GRAND CHUTE, Wis. ­– Two Division 1 programs advanced to the finals of the 2019 State Baseball Tournament with wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals Thursday.

Sun Prairie (24-6) scored five runs in the first two innings to go on to defeat Burlington (24-6) 6-1 in the semifinals. Bennet Halbleib delivered a two-run single to spark a three-run first inning for the Cardinals. Josh Caron drove in a run with a single in the first inning and added a two run single in the second inning. He led the Cardinals’ offensive attack with three hits and three RBIs.

Robbie Knorr went the distance to earn the win on the mound for the Cardinals. He yielded one unearned run on seven hits while striking out four.

Sun Prairie advances to the Division 1 finals in pursuit of its ninth State championship. The Cardinals defeated Oak Creek 3-2 in the quarterfinals.

Eau Claire North (24-4) downed Fond du Lac (14-13) in its semifinal, 8-4. The Huskies struck early with a pair of runs in the first inning ignited by three singles.

They opened a 7-0 lead with five runs on five hits in the third inning. The big blow was a two-run triple by Gabe O’Brien. The Cardinals answered with a pair of runs in their half of the inning on RBI singles off the bats of Sam Hernandez and Justin Schnell.

The Huskies added a run on a Sam Stange RBI single in the fifth to increase the lead to 8-2. Fond du Lac added two unearned runs in the bottom of the inning to cap the scoring.

O’Brien collected a game-high three hits for the Huskies, scoring a paired of runs and driving in two.  Carter Hesselman was credited with the victory in relief, tossing two scoreless innings to end the game.