WILTON — For the second straight season the Wilton Beavers baseball team will be playing for a trip to the state tournament. Wilton beat Southeast Iowa Super Conference foe Mediapolis 4-0 to advance. It was the twelfth shutout this season in 28 games for Wil- ton. Last season, the Beavers earned their rst state trip since 2005 with a 4-0 win over Dyersville-Beckman at Solon. The 2018 Beavers advanced to the nal four in Class 2A before bowing out to eventual state champion Centerville. Where the season ends this year is yet to be determined. Seven starters return from last year’s state team and look to make an even deeper run this year.
Wilton improved to 24-4 with the win and are now 2-0 in the postseason. Wilton entered postseason play on a two-game losing streak after losses to Class 3A state-ranked Fair eld, and Class 1A No. 1 Mason City Newman.
Central Lee advanced to Substate after winning district 8 Monday with a 5-4 win over Davis County. Central Lee improved to 20-2 with the victory. The Hawks advanced to their second straight substate game. Central Lee lost to Iowa City Regina last year 4-1, one-game short of state.
Central Lee’s top hitters are seniors Tyler Hopp (.459 ave. 34 hits, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 30 SB, .525 OBP) and Sam Hirner (.418 ave. 28 hits, 25 RBI, 28 SB, .518 OBP). The Beavers will likely see Waylon Weirather pitching in the game.
Wierather has the most starts (6), appearances (13), and best record among seven Hawk pitchers. Wierather is 7-1 in 45 1/3 innings with a 0.77 ERA. He has 45 strikeouts to 11 walks and teams bat only .195 against the senior starter.
The winner of the game will play at the 2019 state baseball tournament in Des Moines, at Principal Park. The Class 2A state quarter nals are Mon- day, July 29 at 11:00 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. The Class 2A semi nals are Thursday, August 1 and the Class 2A state championship game is Saturday, August 3 at 1:30 p.m.
Wilton senior Collin McCrabb improved to 4-0 in four starts this season with the win. Mc- Crabb lowered his ERA to 2.10 in nearly 30 innings pitched. He became the second Wilton pitcher this season to reach
40 strikeouts this season by striking out six MEPO batters. Jared Townsend and A.J. Bosten are the others. Mc- Crabb needed a cool 100 pitch- es in the game and allowed only three hits. He walked two MEPO batters.
Wilton and Mediapolis were scoreless after three innings. Mediapolis had only one baserunner in the rst ve innings. Wilton scored the rst run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead. Six Beavers batted in the inning. Chantz Stevens walked to lead o the fourth inning with a walk and went to second on a balk by Bulldog pitcher Chauy Massner. Stevens went to third and Collin McCrabb walked to give Wilton runners at the corners. Jared Townsend then doubled in Stevens for a 1-0 lead and on the play McCrabb advanced to third base. Wilton couldn’t add to their run, as Mediapolis struck out the next three Beavers to end the inning.
Wilton took control of the game in the bottom of the fth. Garrett Bohnsack drew a one-out walk. Stevens reached on a two-out single and Mc- Crabb walked to load the bases. Townsend then hammered a double to clear the bases, and give Wilton a 4-0 lead.
Mediapolis had their best chance to score in the top of the sixth inning. The Bulldogs led o the inning with a Dray- ven Fenton walk and a Nick Esminger walk. Zach Osborne ew out for the rst out and McCrabb struck out Massner for the second out. Alex Die- wold singled to load the bases, but McCrabb coaxed a line-out by Bulldog cleanup hitter Ben Wolgemuth to end the inning. Wilton retired the Bulldogs in order in the top of the seventh to secure the win.
Mediapolis won the SEISC North Division by one-game over IMS with a 12-2 conference record. Pekin was also in the mix, two games back and ends their season 19-9. Mediapolis had a season-best 7-game win streak in early June to mid-June. The Bulldogs started the season with ve straight wins. Mediapolis reached the district nal game with postseason wins over Anamosa 11-2 at Anamosa and they won a 9-1 district seminal game at Wilton against Wapello. Chauy Massner, Alex Diewold, and Brennan Breuer had the Bulldogs hits.
Wilton also had three hits in the game. Jared Townsend was 2-for-3 with two doubles and 4 RBI”s to lead Wilton batters. Chantz Stevens had the other Wilton hit. The Beavers drew ve walks o of Mediapo- lis starter Chauy Massner. Col- lin McCrabb had three of those walks while Garrett Bohnsack and Stevens had the other walks. Bohnsack had the only stolen base by the Beavers.
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