Monday, June 15, will bring about an experience the vast majority of people who have either played or cheered for the Kaukauna baseball team have never experienced.
The last time the Galloping Ghosts played in the WIAA state baseball tournament was in 1954, when it was played in Menasha.
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“We’re at state and it’ll be a really good team,” Kaukauna coach Mike Jenkins said about the upcoming quarterfinal game at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. “It’s a really hungry fan base.”
Sectional final winning pitcher Bron Schaefer said it was a moment that put Kaukauna on the map in another sport.
“Football wins all the time,” he said. “Softball won like 10 years in a row. We haven’t been to state in 72 years. Baseball is back on the map and it’s a great thing for our grade and the people behind us.”
The Ghosts, who are 21-7 overall and 11-2 in their last 13 games, received the No. 3 seed in the Division 1 tournament field. They will face No. 6 seed River Falls (18-9) at 2:30 p.m.
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When did the Ghosts get the idea this could be a special team?
Bennett Geitner, who pitched the final inning in the sectional championship game against Bay Port after Schaefer went the first six innings, pointed to the season-opening trip to Tennessee where they went 2-1.
“In Tennessee, we really just showed how we can be like a team,” he said. “We took what we got from that and just kept rolling.”
After finishing 14-4 in the Fox Valley Association and dispatching Appleton West in the regional final, the Ghosts probably could not have asked for two tougher sectional opponents in Bay Port, which won the Fox River Classic Conference with a 17-1 record, and Kimberly, which won the Fox Valley Association with a 17-1 record.
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“It’s all about preparation,” Schaefer said. “We beat Bay Port during the regular season and lost to Kimberly twice. You feel good about the Bay Port game going in because we beat them. And Kimberly? They say it’s hard to beat a team three times.”
As for being ready to face River Falls, a team that is 10-3 since losing to New Richmond on May 7, Schaefer said it all comes down to doing what the Ghosts started doing back in early March and on that road trip to Tennessee.
“We just keep doing things the same,” Schaefer said. “Prepare and understand what you need to do to win. You’ll find a way to win a baseball game.”
As for putting this team together, Jenkins said he was familiar with both the senior and junior groups of players.
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“I coached the junior group coming up through Little League,” Jenkins said. “My son is part of that group and then seeing the group above us through all the same tournaments. It’s been a group that I’ve been excited to see get to this point.”
According to Blake Vandeloo, nerves should not be a problem because of who they faced in the sectional.
“I think we’ll have a lot of confidence going into these [state] games,” Vandeloo said. “I mean, we had a really tough sectional. Kimberly is a team that we’ve been battling with for a while now. I think we’ll be looking really good heading into Monday.”
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Kaukauna entered the sectional final with a .338 team batting average, led by Kaden Kress with a .449 average. He had also driven in a team-high 28 runs with Vandeloo next with 26. Vandeloo also had a team-high 10 doubles.
On the mound, Kaukauna had fashioned a team ERA of 2.23 with Carson Gates leading with a 0.79 ERA. He struck out 54 batters in 44 innings. Paxton Schuh is the team leader in strikeouts, fanning 60 batters in 39 innings.
River Falls, which has a team-batting average of .263, is led at the plate by Cal Dumond with a .358 batting average. Dumond also has a team-leading 18 RBI.
Ethan Jeffers and Landon McQuade have done the bulk of the pitching for River Falls, which has a team ERA of 2.12. McQuade has a 1.38 ERA in 43⅔ innings with 40 strikeouts. Jeffers has a 2.12 ERA over 56 innings. He has struck out 58 batters.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Kaukauna Ghosts baseball team headed to WIAA state tournament
