for the 2-0 lead.

The River Bandits added two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth.  Werner started the fourth with a triple.  An error on a grounder off the bat of Roccaforte allowed Werner to score.  Later in the fourth, Shervyen Newton hit a solo homer with two outs for a 4-0 lead.  Spencer Nivens added a two-run home run in the fifth for a 6-0 lead.

Yerlin Rodriguez was called from the Wisconsin bullpen to pitch the bottom of the sixth inning.  He walked Roccaforte to start the inning.  Roccaforte stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a wild pitch with Johnson at the plate.  Rodriguez would walk Johnson and the next two batters to load the bases.  Jean Ramirez drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.  Nivens made it 9-0 with a two-out, RBI double.  Tyler Wehrle took over for Rodriguez and got the final out of the inning.

Wisconsin (66-40, 24-16) had one hit through the first seven innings.  Jheremy Vargas, who had a single in the fifth inning, doubled to start the eighth against Natanael Garabitos.  Tayden Hall moved Vargas to third with a single.  Eduarqui Fernández drove in Vargas with a sacrifice fly.

Position player Jose Acosta was called into the game to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning.  He retired the first two batters before giving up a single and two walks to load the bases for Jac Caglianone, the #1 pick of the Kansas City Royals in the 2024 draft.  The count went to 3-2 and Caglianone drilled the offering from Acosta over the wall in right-center to collect a grand slam for his first professional home run and a 13-1 lead.

The Timber Rattlers scored a run in the top of the ninth to account for the final score when Matt Wood scored from third on a wild pitch by Garabitos.

Blake Burke, the Competitive Balance Round selection of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2024 draft, made his pro debut for the Timber Rattlers.  The former Tennessee Volunteer was 0-for-3 with a walk in the game.

The win by the Bandits allowed them to clinch the series victory over Wisconsin.  The Rattlers have lost three series all season and had not lost a series since they dropped four of six at South Bend from May 21-26.

The series finale is Sunday afternoon at Modern Woodmen Park.  Mark Manfredi (5-2, 4.04) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Oscar Rayo (3-0, 2.40) is set to start for the River Bandits.  Game time is 1:00pm CDT.  

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association has identified 27 student-athletes to serve on the inaugural Student-Athlete Leadership Team in 2024-25. 

The Board of Control authorized the executive staff to move forward with plans to establish the WIAA Student-Athlete Leadership Team in January, beginning with identification of 27 student-athletes across the state interested in serving on the leadership team that includes a number of officer positions. 

The purpose of the Student Leadership Team is to serve as ambassadors for their peers and the WIAA while learning more about the sports industry. Their involvement will provide a student-athlete voice in the WIAA and will assist in supporting, educating and advancing the purpose of interscholastic athletics. The Leadership Team will engage in an advisory role without rule-making authority, but their input will be conveyed and have an impact at the various levels of the committee process.

Additional benefits include instilling leadership skills; compiling diverse ideas and perspective from different areas of the state; learning more about the many career opportunities in sports professions; getting a better understanding of how the WIAA functions; sharing the many positive, life-enriching experiences the association creates each season; and creating the interest and growth of student-athlete leadership groups at local schools.

Members of the Leadership Team submitted an application form and a short introductory video to express their interest in serving on the team. The WIAA received 289 applications.

The number of representatives from each district is determined by a percentage of member schools in each of the seven districts. The following are the names and school affiliations of the first Student-Athlete Leadership Team sorted by district.

Student-Athlete, Year, School

District 1
Sawyer Jones, Jr., New Auburn
Chloe Lee, Sr., Lake Holcombe
Nevaeh Nwachukwu, Jr., St. Croix Falls

District 2
Emma Bowden, Sr., Pittsville
Ginger Gerndt, Jr., Suring
Cody Vojta, Sr., Northland Pines

District 3
Tori Creighton, Jr., Alma
Elizabeth Curtis, Jr., Westby
Charles Strayer, Sr., Eau Claire Memorial

District 4
Campbell Booth, Sr., Plymouth
Julianne Bradford, Sr., De Pere
Emma Resop, Jr., Ripon
Cooper Smith, Jr., Marinette
Caeden Steuerwald, Sr., Oostburg

District 5
Owen Barnet, Jr., Edgewood
Blake Brancel, Jr., Portage
Mia Riley, Sr., Janesville Parker

District 6
Axell Allain, Sr., Columbus
Megan Doherty, Sr., Watertown
Kiernan Kawleski, Jr., Jefferson
Brett Kitzmiller, Sr., Elkhorn

District 7
Jackson Buckley, Sr., Milwaukee King
Hannah Christianson, Sr., Brookfield East
Jonathan Orth, Sr., The Prairie School
Trevor Polite, Sr., Homestead
Max Reeve, Jr., Shorewood
Daniella Riemer, Sr., Divine Savior Holy Angels

It is anticipated that student-athletes on the team will engage in four meetings per year, attend WIAA State Tournaments each season, plan and participate in the Fall Area Meetings for student-athletes, as well as organize and participate in an Annual Student-Athlete Leadership Conference that will merge with and envelop the Sportsmanship Summit beginning in 2025.

The Leadership Team’s orientation virtual meeting is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 18. 

The WIAA, as defined by its Constitution, is a voluntary, unincorporated, and nonprofit organization. The membership oversees interscholastic athletic programs for 515 senior high schools and 36 junior high/middle level schools in its membership.

In the bottom of the ninth, Tyler Bryant walked Nadal to start the inning.  He struck out Dickerson for the first out.  Spencer Nivens was next, and he hit a drive to deep right near the wall.  Vargas made a long run and a leaping catch for the second out to bring the Rattlers to within an out of ending their three-game losing streak.  It would take a bit longer to get that final out.

Bryant walked Caglianone and Werner to load the bases.  Roccaforte stepped to the plate as the potential winning run.  He brought the crowd to its feet with a drive to right, but he pulled it foul for a loud strike.  Bryant got Roccaforte to hit a grounder to first for the final out to secure his second save of the season.

Pratt went 3-for-5 with two runs scored to lead the Timber Rattlers offense.  Friday night was Pratt’s second three-hit game of the series with Quad Cities.

