Express Derail RedDogs' Championship Hopes

The East Troy Express came into Genoa City on Sunday, August 16th, for a Land O Lakes Southwest division second round playoff game and handed the RedDogs a stunning 13-0 defeat.  The loss ends the Dogs' season in the second round for the second consecutive year.  East Troy travels to Waterford on Saturday to play for the Southwest division title and the chance to represent the division in the Land O Lakes Grand Championships.

On paper, Sunday's contest appeared to set up as a classic pitchers' duel.  Express lefty Tim Shafer, who beat the RedDogs 5-4 earlier in the year, took the mound against RedDogs ace Tom Starck, who returned the favor by besting East Troy 6-2 in the back end of the doubleheader.  Neither pitcher would disappoint through the first four innings as the game remained scoreless.  The Express put a man on third with one out in the top of the 5th and their nine hitter at bat.  Jorie Tess hit a relatively deep flyball to left-center.  Dogs' centerfielder Drew Roberts appeared to have a play on the ball, but it glanced off of his glove, scoring the run and allowing Tess to get to 2nd base.  Starck induced the ET leadoff hitter into a groundout to short, getting the second out of the inning.  The next batter hit a weak groundball to the right side that was misplayed by first baseman Brian Dohse, allowing the inning to continue.  A base hit scored the second run for the Express, and then came the big blow of the inning.  Cleanup hitter Kurt Wenzel blasted a 2-0 fastball over the left field fence, giving East Troy a 5-0 lead.  One more unearned run would cross the plate before the RedDogs finally got the third out to end the disaster of an inning trailing 6-0.

The big inning proved to be more than enough offense for Shafer to work with.  The Dogs loaded the bases in the 6th and 7th innings, but couldn't come up with the big hit.  East Troy tacked on some insurance runs in the late innings and Shafer kept his foot on the gas pedal, finishing what he started.  The Express had many offensive stars on the day, none bigger than Kurt Wenzel who added a triple to his earlier home run.  It was a disappointing and shocking finish to a very solid season by the RedDogs.  In only their second year of existence, the Dogs captured the Land O Lakes regular season title, finished third in the very competitive Langsdorf league and had an overall record of 30-12.

Thank you to the fans, volunteers and sponsors that make RedDogs baseball possible.  Check back for details on our fall and winter fundraising events, including Twin Lakes Fall Festivus the weekend after Labor Day.

Southwest Division Playoff Preview

In only their second season of existence, the Genoa City RedDogs captured their first Land O' Lakes Soutwest Division regular season title.  The Dogs finished the regular season with a 16-4 record, two games ahead of second place Genesee and third place Waterford.  While winning the regular season is nice, the real champ of the Southwest division is the team that is victorious in the six team playoffs, which begin Saturday, August 15th.  The winner of the playoffs advances to the Land O' Lakes Grand Championship tournament to square off against the winners of the other three LOL divisions.

By virtue of their respective first and second place finishes, Genoa City and Genesee each earned a first round bye and the right to host second round games on Sunday, August 16th.  Waterford earned the 3rd seed with the same 14-6 record as Genesee, but lost out on the 2nd seed in the head-to-head tiebreaker.  They will take on 6th seed Dousman on Saturday.  Dousman snuck into the playoffs, even after losing their final three games, as they were part of a three way tie for 6th place with Mukwonago and Rome.  East Troy hung on to the 4th seed even though they had a bit of a tailspin towards the end of the regular season, losing their last four games.  Upstart Sullivan nabbed the 5th seed when they won a showdown with Rome, which ultimately left the Raiders on the outside looking in.

Saturday's 3 vs. 6 matchup pits the Dousman Frogs at the Waterford Rivermen.  Waterford has been the perennial division powerhouse, and they usually find themselves with a first round bye and a relaxing Saturday.  The Rivermen took it to the Frogs in July, sweeping a doubleheader 8-1 and 12-1 on Dousman's home turf.  Waterford's home (softball) field suits them well, and I expect them the put on an offensive show against Dousman's good, but not great, pitching.  The Frogs have a young team on the rise, but this won't be their year.  Look for a big Waterford win in this one,  I'll call it 15-6.

The other Saturday game has the 5th seeded Sullivan Roosters traveling to the 4th seeded East Troy Express.  The two teams split a doubleheader at Sullivan last month with the Roosters taking game one 7-5 and the Express rebounding with a 4-1 victory.  East Troy has lost four straight and struggled to score runs lately, but they can still run lefties Tim Schafer or Todd Nabor out there and shut anyone down.  Sullivan has been on a bit of a roll, winning four of their last five contests.  They don't seem to have any glaring deficiencies as they have some pitching and can score some runs.  This game should be a close one, but, in the end, East Troy's previous playoff experience will win out.  I predict a 5-3 East Troy victory. 

