Wisconsin Heights’ baseball team drops playoff opener

It was a tough year for Wisconsin Heights’ baseball team. And the end to the season on May 23 might have been the toughest blow yet. The ninth-seeded Vanguards led eighth-seeded Poynette, 5-1, heading to the bottom of the seventh inning of their WIAA Division 3 regional quarterfinal game. But the host Pumas scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game, then pushed across a run in the eighth and prevailed, 6-5. Heights finished the year 2-19, while Poynette improved to 6-15 and advanced to a regional semifinal against top-seeded Cambridge. Finn Hinderman led the Vanguards’ offense, going 2-for-4 with two RBI, while Lukas Lemke and Brayden Van Riper both had two hits. Reed Adler hurled a gem for the Vanguards, allowing three runs (zero earned) in 6 1/3 innings. Adler struck out eight, walked two and threw strikes on 67 of 101 pitches (66.3%). By WIAA rule, though, Adler had to leave after exceeding 100 pitches. Heights’ Quinn Payne replaced Adler and took the loss. Heights took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Van Riper’s RBI single scored Chuck Reader. The Vanguards made it 2-0 in the third when a Finderman RBI single plated Payne. Poynette scored a run in the bottom of the third and trimmed its deficit to 2-1. But Finderman had another RBI single in the fifth that scored Zac Sander to make it 3-1. Then Heights added two more runs in the sixth when Van Riper scored on an error and a groundout by River Lubchansky scored Lemke. Poynette closed within 5-2 in the seventh when Payne got a strikeout for the second out of the inning. But with the Pumas down to their final out, they responded with a base hit, then Heights had consecutive errors allowing Poynette to tie the game. In the eighth, Poynette’s Chase Hansen had a leadoff single, moved to second after a balk, and scored on a game-winning hit by Chase Maier.