The Timber Rattlers stranded ten runners and were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.  The trio of Wisconsin pitchers held the River Bandits to 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

The teams will resume their series on Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park.  Alexander Cornielle (6-4, 4.30) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Hunter Owen (6-6, 4.24) is set to start for the River Bandits.  Game time is 6:30pm CDT. 

The Maplewood Mets will host the Kolberg Braves on Sunday to determine how the top of the Door County League baseball standings will shake out.

Kolberg (11-2) is tied with Sister Bay atop the DCL with Maplewood (10-3) one game behind both teams entering the final weekend of regular season play.

The Mets knocked off the Bays last Sunday 9-4 to create the drama of the top two seeds this weekend.  Adam Gutchow had a huge game with a home run and five RBIs to lead Maplewood, while Mark Villers added a two-run shot in the win.  Jeremiah Jahnke got the win pitching seven innings and not allowing any earned runs.

Kolberg topped West Jacksonport 3-1 last week in a pitcher’s duel with Jack Schneider striking out ten Ports.  Tyler Neinas had an RBI single and Jack Peterson added a two RBI single to pace the Braves offense.

If the Mets win and Sister Bay loses to West Jacksonport, there would be a three-way tie in the DCL.

The broadcast will begin at 1:15 p.m. with Paul Schmitt and Henry Annen on the call from Maplewood, followed by the first pitch at 1:30 p.m. 

The 2024 Green Bay Packers will get their first taste of game action on Saturday afternoon when they play the Cleveland Browns on the shores of Lake Erie.

The Packers have played each other in the preseason 26 times, ranking the matchup near the top in frequency. The two teams haven't met in the preseason since a 2016 matchup at Lambeau, and they haven't played each other in Cleveland to open a preseason since 2011. 

Both teams made the playoff last year with Joe Flacco taking hot streak late in the season all the way to the wild card round where they lost to the Houston Texans. Jordan Love had the Packers clicking all the way until the final play against the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional after blowing past the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round.

A six-run third inning all but guaranteed Egg Harbor would play at least one more game this season as they went on to beat Baileys Harbor Friday night 16-4 in eight innings.

 

 

 

 

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The Indians got on the board right away when Nick Kita drove in his brother Brady with a single to make it 1-0. The A's would state their case for an upset bid in the second inning as Danny Lodl delivered the frame's big blow with a two-run single to make 3-1.

The Indians answered in a big way in the third inning. After Isaac Berkley drove in one run with a single, an error by Aaron Brey set the wheels in motion as the Indians would bat around in the inning, scoring six runs on eight singles including a two-run knock by Brady Kita. All the A's would answer with an Elvis Torres RBI single in the bottom of the third for the rest of the game while Indians pitcher Jace Johnson kept the rest of the line-up in check. 

The Indians added runs in the fourth and seventh innings before dealing the fatal blow in the eighth inning in the form of a three-run home by Eric Dejardine off of Brey.

 

 

 

 

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The Indians' win pressures Washington Island to beat Institute in a Sunday matinee. If the Islanders win, the two teams will face each other to determine who earns the fourth seed. An Islanders loss puts the Indians back in the playoffs with a road game at the top seed. 

The Kolberg Athletic Club took a big step toward constructing a new bathroom and concession stand at its southern Door County ballpark.

The organization received a $100,000 grant from the Destination Door County Community Investment Fund on Thursday. It was the largest of the five awarded, with additional grants from the Belgian Heritage Center, the Village of Ephraim, the Door County Historical Society, and the Door County YMCA. The grant will allow the Kolberg Athletic Club to construct a new building outfitted with running water to provide greater offerings and accommodations for baseball games, sports camps, and community events.

The club sent out a fundraising request letter in July outlining why they would like to build a new structure for the ballpark. They also touted a $50,000 matching donation if they could raise the funds. Fundraising efforts are ongoing.

Depending on the result, the Friday night matchup between Egg Harbor and Baileys Harbor could add some extra drama to Sunday's Door County League slate.

The Indians need to win to keep pace with Washington Island for the fourth and final spot in the Door County League playoffs. The Indians did what they needed to do to keep their season alive on Sunday with a 15-5 win over Institute. The Indians struck early with five runs in the first inning thanks to an error, a Nick Kita double, a Brady Kita single, a passed ball, and a sacrifice fly. The Indians would enter the fifth inning with an 8-0 lead when they put the game out of reach thanks to a seven-run frame that saw Cody Giesseman, Corey Fuller, Brady Kita, and Drew Price all drive in runs before Joe Sawyer put an exclamation point on the inning with a three-run home run. 

The A's could have helped the Indians last week when they played Washington Island last summer, but they will now settle for spoiler after losing the game 11-3. The A's were able to close the gap in the 6th and 7th innings, cutting the Islanders' lead from 8-0 to 8-3, but a 7-run top of the 8th inning followed by a three up and three down the bottom of the inning sent the game to an early ending. The loss to the Islanders spoiled the A's chance to potentially force a four-way tie for the fourth seed along with West Jacksonport, who also lost on Sunday.

Tim Kowols will call 105.1 The GOAT beginning at 7:15 p.m. with the pregame show, followed by the first pitch at 7:30 p.m. The regular season will conclude on Sunday with Washington Island hosting Institute, Sister Bay playing West Jacksonport, and Maplewood holding court with Kolberg on 105.1 The GOAT. That broadcast will begin at 1:15 p.m. with the pregame show followed by the first pitch at 1:30 p.m.

One local team extended their season by a series as the Shoreland League playoff continued on Thursday, with the start of the championship round looming on Monday.

The Casco A's kept their season alive on Thursday with a 7-3 win over the Manitowoc Bandits to secure a place in the Shoreland League Championship series. 

A forgettable fourth inning spelled the end for the Algoma Penguins' season on Thursday night in a 7-1 loss to the Denmark Devilbears.

The A's and the Devilbears will open their championship series on Monday in Casco.

The Green Bay Rockers etched their names into the Northwoods League record books on Thursday night as a part of their 11-6 win over the Kenosha Kingfish.

Things did not look good early as the Kingfish put up two runs in the second inning and four more in the third to stake themselves to a 6-0 lead. The Rockers would strike back in the fourth inning, scoring four times thanks to RBI hits from Mateo Matthews, Lane Allen, and Blade Carver. 

