Eagles Sweep Clippers to End Regular Season

Sturgeon Bay’s Emmett Braschnewitz (left front) slides under the tag of Southern Door catcher Derek Schinktgen (10) to score the first run during the first game of Monday’s Packerland Conference baseball doubleheader. Photo by Kevin Boneske.

Southern Door’s baseball team closed out its regular-season schedule Monday by sweeping a Packerland Conference home doubleheader against Sturgeon Bay.

The Eagles overcame a two-run deficit in the first game to defeat the Clippers, 3-2.

Sturgeon Bay took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning when Jack Henry bunted to score Emmett Braschnewitz diving into home from third base.

The Clippers extended their lead to 2-0 in the fifth inning on a Brody Kollath RBI single.

Southern Door tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double from Jaden Diller and a sacrifice fly from Christian Counard.

The Eagles set up the winning run in the seventh inning when Jack Peterson drew a one-out walk, advanced to second base on a balk and made it to third on a Tyler Neinas infield single. Diller then hit a walk-off RBI single to score Peterson.

Neinas recorded the complete-game pitching victory for Southern Door, striking out nine and walking two, while allowing five hits over seven innings.

Sturgeon Bay used multiple arms for the first game, with Danny Lodl, Brody Kollath and Bryce Plzak combining to hold the Eagles to four hits, with Plzak picking up the pitching loss.

Eagles 12, Clippers 2

The second game lasted five innings, with Southern Door picking up a 12-2 victory over Sturgeon Bay.

The Eagles took a 5-0 lead in the top of the first, with a rally that included both a single and double from Peterson, an RBI single from Counard and four walks. 

Southern Door added a run in the second inning, and the lead ballooned to 11-0 in the third behind a bases-clearing triple from Will Jandrin. 

The Clippers scored a run in the bottom of the third, and after both teams scored once in the fifth inning, the game was ended by the 10-run rule.

Counard led the Eagles at the plate batting 4-4. In addition to Jandrin driving in three runs on a triple, Jared Hawkey tallied 4 RBI with a walk, single, infield ground out and a sacrifice fly. 

Diller pitched all five innings to earn the win while giving up five hits, with three of those hits coming from Caleb Plzak.

Southern Door closed out the regular season with a record of 18-3 overall and 14-2 in the Packerland, finishing second to Kewaunee in the conference at 16-0. 

The Eagles, who received an opening-round bye in the WIAA Division 3 Tournament as a No. 3 seed, will host a regional semifinal May 30 against the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between No. 11-seeded Valders and No. 6-seeded Howards Grove.

Sturgeon Bay, which finished 5-11 in the conference, opens the WIAA Division 2 Tournament on Thursday as a No. 11 seed in a regional quarterfinal at No. 6-seeded Shawano.