THE TOURNAMENT: The 50th Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Summer Baseball State Tournament will take place Friday, July 25, at Kapco Park on the campus of Concordia University in Mequon, Wis. Action will begin at noon with the first of two semifinals followed by the championship game at 6:35 p.m. Ticket prices for the tourney are $8 per session and are available only at the park.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE AND PAIRINGS: The format features a single elimination tournament with four teams in a single division. The second semifinal game will follow the first game.
Friday, July 25
Semifinals - Noon
Game #1 - Homestead (25-7) vs. Oak Creek (24-9)
Game #2 - Plymouth (28-4) vs. Brookfield Central (27-6)*
Championship Final - 6:35 p.m.
Game #3 - Winner of Game #1 vs. Winner of Game #2
* Following first game of session
STATE GAMES ON THE WEB: The semifinals and finals of the WIAA State Summer Baseball Tournament will be streamed live on foxsportswisconsin.com.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES ON FS WISCONSIN: Watch the delayed broadcast of the WIAA State Summer Baseball Championship game on FS Wisconsin. The game is scheduled to air on Thursday, July 31 at 7 p.m. Check local cable listings for the channel in your area.
TEAM TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The WIAA has been sponsoring the State Summer Baseball Championships since 1965. Oak Creek leads in the number of titles won with four. Brookfield Central, Brown Deer, Greendale, Homestead, West Bend East and West Bend West have won three State titles followed by Arrowhead, Franklin, Marquette and Nicolet with two. New Holstein has made the most State appearances with 18. Ashland and West Bend West are second on the list of tournament appearances with 13; Platteville has played in 12 State Tournaments and Plymouth now has 11. Arcadia, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau and West Bend East have each made appearances in 10 State Tournaments. The State Summer Baseball Tournament has been won by 30 different schools.
LAST YEAR: New Berlin West won its first State championship by outlasting West Bend West 11-6 in eight innings in the championship game. The Vikings took a 3-0 lead with three runs in the third. The Spartans got on the board with a run in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded walk, but the Vikings responded with three more runs in the fifth inning powered by three doubles. The Spartans tied the game at 6-6 with five runs in the sixth, including a three-run double by Jacob Kopp. New Berlin West posted five runs in the top of the eighth fueled by five hits. Andy Knoll had three hits in the game for the Vikings, and Allen Peil drove in four runs with a pair of hits. Nicholas Wolf collected three hits for the Spartans. The teams combined for 19 hits, nine errors and 18 bases on balls.
TOURNAMENT FIELD: Four-time champion Oak Creek will be making its seventh appearance at the State Tournament and its first since winning the title in 2012. The four titles are the most of any program, and the Knights are the only program to win three straight championships when they were crowned champions from 2003-2005. They finished in a first-place tie with Marquette in the Greater Metro Conference this year, and they advanced through the Greendale Sectional with a 6-4 win over Greendale in the final. Brookfield Central, which finished third in the Greater Metro Conference behind co-champions Oak Creek and Marquette, won the Waukesha West Sectional to advance to the State Tournament with a 4-0 blanking of Hamilton in the sectional final. The Lancers are making their first appearance since 2001, and they are attempting to win their fourth championship. Their three previous titles came in 1969, 1976 and 2000. Homestead qualifies for the State Tournament for the ninth time overall and for the first time since 2009. The Highlanders have won three State titles, capturing championships in 1974, 1978 and 1994, and they added a runner-up finish in 2003. Homestead finished runner-up in the North Shore Conference this year and advanced through the Whitefish Bay Sectional with a 10-4 win over host Whitefish Bay in the final. Plymouth returns to the State Tournament for the 11th time overall and for the first time since 2006. The Panthers’ lone State title came in 1982. They also claimed a runner-up finish in 1972. This season, they finished atop the Eastern Wisconsin Conference standings, and they advance from the sectional hosted at Plymouth with a 12-2, six-inning victory over arch rival Sheboygan Falls in the final.
NEED RESULTS?: The quickest way to get results will be to follow the live stats of the game on the WIAA website at: http://www.wiaawi.org/Sports/BaseballSummer.aspx.
Final scores and boxscores will also be posted following the games.