History would come in the sixth inning when the Rockers pushed across seven runs to take the lead for good from the Kingfish. Matthews' solo shot represented the 77th home run of the season for the Rockers, which broke the record for the most home runs hit by a team in a season. The actual biggest blow of the inning came off the bat of Sam Miller drove in three on a bases-clearing double.

 Benje Hencke earned the win for the Rockers, pitching 4 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball, walking three but striking out four Kingfish players while scattering just one hit.

The Quad Cities River Bandits got some key hits early and took advantage of uncharacteristic wildness from Wisconsin Timber Rattlers pitching to post a 9-3 win on Thursday night at Modern Woodmen Park.  Spencer Nivens was a triple shy of the cycle, scored three runs, and knocked in two to lead the Bandits to the victory.

Nivens gave the River Bandits (50-54 overall, 20-19 second half) the lead with a one-out, solo home run in the bottom of the first inning.

Quad Cities added to their lead in the bottom of the third inning.  Nivens and Carson Roccaforte reached to start the frame.  Wisconsin starting pitcher Brian Fitzpatrick retired the next two batters on strikeouts.  However, Justin Johnson blooped a single to center with two away to knock in Nivens.

Roccaforte hit a solo homer with one out in the fifth inning against reliever Yerlin Rodriguez for a 3-0 lead.  Roccaforte has hit four of his seven home runs this season against Wisconsin pitchers.

The Timber Rattlers (65-39, 23-15) managed three runners on a single and two walks over the first five innings against River Bandits starting pitcher Ethan Bosacker.  They would get to him in the sixth to pull to within a run.

Jheremy Vargas and Jose Acosta singled to start the frame.  Luis Lara grounded into a force play at second to put runners at the corners.  Lara would steal second to get into scoring position.  Cooper Pratt drove Vargas home and sent Lara to third with a deep fly to center.  Luke Adams followed with a single to left to score Lara and the Rattlers trailed by one run.

Rodriguez lost the strike zone in the bottom of the sixth and it would cost him.  He would walk four and throw three wild pitches in the inning.  A wild pitch allowed Johnson to score the first run of the inning.  A sacrifice fly by Nivens gave the River Bandits a 5-2 lead.

Eduardo Garcia gave Wisconsin a spark with a solo home run in the top of the seventh.  The homer was Garcia’s second of the season with the Rattlers.

The River Bandits pulled away with late insurance runs.  Deivis Nadal doubled home a run with two outs in the seventh against Bayden Root.  In the bottom of the eighth, Root gave up a lead-off double to Nivens, who would eventually score on a wild pitch.  An error and a two-out walk would extend the inning to chase Root from the game.   Aaron Rund, the fourth Wisconsin pitcher of the night, appeared to get out of the inning, but a wild throw on what should have been the final out allowed two more runs to score and the Rattlers were down 9-3.

Wisconsin was retired in order in the top of the ninth to suffer their third straight loss.  This is just the third three-game losing streak of the season for Wisconsin.
 

Timber Rattlers pitcher walked ten in the game.  It marks the second time they have walked ten in a game in 2024.  The previous time was a 10-1 loss to Quad Cities at home on June 7.

Game four of the series is Friday night at Modern Woodmen Park.  Will Rudy (3-7, 4.86) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Frank Mozzicato (5-9, 3.24) has been announced as the starting pitcher for the River Bandits.  Game time is 6:30pm CDT. 

The Algoma Penguins will need another game to settle its series with the Denmark Devilbears in the Shoreland League Playoffs after losing 9-2 on Wednesday.

The Devilbears' Owen Degrand and the Penguins' Trevor Nell cruised through six innings before both offenses broke through in the seventh. For the Penguins, a Tyler Neinas sacrifice fly and a Brady Kita single put two runs on the board to stake the team to a late lead. That lead was short-lived as the Devilbears put up five runs in the bottom half of the inning, with a two-RBI single from Jeremy Jenson serving as the biggest blow. The Devilbears added four more runs in the eighth inning as they outhit the Penguins 14-7.

Playing in front of its largest crowd in franchise history, the Green Bay Rockers won their home finale Wednesday night 3-0 over the Lakeshore Chinooks.

Sam Miller started the offense for the Rockers in the third inning with an RBI single that drove in Payton Mansfield. The Rockers would have to rely on Miller for insurance runs in the eighth inning when he went yard with a man on to make it 3-0 and cap off the scoring.

The Rockers outhit the Chinooks 7-4 as the visitors were held in check by pitcher Steve Marhefke. He went seven innings of shutout three-hit ball, striking out five. Connor Nolen earned the save with two scoreless innings while scattering one hit.

The Quad Cities River Bandits broke a 1-1 tie with a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 2-1 on Wednesday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

Tayden Hall put the Rattlers (65-38 overall, 23-14 second half) on the scoreboard with a two-out, RBI single to score Matt Wood from second base in the second inning.

Wisconsin starting pitcher Mark Manfredi pitched three scoreless innings in a planned short start.  Stiven Cruz relieved Manfredi in the fourth and stranded a runner at second.  He also gave up singles to the first two batters he faced in the fifth without allowing a run.

The sixth inning was a different story.  Dustin Dickerson singled to start the inning.  Jac Caglianone singled with one out.  Then, Cruz walked Trevor Werner to load the bases.  Cruz got Carson Roccaforte to send a grounder in the hole at second.  The Timber Rattlers got the force play at second, but Roccaforte beat the throw to first for a fielder’s choice to allow Dickerson to score the tying run.

Aiden Maldonado walked three batters in the bottom of the seventh inning to allow Quad Cities (49-54, 19-19) to load the bases with one out.  Maldonado got the second out by striking out Spencer Nivens.  That brought Jac Caglianone, the #1 pick of the Kansas City Royals, to the plate for the Bandits.  Maldanado ran the count full before Caglianone sent a liner up the middle with the runners on the move.  However, shortstop Cooper Pratt kept the game tied by making a leaping catch for the final out.

The Rattlers were not as fortunate in the bottom of the eighth.  Roccaforte hit a deep fly to right with one out.  Eduarqui Fernández made a leaping catch but lost the ball as he collided with the wall.  Roccaforte made it to third for a triple.

