Citizen Staff/James Wold
Mayville pitcher Tom Wellner allowed one hit in Thursday's Legion tournament contest against Juneau.
MAYVILLE — Scott Hurst had a little more information at his disposal Thursday night when he made the call.
Cody Wasmund stood at the plate with runners at second and third and one out in the top of the seventh. Mayville was clinging to a 3-2 lead but Wasmund was 2-for-3 on the night with a home run.
So Hurst had him squeeze on a 1-1 pitch. Not only did Zach Wilderman score but Juneau threw the bunt away to score Dustin Langsdorf, enabling Tom Wellner to comfortably finish off his one-hitter and a 5-2 win in round two of the Class A American Legion Regional.
"I've coached Cody all my life and I know he's a good bunter," Hurst said. "We had our best baserunner at third and I was thinking they wouldn't expect it."
As hosts of the regional, Mayville (8-9) sets up tonight's showdown with arch-rival Horicon as the two remaining unbeaten teams. Horicon swept Mayville by scores of 21-6 and 20-10 in a doubleheader Sunday.
Wellner was largely responsible for keeping Mayville, which overcame five errors, in the winner's bracket. He allowed two walks and a hit batter while striking out three and neither run was earned.
"Tom pitches really well when his control is on," Hurst said. "He two-hit them earlier this year and he got better as the game went on."
Wasmund's two-run shot gave Mayville a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Juneau got on the board in the second with a walk, a bunt and two Mayville errors.
"You can't win many games with one hit," Juneau coach Dan Jahnke said.
Juneau tied it in the fourth with a walk and two bunts, the last of which was a squeeze by Nick Gahlman that scored Derek Pieper. Another bunt turned out fortunately for Mayville as Wellner dropped it, only to turn it into a double play.
"We got really lucky on the double play," Hurst said. "They like to bunt and it cost us early.
"But we told the guys to watch the signs and we said we're going to bunt too."
Ryan Ziegler led off the sixth with a single and his courtesy runner, Derek Hug, was bunted over by Randy Hurst. A.J. Warfield's throw from short got away to put Mayville ahead.
Wilderman reached on an error and Langsdorf reached on a bunt single in the seventh. Mike Gionet sacrificed them into scoring position to set up Wasmund's squeeze.
Travis Borkenhagen's fantastic diving catch from second in short right helped Wellner finish the seventh in order. Mayville and Horicon start play at 7:30 p.m.
Austin Neu struck out five and took the loss for Juneau (5-10), which faces Ripon (10-9) in an elimination game at 5:30 p.m.
MAYVILLE 5, JUNEAU 2
Mayville 200 001 2 - 5 8 5
Juneau 010 100 0 - 2 1 3
WP: Wellner (7 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 HP, 3 K)
LP: Neu (7 IP, 5 R, 3 ER, 8 H, 4 BB, 5 K)
Leading hitters: M - Wasmund 3-4, HR, 3 RBI.
Horicon 9
Waterloo 4
Three-run blasts from Nick Scharpf and Andrew Wasmund helped Horicon turn around Thursday's 9-4 win over Waterloo.
Horicon trailed, 3-1, in the fifth inning before Scharpf's two-out shot cleared the fence. Five more runs were tacked on in the fifth, three of them off of Wasmund's bat.
"That was a bomb," Horicon coach Quinn Heintz said of Scharpf's homer. "It completely changed the complexion of the game and we relaxed after that.
"We didn't bring our bats until the fifth but we hit the ball well the last two innings."
Lance Heintz struck out eight and allowed two hits in a complete game effort. Four walks aided Waterloo's offense.
"The only time he got in trouble was when he walked guys," coach Heintz said. "He wasn't on his 'A' game but he pitched well."
Shaun Dickinson had two hits and Dustin Mann doubled. Horicon (15-3) will try to beat Mayville for the third time in six days tonight to stay unbeaten in the tourney.
Waterloo (11-8) faces Lomira/Theresa in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m. today.
HORICON 9, WATERLOO 4
Waterloo 001 020 1 - 4 2 2
Horicon 010 035 x - 9 9 2
WP: L. Heintz (7 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 1 HP, 8 K)
LP: Novak (6 IP, 9 R, 9 ER, 9 H, 3 BB, 1 HP, 3 K)
Leading hitters: W - Cahoon 2B; H - Sampalwski 2 RBI; Wasmund 2-3, HR, 3 RBI; Scharpf HR, 3 RBI; Dickinson 2-3; Mann 2B.