MONROE - Despite Michael Turek's big night at the plate, the Cheesemakers failed to close out Baraboo in a 6-3 loss Friday.
"We came out flat," Monroe head coach Dustin Huffman said. "We didn't play well in that first inning and then the last inning, we just melted down defensively."
The Thunderbirds scored a pair of runs off of a couple Cheesemaker miscues in the first, putting Monroe in an early hole. Leading off the third inning, Turek, Monroe's No. 9 hitter, gave his team some energy by rocking a 3-1 fastball over the right center field fence.
"It was great because I had a bad play (on defense) in the first inning, so I felt like I had balanced it out a little bit," Turek said after hitting his first career varsity home run. "It just happened to go over. I wasn't expecting that hitting it to (the) opposite field."
Turek continued to spark the Cheesemakers' offense. The junior outfielder was 3-for-3, hitting the ball hard in each at bat.
"When you're batting in the nine-spot, you usually get some pretty nice pitches, so I've gotten used to it. I think I was seeing it pretty well tonight," Turek said.
Turek's leadoff single in the fifth fueled a rally that concluded with Kramer Henning's two-out, two RBI single that gave Monroe a short-lived 3-2 lead.
"(Turek) looked really good swinging the bat. He looked just dialed in," Huffman said. "We kind of got some momentum going and battled back to tie it up and take the lead. That was a nice, clutch two-out hit."
In the bottom of the sixth with pinch runner Gabe Hermanson standing on third with one out, Cory Kundert hit a fly to shallow right. Hermanson dashed for home but was thrown out 15 feet up the line at home.
"It's two bad we got out at home. Turek was the next guy up and he was swinging the bat better than anybody on the team," Huffman said. "Unfortunately we had some miscommunication over there at third base - he thought I said 'go' and I was saying 'don't go' and he got thrown out. It just seemed like the momentum switched right there on that play."
Baraboo tied the game up at 3-3 in the top of the sixth off Monroe starter Mitch Marty. In the seventh, the Thunderbirds had the first four batters reach on two errors, a hit by pitch and a single. Baraboo scored three runs in the frame.
Marty allowed eight hits and just one earned run in six-plus innings of work. Michael Wolfe relieved Marty in the seventh, allowing two inherited runners to score - one on a wild pitch and another on a sacrifice fly to deep center.
"Mitch doesn't have the velocity on his fastball that he can blow everybody away with. He's really got to spot it and mix in his breaking ball," Huffman said. "They did a nice job adjusting to his breaking ball later in the game and started putting it in play. Unfortunately, we didn't make the plays we needed to make."
Fortunately, the Cheesemakers (11-9, 5-6 Badger South) cannot sit on the loss for very long, as they try to end their current three-game skid today at Monona Grove (21-8, 6-4).
"They better (get over the loss). MG is a good team," Huffman said. "We're using these last three games to try to get ready for Mount Horeb on Friday. Hopefully we're ready to work and get better so we can come out and play. We're not a great hitting team, but if we pitch, we play defense and we get some timely hitting, we can play with anybody."
Monroe then gets prepared for Mount Horeb (7-17), who the Cheesemakers will play May 28 at home in the first round of the WIAA Division 2 regional playoffs. Monroe beat the Vikings in the season opener on the road, 15-9.
"We came out flat," Monroe head coach Dustin Huffman said. "We didn't play well in that first inning and then the last inning, we just melted down defensively."
The Thunderbirds scored a pair of runs off of a couple Cheesemaker miscues in the first, putting Monroe in an early hole. Leading off the third inning, Turek, Monroe's No. 9 hitter, gave his team some energy by rocking a 3-1 fastball over the right center field fence.
"It was great because I had a bad play (on defense) in the first inning, so I felt like I had balanced it out a little bit," Turek said after hitting his first career varsity home run. "It just happened to go over. I wasn't expecting that hitting it to (the) opposite field."
Turek continued to spark the Cheesemakers' offense. The junior outfielder was 3-for-3, hitting the ball hard in each at bat.
"When you're batting in the nine-spot, you usually get some pretty nice pitches, so I've gotten used to it. I think I was seeing it pretty well tonight," Turek said.
Turek's leadoff single in the fifth fueled a rally that concluded with Kramer Henning's two-out, two RBI single that gave Monroe a short-lived 3-2 lead.
"(Turek) looked really good swinging the bat. He looked just dialed in," Huffman said. "We kind of got some momentum going and battled back to tie it up and take the lead. That was a nice, clutch two-out hit."
In the bottom of the sixth with pinch runner Gabe Hermanson standing on third with one out, Cory Kundert hit a fly to shallow right. Hermanson dashed for home but was thrown out 15 feet up the line at home.
"It's two bad we got out at home. Turek was the next guy up and he was swinging the bat better than anybody on the team," Huffman said. "Unfortunately we had some miscommunication over there at third base - he thought I said 'go' and I was saying 'don't go' and he got thrown out. It just seemed like the momentum switched right there on that play."
Baraboo tied the game up at 3-3 in the top of the sixth off Monroe starter Mitch Marty. In the seventh, the Thunderbirds had the first four batters reach on two errors, a hit by pitch and a single. Baraboo scored three runs in the frame.
Marty allowed eight hits and just one earned run in six-plus innings of work. Michael Wolfe relieved Marty in the seventh, allowing two inherited runners to score - one on a wild pitch and another on a sacrifice fly to deep center.
"Mitch doesn't have the velocity on his fastball that he can blow everybody away with. He's really got to spot it and mix in his breaking ball," Huffman said. "They did a nice job adjusting to his breaking ball later in the game and started putting it in play. Unfortunately, we didn't make the plays we needed to make."
Fortunately, the Cheesemakers (11-9, 5-6 Badger South) cannot sit on the loss for very long, as they try to end their current three-game skid today at Monona Grove (21-8, 6-4).
"They better (get over the loss). MG is a good team," Huffman said. "We're using these last three games to try to get ready for Mount Horeb on Friday. Hopefully we're ready to work and get better so we can come out and play. We're not a great hitting team, but if we pitch, we play defense and we get some timely hitting, we can play with anybody."
Monroe then gets prepared for Mount Horeb (7-17), who the Cheesemakers will play May 28 at home in the first round of the WIAA Division 2 regional playoffs. Monroe beat the Vikings in the season opener on the road, 15-9.