Tyler Bryant was called in from the Wisconsin bullpen and jammed Justin Johnson on a 1-0 pitch, but with the infield in, the ball dropped barely on the outfield grass in right for a single to score the go-ahead run. 

Ben Sears, who worked a scoreless eighth inning, pitched a perfect ninth to close out the game and send Wisconsin to its second straight loss.  The Timber Rattlers were held to four hits – all singles – and didn’t have a hit after the fourth inning.

Manfredi allowed two hits and struck out two with no walks over two scoreless innings for the Rattlers.

Game three of the series is Thursday evening at Modern Woodmen Park.  Brian Fitzpatrick (4-1, 2.83) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Ethan Bosacker (3-1, 1.69) is set to start for the River Bandits.  Game time is 6:30pm CDT.

Though a league championship would have been nicer, Green Bay Blizzard players are still racking up honors in the post-season.

The Blizzard saw their season end last weekend in the conference championship game against the Massachusetts Pirates, a team that took both games at the Resch Center. It spoiled what was otherwise one of the most successful teams in franchise history that broke a long playoff drought.

You can find some of the postseason awards below:

The Algoma Penguins knocked off the Denmark Devilbears 9-7 Tuesday night with a monster game from Austen Dart that included a grand slam.

Dart collected three hits with his four RBIs to pace the Penguins’ offense, that exploded for six runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-3 lead.

Algoma tacked on single tallies in the sixth and seventh inning, before Denmark rallied with three runs in the eighth inning and one in the ninth to make things interesting.

Spencer Krause and Jack Peterson each had two hits, including doubles, to compliment Dart’s big night.

The Penguins outhit the Devilbears 11-8 and turned two timely double plays on defense to help secure the win.

Justin Massey got the win going five innings and giving up three hits and three runs while striking out five.  Charlie Prokash picked up the save recording the final two outs of the game.

The Penguins will play game two in the best –of-three playoff series in Denmark Wednesday night with a potential deciding game in Algoma on Thursday.

Four Quad Cities River Bandits pitchers kept the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers off the scoreboard on Tuesday Night at Modern Woodmen Park.  The River Bandits scored all their runs after two outs on the way to a 5-0 victory over Wisconsin in game one of the six-game series.

Quad Cities (48-54 overall, 18-19 second half) scored a two-out run in the bottom of the first inning on a two-out, RBI single by Carson Roccaforte.

The River Bandits added to their lead in the bottom of the third inning on a two-out, two-run home run by Trevor Werner.

Ryan Ramsey, the Quad Cities starting pitcher, struck out six as he held Wisconsin scoreless on three hits over five innings.

The Rattlers (65-37, 23-13) threatened in the sixth inning against reliever Oscar Rayo.  Cooper Pratt doubled to start the inning, his second double of the game.  Rayo got the first out before he walked Luke Adams and hit Eduardo Garcia.  Rayo escaped the inning with a 4-6-3 double play to keep Wisconsin off the scoreboard.

In the top of the eighth, Wisconsin loaded the bases with one out against Chazz Martinez.  Pratt doubled with one away.  Martinez hit Jadher Areinamo and Adams on consecutive pitches.  Wisconsin could not score as Martinez got a strikeout and a popout to end the inning.

The Bandits added two more two-out runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.  Wisconsin reliever Tyler Wehrle, who got the final out in the bottom of the fifth and worked a scoreless sixth and seventh, walked the first two batters he faced in the eighth.  An attempted double steal was foiled when catcher Ram?n Rodríguez cut down the lead runner at third.  However, a third walk put two runners on base again.  Wehrle got the second out with his sixth strikeout of the game, but the runners were going on the pitch and this double steal was successful.

Omar Hernandez lined a 1-2 pitch to right to score both insurance runs for a 5-0 lead.

Felix Valerio walked with two outs in the top of the ninth inning but was left stranded as Natanael Garabitos closed out the game with a strikeout.  Wisconsin had five hits, were hit by pitches four times, and drew three walks, but stranded ten runners and went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

The Timber Rattlers had not been shut out since May 16 in a 6-0 loss to Beloit at home.  Tuesday’s shutout ended a streak of 65 consecutive games in which the Rattlers had scored at least one run.
 

Pratt led the Rattlers offense by reaching base in all four of his plate appearances.  He walked in the first inning and doubled in the third, sixth, and eighth.

Game two of the series is Wednesday evening at Modern Woodmen Park.  Mark Manfredi (5-2, 4.25) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers.  Quad Cities has named Henry Williams (3-4, 4.43) as their starter.  Game time is 6:30pm.

With a banged-up defensive line crew, the Green Bay Packers are reportedly signing Zach Morton out of Akron.  Morton, 25, originally signed with the Detroit Lions before being released and played for the San Antonio Brahmas of the UFL this past year.  The 6’ 5” and 261-pound defensive end is expected to be at practice on Wednesday, where the Packers are battling injuries with Kingsley Enagbare, Deslin Aexandre, and Keshawn Banks hobbled,

The Milwaukee Brewers took a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back in a 10-0 shutout against the Atlanta Braves on the road Tuesday.

Willie Adames hit two three-run home runs and William Contrares had three hits and four RBIs to lead the Brewer offense.

Collin Rhea (10-3) pitched seven scoreless innings allowing just five hits with nine strikeouts to pick up the win for the Brewers.  Joe Ross tossed the final two innings to finish off the shutout.

The Brewers and Braves will play game two in the series Wednesday night at 6:20 p.m. with Freddy Peralta (6-6) taking the mound for Milwaukee and Chris Sale (13-3) for Atlanta.

The first signs of fall will be present on Tuesday as the area's 11-man football teams receive their pads and start practicing.

Kewaunee, Luxemburg-Casco, Southern Door, and Sturgeon Bay football players are allowed to begin practicing on Tuesday, approximately a full week before girls' golf (8/12), eight-man football (8/13), girls' tennis (8/13), and girls' swimming (8/13). While they report first, their ramp-up period is about a week older, with the first games not occurring until August 22nd at the earliest. You can find some of the key dates for the area's 11-man football teams below. 

