Late Game Heroics Give Burlington State Title
Burlington poses with their championship trophy. Photo by Spencer Flaten/Wisconsin Baseball Central.
GRAND CHUTE, Wis.--A thrilling comeback in the seventh inning of the Division 1 state championship game gave Burlington a 6-4 win over Arrowhead and their first baseball state title.
The Demons trailed within minutes of the first pitch of the game, but showed great resiliency to both stay in the game and eventually win it.
Arrowhead's performance in the first inning had some feeling like the mercy rule was inevitable. The Warhawks bashed five hits and scored four runs to take an early lead. Dom Clementi hit an RBI triple and later scored on a wild pitch. Jack Becker and Logan Kellogg also had RBIs in the inning.
From there, Burlington hunkered down and held their own against the Arrowhead offense. They struggled to score runs of their own, though.
The Demons loaded the bases in both the second and third innings, but some slick defending by Kellogg at second base thwarted their efforts both times.
They finally broke through in the sixth, when Aaron Sturdevant hit an RBI single and Cal Tully hit a sac fly. That brought the Demons to within two runs of the Warhawks.
In the seventh inning, Burlington pulled off an anxiety-filled comeback to take the lead. They scored four runs in the frame. They loaded the bases with one out, and Dale Damon drove in two runs to tie the game with a single up the middle.
Sturdevant came to the plate with the game tied and runners on first and third. He dropped down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt under intense pressure to claim the lead for the Demons. Tully added an insurance run with an RBI single, and then it was up to closer Zach Campbell to seal the deal in the bottom of the inning.
The Warhawks got a runner on base, but they couldn't do any more than that. That meant that Burlington was to be crowned state champion.
Cal Tully stifled the Arrowhead offense in 5.1 innings of relief. He allowed just two hits and no runs after replacing Aaron Mutter, who gave up four runs and lasted 0.2 innings.
Derek Crawley was the losing pitcher for Arrowhead, despite only giving up three earned runs in six innings of work.
Tully was also dominant at the plate. He went 3-for-3 for the Demons. Campbell finished 2-for-4. Johnny Duranso went 2-for-3 for the Warhawks.
The thrilling title game was a fitting end to the 2016 spring baseball season. It had everything you want out of a championship game, and put a punctuation mark on a fantastic season.
