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Monroe playoff bound
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Monroe's Mitch Marty tosses the ball to second base for an out during their Home Talent League game against Verona. (Times photo: Anthony Wahl)
MONROE - The Monroe Brewers punched their ticket to the Home Talent League Western Section playoffs with a 13-1 win over Blanchardville Sunday, July 28.

"We are going to the playoffs," said Monroe outfielder Drew Geissbuhler, who went 3-for-4 with one RBI. "We don't care what seed we are. It doesn't really matter who we play. It's how we play."

Monroe (8-8) bashed its way to the playoffs with a four-run first inning off Blanchardville's Tannar Johnson. Monroe's Mitch Marty, who went 2-for-3 with two walks, singled leading off the first and then stole second. Monroe's Scott White singled and stole second. Monroe player-manager Jeff Newcomer, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, reached on an error to score Marty. The big blow in the inning came on Dan Purcell's three-run double to left.

The Brewers pounded out 15 hits. Ben Korth, Matt Busjahn and Ben Conway each went 2-for-4 for the Brewers. Johnson pitched five innings and gave up 10 runs (five earned) on 11 hits.

"Tannar is a good local pitcher," Blanchardville manager Eric Straehl said. "He pitches with a lot of heart. They (Monroe) just took it to us. They are better than their record."

Just as impressive as the Brewers' hitting was Conway's pitching. Conway carried a six-hit shutout into the seventh, but Blanchardville's Devin Jeglum had an RBI single to break up the shutout. Conway pitched a seven-inning complete game. He gave up just one run, while striking out six and walking three.

"It's nice beating them because it shows that we can hang with and beat one of the better teams in the league," Conway said. "Our offense helped out a lot. I just tried to throw a lot of strikes and get ground balls. My defense did good behind me."

The Brewers put the game away batting around the order in a five-run fourth. Geissbuhler singled and then stole second. Marty walked and White reached on an error that scored Geissbuhler to give the Brewers a 6-0 lead. Marty scored on a passed ball and Newcomer had a key RBI single to right center. Korth singled and the clutch hit in the inning came on Busjahn's two-run single to right that gave the Brewers a 10-0 lead.

Straehl isn't worried about a matchup in the playoffs with Monroe.

"We will be at full strength next week," Straehl said. "Michael Pleimling will start for us regardless of what happens. Michael Pleimling is one of the best pitchers in the league. We will be ready next week."

Monroe has won four of its last five games heading into the playoffs and Blanchardville has lost four of their last five games.

"I think everyone is really confident at the plate," Geissbuhler said of the Brewers. "We are all seeing the ball really well. I don't think it matters who the pitcher is. We don't worry about who is pitching. We just want to get good at-bats and get the barrel to the ball."



Verona 10, Monroe 5

Coming through with a clutch hit with runners in scoring position against Verona Saturday, July 27 proved to be an uphill climb.

Monroe was 1-for-10 and had left nine runners on base through the first seven innings. Verona's Ben Wallace crushed a three-run double to center in the second inning to give his team a commanding 6-0 lead. Verona looked like they would cruise to the win, but that all changed in the eighth when the Brewers rallied for five runs off Verona's Zach Spencer.

Monroe's Taylor Riese walked leading off the eighth. Busjahn singled and Spencer walked Brett Ritschard walked to load the bases. Conway lined an RBI single to center to put the Brewers on the board. Kris Rieder followed with an RBI single and Geissbuhler had an RBI single off Verona relief pitcher Matt Niffenegger to cut the deficit to 6-3. Marty drove in a run with a groundout and White crushed an RBI double to slice Verona's lead to 6-5.

The Brewers finished 5-for-17 hitting with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 on base. Verona put the game away with a four-run ninth. Verona's Justin Scanlon and Spencer each had key RBI singles to put the game away.

The Brewers had two runners on and one out in the fourth and fifth, but failed to push across a run. In the seventh, the Brewers had two on and no outs, but couldn't push across a run.

"We put the ball in play the whole game," Newcomer said. "We finally started finding some holes (in the eighth). We were a little lucky."

Geissbuhler, who went 3-for-5, said the third time through the order against Spencer made a difference.

"We didn't give up," Geissbuhler said. "We stayed in there and had some good ABs."

Verona's Derek Burgenske went 3-for-4, Luke Yapp was 3-for-5 and Scanlon was 3-for-6. Marty, White and Conway each went 2-for-4 for Monroe. Busjahn and Rieder were each 2-for-5 and Marty had two stolen bases.

Monroe's Brett Ritschard pitched a complete game and gave up seven earned runs on 15 hits. The Brewers didn't have many options to use as relief pitchers because they were saving Conway to pitch against Blanchardville and had just nine players.

"I thought Brett pitched good," Newcomer said. "He really hasn't pitched much this year. It's tough when you only have nine guys. He kept the ball down, but the umpire wasn't calling the pitches down."