SEASON OPENERS

Luxemburg-Casco: August 23rd at Seymour

Kewaunee: August 23rd vs. Racine Lutheran

Southern Door: August 23rd at Oostburg

Sturgeon Bay: August 23rd at Waupun

The Shoreland Baseball League is proud to announce its 2024 award winners and All-Shoreland team, as voted on by the league’s managers, and its schedule of playoff games.

Joe Anderson of Kewaunee was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player for his all-around work during the season. On the mound, he led the league in strikeouts with 120, nearly twice as many as Noah Lindsley, who finished second with 61. In his seven games pitched, his lowest strikeout total was 13, and he ended the year with back-to-back 20+ strikeout games in the regular season and also struck out 21 in his lone playoff start. He finished with a 4-1 record and led the league in innings with 53 and ERA with a sparkling 1.02 mark. His work as a batter only solidified his MVP status. He finished the year with a .367 batting average and .472 on-base percentage and only struck out four times in 30 at-bats. His dominance on the mound also earned him Pitcher of the Year honors.

The Batting Champion for 2024 is Brady Coons of the Manitowoc Bandits. Coons led the league in batting average (.535), on-base percentage (.592), runs scored, hits, RBIs, and triples. He recorded a hit in each of the 11 games he played and had multiple hits in seven of those, including a 5-hit game, and struck out only twice in 49 plate appearances for the season.

Rookie of the Year voting was close between Rheis Johnson of Denmark and Charlie Zimmer of Algoma, but Johnson took home the award, edging out Zimmer with one more first-place vote. The Devilbear catcher played all 12 regular season games and finished with a .309 batting average, a .509 on-base percentage, and nine RBIs. 

MVP

Joe Anderson - Kewaunee Chiefs (5 first-place votes)

Luke Mandich - Manitowoc Bandits (1)

Jack Peterson - Algoma ‘Guins (1)

Hayden Konkol - Denmark Devilbears

Noah Lindsley - Casco A’s

Pitcher of the Year

Joe Anderson - Kewaunee Chiefs (6)

Noah Lindsley - Casco A’s

Luke Mandich - Manitowoc Bandits (1)

Marty Kiernan - Ashwaubenon Lookouts

Cole Bzwadka - Casco A’s

Batting Champion

Brady Coons - Manitowoc Bandits (6)

Jack Peterson - Algoma ‘Guins (1)

Trevor Reinhardt - Casco A’s

Hayden Konkol - Denmark Devilbears

Jacob Kleeman - Denmark Devilbears

Rookie of the Year

Rheis Johnson - Denmark Devilbears (4)

Charlie Zimmer - Algoma ‘Guins (3)

Connor Labar - Ashwaubenon Lookouts

Aaron Brey - Algoma ‘Guins

Christopher Kapic - Branch Blaze

Catcher - Rheis Johnson - Denmark Devilbears

1st Base - Brandon Black - Manitowoc Bandits

2nd Base - Reese Berg - Manitowoc Bandits

3rd Base - Brayden Skenadore - Algoma ‘Guins

Shortstop - Trevor Reinhardt - Casco A’s

Outfield - Brady Coons - Manitowoc Bandits

Outfield - Jack Peterson - Algoma ‘Guins

Outfield - Hayden Konkol - Denmark Devilbears

Designated Hitter - Wyatt Kruse - Kewaunee Chiefs

Pitcher - Joe Anderson - Kewaunee Chiefs

Pitcher - Noah Lindsley - Casco A’s

Manager - Austen Dart - Algoma ‘Guins

Honorable Mentions:

Catcher - Mitch Jandrin - Casco A’s

Outfield - Owen DePrez- Casco A’s

Pitcher - Luke Mandich - Manitowoc Bandits

Awards will be handed out during the 3-game Shoreland League Championship series, which starts on Monday, August 12. Four teams will battle out this week in a 3-game semi-final series to determine who advances to the championship.

Playoff Schedule:

Monday, August 5

#1 Manitowoc Bandits at #4 Casco A’s, 7:30 (Game 1) POSTPONED

#2 Denmark Devilbears at #3 Algoma ‘Guins, 7:30 (Game 2) POSTPONED, RESCHEDULED TO TUESDAY

Tuesday, August 6

#4 Casco A’s at #1 Manitowoc Bandits, 7:30 (Game 2)

Wednesday, August 7

#4 Casco A’s at #1 Manitowoc Bandits, 7:30 (Game 3, if needed)

#3 Algoma ‘Guins at #2 Denmark Devilbears, 7:30 (Game 2)

Thursday, August 8

#3 Algoma ‘Guins at #2 Denmark Devilbears, 7:30 (Game 3, if needed)

Monday, August 12

Championship Series at lower seed, 7:30 (Game 1)

Wednesday, August 14

Championship Series at higher seed, 7:30 (Game 2)

Thursday, August 15

Championship Series at higher seed, 7:30 (Game 3, if needed)

The Green Bay Packers will head back to the practice field on Tuesday to prepare for their first exhibition game of the season on Saturday.

Coming off of a Family Night scrimmage that saw over 60,000 fans take in the Lambeau Field experience, the Packers will have two 10:30 a.m. practices at Ray Nitschke Field this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. They will have off on Thursday and Friday before battling at the Cleveland Browns on Saturday at 3:25 p.m. 

According to the Packers, Saturday will mark the 26th preseason meeting between the two franchises and the first time since 2011 that the Packers have opened their preseason slate in Cleveland.

The Green Bay Rockers scored two runs in three straight innings en route to a 6-3 win over the Lakeshore Chinooks on Monday night.

A two-RBI single by Makani Tanaka opened the scoring in the second inning to give the Rockers a 2-0 lead. After the Chinooks got one of those runs back in the third inning, the Rockers struck back in the bottom half of the frame when Jake Bold and Nick Harms homered back-to-back to make it 4-1. The Rockers weren't done there as Tanaka added insurance with a two-run homer that brought home Payton Mansfield. 

The Chinooks would get two runs in the seventh inning, but Nainoa Cardinez nailed things down for the final two innings to earn the save, striking out three batters in the process. 

The Rockers will play the Chinooks on the road on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. before playing their home finale on Wednesday.

The Door County League playoff picture grew more complicated as a result of Sunday's full slate of games.

In a game that both teams needed to win to keep playoff hopes alive, the Washington Island Islanders took care of business Sunday, beating the Baileys Harbor A's 15-3.

