Baraboo drops both at tournament

WISCONSIN RAPIDS — The Baraboo American Legion baseball team was expecting some tough competition at the Wisconsin Rapids Tournament over the weekend.

After a couple of innings, the Bandits knew they had their hands full.

Merrill scored 15 runs in the first two innings of a 15-2 win over Baraboo in the tournament opener, and Green Bay Southwest came away with a 4-0 win in the second game. Baraboo was scheduled for two more games on Sunday, but both were canceled due to rain.

"We had a rough start to the tournament," Baraboo coach Craig Schlender said.

Mark Kowalke and Sam Seymour, both solid pitchers for Baraboo, were off their game against Merrill. Kowalke walked two batters and gave up two hits in a four-run first inning, and Seymour walked six batters and allowed five hits after relieving Kowalke.

Merrill, which won the Wisconsin Class AA state tournament last summer, was up to the challenge when Bandits pitchers found the plate too, spraying the ball all around the field for 10 hits.

"Kowalke started and had trouble throwing strikes, and Merrill was driving the ball hard," Schlender said. "After one inning, we brought in Seymour and he had a harder time throwing strikes."

After 11 runs crossed in the second inning and Baraboo still hadn't recorded an out, Schlender called on Paul Luger. Luger, a 15-year-old lefty who was called up from the JV team for the tournament, held his own and threw the last three innings of the 10-run-rule shortened game.

Luger threw three innings, allowing three hits and one walk.

Baraboo wasn't able to make up the deficit but scored twice in the fourth inning, when Jon Schlender, Seymour and Kowalke all had singles. Nick Labeots had Baraboo's only other hit in the game.

The Bandits' pitchers turned things around for the second game but still took the loss.

Green Bay, which defeated Merrill 11-6 earlier in the tournament, was held to four runs on five hits in the game by Jake Overlien and Kowalke.

But Baraboo's offense couldn't get anything across against pitcher Kyle Kaske, who allowed five hits and four walks while striking out seven. The Bandits left eight runners stranded on base.

Overlien gave up six hits and three walks while fanning five batters in 4 1-3 innings, and Kowalke bounced back from his outing a day before, throwing 1 2-3 hitless innings while striking out two. He didn't walk a batter.

Kowalke led Baraboo at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a double. Jon Schlender and Seymour also picked up hits.

Baraboo hosts Wisconsin Dells on Tuesday.