Red Raiders have ruined Blugolds’ chances for state titles multiple times
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – There’s a lot of history at state for the Aquinas High School baseball team, as it opens the WIAA Division 3 semifinals today against Marathon.
History with its coach. History with Marathon, too, as the teams set up to play each other around 2:45 p.m. at Fox Cities Stadium.
Scott Bagniefski, who took over coaching Aquinas in 1999, was a player back when the Blugolds won four consecutive WISAA titles from 1984 to ’87.
As Aquinas coach, this will be Bagniefski’s fifth trip to state, as he looks for a second state title at the helm.
The Blugolds won it all back in 2007 with an 8-7 victory over Eau Claire Regis. Aquinas won on a Corey Geary single in the top of the eighth, scoring Matt Kachel.
After that, however, is where Marathon rears its head into this history.
In 2008, the Blugolds were back in the state championship game again, but it was Marathon that won 3-2. Aquinas was up 2-1 after the first inning, but the Red Raiders scored two in the top of the second and the teams went scoreless from there on out.
In 2009, the teams met in the semifinals. Another close one. Another Red Raiders victory, 7-6. Aquinas had a 6-4 lead heading into the seventh, where Marathon scored three to win. It went on to lose in the state championship.
In 2010, the two teams were back in the state title game once again. And once again, Marathon came away the champs, winning in complete opposite fashion of the 2008 matchup. The Red Raiders won in a shootout, 15-7. Aquinas fell behind 6-1 in the first inning, but tied the game with five runs in the third. Marathon, however, struck back with two in the fourth, three in the fifth and sealed it with a four-run seventh.
All that history, however, means almost nothing to Bagniefski in regards to this team.
“Yeah, a few people have brought that up to me in the last week, about Marathon,” said Bagniefski, who played shortstop at UW-La Crosse from 1988-91. “But, you know, these guys (on the team now) weren’t around when we were battling Marathon.”
The Red Raiders are coached by Steve Warren, a Westby and UW-La Crosse graduate – and Bagniefski’s friend. Marathon has won 11 consecutive games and outscored opponents 22-4 in the playoffs.
And that’s what Bagniefski is worried about. This Marathon team, which is ranked third in Division 3 with a 25-2 record. The Blugolds are ranked second with a sort of peculiar 26-3 record – peculiar in those three losses.
“It’s kind of funny, all three of our losses this year were by a score of (5-4),” he said. “They’ve been really tight games and I thought we learned some lessons from those losses. I absolutely know we did, and it made us a better ball club because of those.”
But once the playoffs began, the close games ceased. In four playoff games, the Blugolds have outscored opponents 35-0. Wins that included a 10-0 victory over ninth-ranked Riverdale (21-7) and an 8-0 win over No. 5 Neillsville (22-2).
A big reason for those outcomes? Pitching, of course.
“(They) have been just lights out in the playoffs, throwing shutouts” Bagniefski said, naming all his pitchers.
Alex Schulte is the team’s ace. The 6-foot-4 junior has a 10-0 record and a .98 earned-run average this season. Senior Rudy Rott is 6-0 with a 1.17 ERA, while senior Alex Dee is 1-1 with a 1.22 ERA.