Egg Harbor kept pace with Washington Island in their blowout as they beat Institute 15-5.

Kolberg snuck past West Jacksonport 3-1 and put themselves in a position to potentially earn home-field advantage in the playoffs thanks to Maplewood knocking off Sister Bay 9-4.

STANDINGS

Sister Bay: 11-2

Kolberg: 11-2

Maplewood: 10-3

Egg Harbor: 6-7

Washington Isl: 6-7

Baileys Harbor: 4-9

W. Jacksonport: 4-9

Institute: 0-13

REMAINING GAMES

8/9/24 Egg Harbor @ Baileys Harbor

8/11/24 Institute @ Washington Island

Sister Bay @W. Jacksonport

Kolberg @ Maplewood

Miscues by the Green Bay Rockers turned a hot day at Capital Credit Union Park into a 16-8 loss to the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters on Sunday afternoon.

After a scoreless first and second inning, the Rafters took advantage of two Rockers errors to score three runs in the third frame. It would be 5-0 before the Rockers started cutting into the Rafters' lead thanks to a two-run single by Nick Harms.

The Rafters would get those runs back and then some in the seventh inning when they tacked on three more runs. The Rockers would make their run at stealing the game from the Rafters in the bottom of the inning with home runs hit by Harms and Payton Mansfield, making it 8-7. As they did earlier in the game, the Rafters would return the favor with six runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to put the game out of reach. Mateo Mathews homered in the ninth inning to lead a possible rally, but the Rockers were retired in order to snap their winning streak after that. 

 

 

 

 

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The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers rallied from an early 5-1 deficit and held on for a 15-12 win over the South Bend Cubs at Neuroscience Group Field on Sunday afternoon.  Ramon Rodríguez hit the go-ahead, two-run home run in the seventh inning for the Rattlers.  South Bend scored in eight of the nine innings but could not withstand three homers from the Rattlers.

The Cubs (40-62 overall, 13-23 second half) were up 2-0 two batters into the game.  Brett Bateman singled to start the first inning.  Then, Rafael Morel homered to left on a 1-2 pitch for his eighth homer of the season.

The Timber Rattlers (65-36, 23-12) responded with a run in the bottom of the first inning.  Cooper Pratt was hit by a pitch with one out.  Jadher Areinamo had a ground-rule double to put two runners in the scoring position.  Tayden Hall got Pratt home with a sacrifice fly.

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association competitive balance initiative completed its first full year of applying the performance factor for division placements, which will begin with the 2024-25 sports seasons.

The Classification Committee assembled to discuss and review the performance factor process and criteria in July. The committee recommended no changes to the process or criteria, citing results of performance factor couldn’t be appropriately evaluated until competition results are recorded to fully determine its impact. 

An ad hoc committee consisting of 11 superintendents/district administrators, six athletic directors, one principal and one principal/athletic director proposed the performance factor process, which was approved by a 265-115 membership vote at the 2023 Annual Meeting for implementation in 2024-25. The initiative promotes school programs that reach a threshold of tournament success based on a performance point system allocated over a three-year period. 

School programs reaching the six-point performance factor threshold during the past three seasons are placed in the division containing the next largest set of enrollments from where the schools’ enrollments would place them for each respective sport other than track & field and swimming &?diving–which do not have a team component to advance in the Tournament Series–and sports with only one division. Schools are restricted to moving up a maximum of one division from the previous year’s placement. 

This performance factor initiative affords schools the opportunity to request to move down a division with lower enrollments. The Classification Committee reviewed 46 such requests in 2023-24. Eighteen of those requests were approved. 

The number of sports programs that have accumulated at least six points to engage a promotion to a division with higher enrollments–if their 2024-25 tournament placement enrollment doesn’t initially move them up a division–was 136 this year. It is noteworthy that 45 of those programs that achieved the six-point threshold competed in Division 1 in 2023-24 and will be promoted only if their enrollment places them in a division with lower enrollments.

The performance factor process also affords schools the opportunity to appeal their promotion to the division with the next largest enrollments based on performance points. Of the 136 programs reaching the three-year, six-point threshold in all respective sports in 2023-24 resulting in a promotion, 46 appeals were submitted. The Classification Committee reviewed and evaluated these appeals with three approvals. (Editor's Note: The Luxemburg-Casco wrestling team appealed their promotion from Division 2 to Division 1, but they were denied. They were the only team in Door and Kewaunee counties to be affected by the new rules.)

Additional information will be reported by members of the Classification Committee at the Area Meetings in September.  For more on the performance factor process, visit the Competitive Balance homepage on the WIAA website.

The Green Bay Rockers did all of their damage in one inning of an 8-6 win over the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters Saturday in Ashwaubenon.

The Rafters scored once in the first inning and five more times in the second inning to hold a six-run lead early on.

Blade Carver and Makani Tanaka homered to get three runs closer while Jake Bold and Carver each doubled home two runs. Lane Allen capped off the scoring when crossed home plate on a ground out.

The Rockers are back in action Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m.

The South Bend Cubs broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the top of the fifth inning and went on to a 4-1 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader at Neuroscience Group Field.

Ethan Hearn gave the Cubs (40-60 overall, 13-21 second half) the lead with a solo home run in the top of the second inning.  The homer was Hearn’s second of the series and sixth of the season.

Wisconsin (63-36, 21-12) tied the game in the bottom of the third.  Luke Adams drew a walk with two outs and stole second.  Tayden Hall ripped a single to right on a 2-2 pitch to drive in Adams with the tying run.

South Bend scored twice in the top of the fifth to go back in front of the Timber Rattlers.  Back-to-back singles by Jordan Nwogu and Reivaj Garcia started the rally.  Then, Brett Bateman missed a bunt and Nwogu was off second base with his secondary lead.  Wisconsin catcher Ram?n Rodríguez threw down to second thinking that Nwogu would scramble to get back to second.  However, Nwogu went for third and made it without a play.  Bateman flew out to center deep enough to score Nwogu with the go-ahead run.  Rafael Morel added a run later in the inning with a double to score Garcia from first.

