This season’s Packerland Conference baseball champion came within one win of also being the WIAA Division 3 state champion.
In Thursday’s state title game at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, No. 3-seeded Kewaunee lost to No. 1-seeded Kenosha St. Joseph, 3-2.
The Storm led twice in the game before giving up the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth.
Kewaunee took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth after Diesel Bosdeck reached base on an error at shortstop, stole second, advanced to third on a flyout to right field by Waylon Delain and scored on a wild pitch.
Kenosha St. Joseph tied the game in the fourth inning when Patrick Davidson tripled and scored on a single by Mason Ballard off of Storm starting pitcher Brady Pribek. Jackson Walecka then relieved Pribek on the mound and recorded the final two outs.
The Storm regained the lead at 2-1 in the top of the fifth after Toby Kunkel doubled, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ethan Paplham and scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Connor Kilgore.
Kenosha St. Joseph tied the game once again in the fifth inning when Dominic Santarelli walked, stole second and scored on a feilding error.
Delain pitched in the bottom of the sixth and ended up recording the loss when Kenosha St. Joseph tallied three consecutive singles after two outs with Tim Falk driving in the winning run.
Kewaunee, which ended the season 18-6 overall, had advanced to the state title game after winning Tuesday’s semifinal over No. 2-seeded Fennimore, 5-3.
Kenosha St. Joseph, which last year finished runner-up at state, ended the season 23-7 overall.
Pacelli Runner-up in D4
On Thursday morning, the team that eliminated Gibraltar/Washington Island a week earlier in the Division 4 sectional semifinals, Stevens Point Pacelli, played for the Division 4 state title, but lost to Johnson Creek, 5-0.