Zac BellmanMilwaukee Journal Sentinel
THE BASICS
What: The 76th annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association State Baseball Tournament
When: Monday-Thursday (June 10-13)
Where: Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute
Tickets: Tickets are available for purchase at the WIAA website through ticketing partner, GoFan
Results/live stats: Go to wiaawi.org
Broadcast: Quarterfinal and semifinal games will be streamed on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS network. Finals will be televised on the WIAA state television network, including: WKOW 27.2, WAOW 9.2, WQOW 18.2 and WXOW 19.2, WVTV 24.1 in Milwaukee and WLUK (FOX)/WCWF(CW) in Green Bay/Appleton. The finals will also be streamed live on the Network stations’ websites.
SCHEDULE
Monday
Division 1 quarterfinals
Game 1 - No. 4 Arrowhead (24-5) vs. No. 5 Westosha Central (24-5) - 9 a.m.
Game 2 - No. 1 De Pere (24-3) vs. No. 8 Menasha (19-6) - approx. 11 a.m.
Game 3 - No. 3 Sun Prairie East (25-4) vs. No. 6 Hudson (22-7) - 2:30 p.m.
Game 4 - No. 2 Oak Creek (26-3) vs. No. 7 Nicolet (23-6) - approx. 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday
Division 4 semifinals
No. 2 Johnson Creek (24-4) vs. No. 3 Solon Springs/Northwood (19-1) - 9 a.m.
No. 1 Eleva-Strum (21-8) vs. No. 4 Pacelli (18-11) - approx. 11 a.m.
Division 3 semifinals
No. 2 Kenosha St. Joseph Catholic (23-5) vs. No. 3 Bonduel (23-3) - 2:30 p.m.
No. 1 Aquinas (23-4) vs. No. 4 Cumberland (21-8) - approx. 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday
Division 2 semifinals
No. 2 Kettle Moraine Lutheran (25-5) vs. No. 3 Edgewood Sacred Heart (20-6) - 9 a.m.
No. 1 Mosinee (24-5) vs. No. 4 La Crosse Logan (17-10) - approx. 11 a.m.
Division 1 semifinals
Game 1 - Winner of Monday's Game 1 vs. Winner of Monday's Game 2 - 2:30 p.m.
Game 2 - Winner of Monday's Game 3 vs. Winner of Monday's Game 4 - 4:30 p.m.
Thursday
Championships
Division 4, 9:05 a.m.
Division 3, 12:05 p.m.
Division 2, 3:05 p.m.
Division 1, 6:05 p.m.
AREA TEAMS IN THE FIELD
Division 1
The Milwaukee area sends four teams to state, pairs of whom were matched up in seeding against one another for Monday's quarterfinal. Classic 8 Conference champion Arrowhead faces Southern Lakes champion Westosha Central in the 9 a.m. quarterfinal. Both teams are making their first state appearances since one-and-done trips in 2022. Arrowhead earned its way to the state tournament with convincing wins over West Allis Central (11-1) and Wauwatosa West (9-1) in regional play before taking a pair of close contests over Sussex Hamilton (3-0) in the sectional semifinal and Muskego (2-1) in the final. Westosha Central capitalized on a first-round bye before beating Mukwonago (2-0) to advance through regionals, earning its way to state with a pair of 4-3 wins over Janesville Craig and Badger in the sectional final. Arrowhead and Westosha Central have not met in the regular season or postseason since 2021, a 3-2 Arrowhead win.
Southeast Conference champion Oak Creek and North Shore Conference runner-up Nicolet meet in the latter state quarterfinal, a matchup of programs that have not met since a 2018 win by Oak Creek in an 8-5 final. Nicolet is making the program's first-ever spring appearance at state, while Oak Creek is making just its second spring appearance (2019). Nicolet reached the summer baseball state tournament, which was discontinued in 2018, nine times including 1985 and 1998 titles. Oak Creek reached summer ball state eight times, including 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2012 state titles.
Both teams have been led to this point by their pitching, as Nicolet's quartet of James Wirth (1.14 ERA), Ben Ott (1.31 ERA) Nolan Sandee (1.60 ERA) and Jack Stuck (1.66 ERA) lead the Nicolet staff. Reigning Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association D1 state player of the year Payten Jibben leads a senior-heavy Oak Creek lineup as a two-way player. Jibben has carried a sub-one ERA and an above .500 batting average through most of the season.
Division 2
East Central Conference champion Kettle Moraine Lutheran is the sole area representative in D2, making the program's first WIAA state tournament appearance. The Chargers face an Edgewood program making its sixth program appearance at state, but its first since 2011. KML has already made history this season, including helping head coach Darrell Washburn tally his 300th career win earlier this season. A winning streak of 21 games prior to dropping their last two games of the regular season showed the Chargers can string strong performances together. Regional wins of 9-4 over Grafton and 11-1 over Campbellsport earned them a sectional bid, before a 4-1 sectional semifinal win over Pewaukee and 10-4 win over New Berlin West clinched a state tournament berth.
Division 3
KSJ is making its eighth program appearance at state, including its third in the last four years. A 2021 title highlights the stretch thus far for the Lancers, who finished second in the Metro Classic this spring while only dropping two games to D2 St. Thomas More in the conference. To reach the state tournament this year, KSJ defeated Horicon (7-0), Clinton (6-1), Lake Country Lutheran (2-1) and Saint Mary's Springs (7-5). The Lancers are led offensively by a quartet of high-average hitters, including Peter Visconti, Dominic Santarelli, Eric Kenesie and Tommy Santarelli. All four ranked in the top five in the conference in batting average, according to stats available on MaxPreps. They face a Bonduel team making its first program appearance at state in their Tuesday afternoon semifinal. Bonduel won the Central Wisconsin East Conference and shut out three of their four opponents in the WIAA postseason to advance to state. Whether their staff can contain KSJ's offense will be the matchup to watch in Grand Chute next week.
Editor's note: A previous version of this article stated Nicolet was making its first ever appearance at state, when in fact it is the program's first spring state appearance. Similarly, Oak Creek was stated to have been making its second program appearance, when it is the second spring tournament apperance. The article has been clarified to more accurately represent the programs' state histories, including summer ball.