Hearn just missed a home run in the top of the sixth inning when his deep drive to right hit the top of the wall and stayed in the park for a lead-off double.  A one-out bloop single to left put runners on the corners for Nwogu.  Rattlers reliever Aidan Maldonado got Nwogu to hit a soft grounder to short.  Wisconsin was able to get the force play at second, but Nwogu beat the throw to first to avoid the double play and let Hearn score for a 4-1 lead.

The Rattlers offense never got going after they tied the game.  South Bend starter Jaxon Wiggins worked a perfect fourth inning.  Reliever Luis Devers gave up a single and struck out three over two scoreless frames.  Yovanny Cabrera gave up a harmless two-out single during a scoreless seventh inning to close out the game and earn his sixth save of the season.

Hall had two hits to pace the Rattlers offense in game one.

Over the past several years it’s interesting to see how elaborate some kayak anglers go in rigging their fishing kayaks.  Except for the big engine, many of these fishing kayaks look like a small version of those bass boats we see zooming around the waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Many have one or two fish finders, trolling motors, power poles and more! The fun thing about your fishing kayak is that you can rig it however you want to meet your needs.

My philosophy with all my fishing, including my kayak fishing, is to keep it simple. I have several fishing kayaks and I’ve kept the accessories to a minimum.  For me, it’s RAM Mount external rod holders behind the seat, two flush mount rod holders also behind the seat and a small camera mount with waterproof camera for pictures of bigger smallmouth bass I catch and release.  At times I also have a storage crate with rod holders behind the seat. Having fished the waters of Door County for almost 30 years and mostly fishing shallow I don’t even use a fish finder.  My big change the past few years has been using a pedal kayak, although I still love getting out there and paddling.  The nice thing about the pedaling is the ability to troll a lure as I go from spot to spot.  And, if I find fish and the wind is blowing, which it usually is in Door County, I can hold myself in place much easier than with a paddle kayak.

I’ve talked about fishing kayaks loaded with accessories and even mine are nicely rigged, but I have I do enjoy seeing anglers out on the water having a great time in a simple paddle kayak, no add-ons, one or two fishing rods and a few lures.    

Here in Door County, even with the smallmouth bass population declining over the past eight or nine years, we still have a nice fishery and unmatched beauty, so grab your gear and hit the water. Even if the fish aren’t biting, you’ll have a great time.  Email me at  kayakfishingwisconsin@gmail.com if you have any kayak or kayak fishing questions.

The Door County League playoff picture only has one spot to give, and Baileys Harbor and Washington Island are two of the teams looking to snag it.

Washington Island and Egg Harbor are tied for fourth place with 5-7 records while Baileys Harbor and West Jacksonport are tied in sixth place with 4-8 marks, making the last two games crucial for all four teams.

The Islanders suffered a setback last week when they lost to the Ports 9-6. This came after Caleb Cornell clubbed a three-run homer to help lead the Islanders to an upset victory over Kolberg in front of its home crowd.

The A's suffered their own humbling loss on Sunday, losing to the Braves 16-0. 

Both teams boast one of the top five hitters in the Door County League in Caleb Cornell for Washington Island (.412) and Elvis Torres for Baileys Harbor (.410).

Jacob Nate will have the call on 105.1 The GOAT, 1051TheGOAT.com, and NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com beginning at 1:15 p.m. with the pregame show followed by the first pitch at 1:30 p.m.

The Green Bay Packers will get their first taste of a nearly sold-out Lambeau Field this season on Saturday night when it hosts its annual Family Night scrimmage. 

According to the Packers, all available tickets have been sold. Gates for the event will open at 5:30 p.m., with the team taking the field for warmups at 7 p.m. and practice beginning at 7:30. The practice will be similar to what has been taking place at Ray Nitschke Field this summer, but this time, well over 70,000 fans will be looking on. 

For those that can't get into Lambeau, the Family Nigh scrimmage will be televised throughout the state.

Jadher Areinamo celebrated the end of his brief stay on the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers injured list with a big Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field.  Areinamo, playing in his first game since July 25, had three hits, including a home run, and two RBI to lead the Rattlers to a 4-2 victory over the South Bend Cubs.  The win snapped a brief two-game losing streak for the Rattlers.

South Bend (39-60 overall, 12-21 second half) had chances to score in the first two innings.  Brett Bateman started the game with a double but was left stranded at third when the inning ended.  Wisconsin starting pitcher K.C. Hunt walked Parker Chavers to start the second inning.  Jordan Nwogu followed with a double to the corner in left.  Chavers tried to score on the play but was cut down at the plate on a perfect relay from left fielder Jheremy Vargas to shortstop Cooper Pratt to catcher Matt Wood.  Hunt retired the next two batters to keep the game scoreless.

The game was not scoreless for long after that.

Eduardo Garcia and Tayden Hall singled with one out in the bottom of the second to put runners on the corners.  Then, Vargas doubled to left to score Garcia for a 1-0 lead.

Areinamo, who had been activated off the Wisconsin injured list earlier in the day and doubled in the first inning, hit a home run to left in the third inning to give the Timber Rattlers a 2-0 advantage.   The home run was Areinamo’s eighth of the season.

Hunt left after five scoreless innings.  He walked one and struck out six.

The Rattlers added some insurance in the bottom of the fifth inning.  Luis Lara was hit by a pitch, stole second, and went to third on a single by Cooper Pratt.  Areinamo singled, his third hit of the game, to score Lara and send Pratt to third.  Luke Adams made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly to score Pratt.

Mark Manfredi took over for Hunt in the top of the sixth inning but walked three while striking out one against the first four batters he faced.  A fielder’s choice off the bat of Chavers got a run in and kept the bases loaded.  Nwogu was next and his line drive deflected off both Manfredi on the mound and Garcia near the second base bag to Pratt at short, who was able to get the out at first.  A run scored on the play to cut Wisconsin’s lead to two runs.  That led to Bayden Root being called into the game from the Wisconsin bullpen.

Root got the final out of the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh to maintain the 4-2 lead.

Jeferson Figueroa made his Timber Rattlers debut with a perfect eighth inning.  Aaron Rund closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth, including a pair of strikeouts, for his sixth save of the season.