RedDogs Win LOL Southwest Regular Season Title Outright

The Genoa City RedDogs clinched their first Land O Lakes Southwest division regular season title on Tuesday night, beating the visiting Genesee Rebels in a slugfest, 21-11.  The Rebels came to town trailing the Dogs by just one game in the standings and with a chance to possibly earn the #1 seed in the playoffs depending on other game results.  The Rebels jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but the short-handed RedDogs roared back to take a 9-7 lead.  The game was tied 10-10 in the 4th inning, but Genoa City broke it open from there.  More details on the offensive barrage to come.

The RedDogs set up the showdown with Genesee on Sunday with two white-knuckle wins on Sunday at Dousman.  Game one featured a pitchers' duel between Dogs starter Taylor Dowden and Dousman's Keaton Wigdal.  Genoa City struck first in the first inning as Chad Tindall and Jade Boettcher had back to back singles, putting runners on first and third for Brian Dohse.  Boettcher got picked off of first, but stayed in the rundown long enough to allow Tindall to score from third.  

Both pitchers put it on cruise control until the bottom of the 4th.  Dousman shortstop Dave Roberts smashed a Dowden fastball over the "wall" in leftcenter, tying the game at 1-1.  The bats for both sides would remain silent until the Dousman half of the 6th inning.  Cleanup hitter Justin Radichel sat back on a Dowden changeup and drilled a solo shot to straight away right giving the Frogs a 2-1 lead going to the final inning.

Dogs leading home-run hitter, Tom Starck, would lead off the 7th for the Dogs.  Starck appeared to clutch up, hitting a majestic fly ball to deep right center.  Dousman's right fielder got back to the fence, leapt, crashed through the thought-to-be-indestructible snow fence, and robbed Starck of a game-tying tater.  The RedDogs wouldn't be deflated, though.  Brandon Perry, Erick Muhlenbeck and Kellen Haynes promptly hit back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases.  Tommy Johnston popped out to short, setting the stage for Jimmy Sanew.  Sanew laced a single right back through the box plating the tying and go-ahead runs.  Tom Starck took the mound for his first save opportunity of the season.  He sat down the Frogs in typical Starck fashion, striking out the side and preserving a 3-2 Dogs victory.  This game marked the 8th time the RedDogs have come from behind in the final inning to win a game this summer.

Game two featured a little more offense and a lot more rain.  Storm clouds loomed as the second game began.  Genoa City struck first again as Tom Starck scored on a wild pitch in the top of the 2nd.  Genoa City starter Travis Sindles was dominating into the third inning.  The bottom of the third would prove to be a rough one for the young lefty though.  Dousman put two men on with two outs and their lead off hitter stepped to the plate.  He ripped a double over left fielder Jade Boettcher's head.  The Dogs made an excellent relay play as Chad Tindall's throw to the plate had the runner beat.  Catcher Tommy Johnston, however, couldn't handle the short hop and Dousman tied the game at 1-1.  The bad news wasn't over for Sindles, though.  He had to leave the game with tightness and pain in his left elbow.  Brandon Perry came in and got out of the inning without allowing any more damage.

The RedDogs came right back in the top of the 4th, when Tom Starck hit his team-leading 6th homerun of the season.  The Frogs came right back in the bottom of the 4th to tie the game on a sequence of events that I can't quite remember.  Then the storm came... The game was delayed for 45 minutes as a veritable light show lit up the sky.  The game resumed in the top of the 5th and the RedDogs would rally.  The Dogs scored four runs in the inning.  It appeared that Dousman may have only one more chance to come back as the second wave of weather was about to strike and another delay would most likely end the game.  Five complete innings constitutes a complete game.  Brandon Perry  got the first two batters, but the next two reached safely.  Justin Radichel stepped to the plated and absolutely demolished a BP (Brandon Perry, not batting practice) fastball over the right field fence, bringing the Frogs within one at 6-5.  Perry would get the next batter.  The home plate ump immediately called the game as the weather was about to get ugly.  Genoa City escaped with two one-run wins.

Next up for Genoa City is a Soutwest division playoff game on Sunday.  The Dogs will host the lower remaining seed at 1:30 at Torstensen Field.  Check back later this week for a playoff preview.