Wisconsin stole three bases in the game with Lara, Matt Wood, and Adams each stealing one.  Lara’s stolen base was his thirtieth of the year.  The Timber Rattlers have 202 stolen bases this season.  This is the second Wisconsin team since the franchise came into existence in 1995 to steal 200 or more bases in a season.  The 2001 Rattlers hold the franchise record with 245 steals.

The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday at Neuroscience Group Field to make up the game that was rained out on Thursday.  The game one pitching matchup is Will Rudy (3-6, 4.83) as the starter for Wisconsin against Grant Kipp (0-2, 10.97) for South Bend.  The nightcap has Brian Fitzpatrick (3-1, 3.09) as the starter for the Rattlers facing Jaxon Wiggins (0-1, 11.37) for the Cubs.  Game one starts at 5:10pm.

You have another week before you can enjoy it at the Paris Olympics, but Sevastopol's Luke Filar has already received a crash course in the pentathlon this summer.

Shared by Sevastopol School District, Filar was invited to a talent identification camp for the US Pentathlon at the United States Olympic Training Center last month in Colorado Springs. While the Olympic pentathlon has athletes competing in fencing, swimming, show jumping, shooting, and running, Filar took a crack at ninja, fencing, swimming, running, and laser shooting. According to the Facebook post, it was Filar's first taste of fencing. 

Filar put those skills to action last Saturday and won the national championship for U17 athletes at the US Pentathlon National Championships. You can check out more photos below.

Picture courtesy of Sevastopol School District

A chance to go to the IFL Championship in Las Vegas is on the line Friday night when the Green Bay Blizzard hosts the Massachusetts Pirates.

The Blizzard clinched the home playoff game with a 34-23 win over the Quad City Steamwheelers last Friday. Max Meylor threw for two touchdowns, while EJ Burgess rushed for two more in the win. Two fourth-quarter touchdowns helped keep the Steamwheelers at bay despite a late score by the visitors. The two teams split their matchups this season, with the Blizzard and the Pirates winning their respective games on the road by less than a touchdown.

Kickoff is set for 7:05 p.m.

Storms sent two local baseball teams back to their dugouts on Thursday night.

GREEN BAY ROCKERS

The Green Bay Rockers saw their matchup at home against the Madison Mallards canceled Thursday night, and they are scheduled to play the Mallards in Madison on Friday. The game will not be made up in Ashwaubenon, so fans must pick one of their final four home games to get their baseball fix.

WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS

Thursday’s game between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and South Bend Cubs at Neuroscience Group Field has been postponed due to rain.  The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday, August 3.
 

Fans with tickets for Thursday’s game may make an exchange for a ticket of equal or lesser value to future regular season Timber Rattlers home game. Your exact seat location might not be available, but the Timber Rattlers ticket office will do their best to get you something close and comparable. You also do not have to attend the re-scheduled game but can choose any game the rest of the regular season.

Saturday’s doubleheader is a single-admission twinbill with two seven-inning games planned.  Game one will start at 5:10pm.  Game two will start no earlier than thirty minutes after the conclusion of the first game.

Wisconsin and South Bend will play a single, nine-inning game on Friday night.  Game time is 6:40pm.

On October 20th, you will see something you have not seen since the late 1950s at Lambeau Field when the Green Bay Packers take the field against the Houston Texans.

The Packers introduced its Winter Warning uniform combination on Thursday morning. The uniform is reminiscent of its color rush game against the Chicago Bears when the Packers swapped out its gold pants with white ones. This iteration will feature a change to its helmets, which will be white and void of gold anywhere.

According to the Packers, fans will be encouraged to wear white to the game as they look to do a whiteout at Lambeau Field. 

As the Door County League enters its final month of the season, several players are boasting impressive stat lines this year.

These are the league leaders as of July 21st. The next Door County League broadcast on 105.1 The GOAT will be on Sunday when Washington Island visits Baileys Harbor as the two teams battle for the fourth and final playoff spot.

Batting Average

Trevor Reinhardt, Kolberg .500

Spencer Krause, Sister Bay .415

Caleb Cornell, Washington Island .412

Elvis Torres, Baileys Harbor .410

Austen Dart, Kolberg .394

Jaeger Brusky, Institute .378

Nick Kita, Egg Harbor .375

Jack Peterson, Kolberg .375

Luke Geiger, Washington Island .353 12X34 7X26 .269

Cory Fuller, Egg Harbor .350

Tory Jandrin, Maplewood .349

Cody Giesseman, Egg Harbor .344

Kody Kissinger, Maplewood .343

River Pawelski, Baileys Harbor .333

Tom Sawyer, Sister Bay .326

Devin Schinktgen, Kolberg .324

Alec Schartner, West Jacksonport .316

Christian Counard, Kolberg .316

Troy Jorgenson, Washington Island .313

Austin Rohe, Kolberg .313

Home Runs (43 total)

4- Eric DeJardine / Trevor Reinhardt

3- Kordell Draves / Jack Peterson / Griffin Cole

Pitching

Jake Schneider, Kolberg 49.2IP 19 runs 55K 33BB

Jeremiah Jahnke, Maplewood 51IP 20 runs 67K 6BB

Sam Forkert, Sister Bay 43.1IP 18runs 25K 12BB

If you do not have your tickets for the Green Bay Packers' opener in Brazil next month, quarterback Jordan Love might have you covered.

The Packers star partnered with the fundraising site Alltroo to give fans a chance to win a trip to Brazil with all of the money supporting his Hands of 10ve Foundation.The organization aims to inspire children to engage in sports to promote physical and mental well-being. The prize includes tickets to the game, the flight and accommodations, and a video message. While you do not have to donate to have a chance to win, a donation of up to $500 will certainly help your case.

You can find more information on the fundraiser here.

The Green Bay Rockers scored multiple runs in three of the first four innings as they went on to beat the Lakeshore Chinooks 10-2 on Wednesday.

Extra base hits by Mateo Matthews and Logan Gregorio opened the scoring for the Rockers in the first inning, a lead they would double two innings later. In the fourth inning, RBI hits from Daalen Adderley and Jake Bold helped the Rockers score three more times to make it 7-1. Leading 8-2, the Rockers capped off their scoring in the ninth inning when Matthews and Gregorio duplicated their efforts from the first inning with RBI extra-base hits.

The Rockers are back in action on Thursday when they face Madison.