Sports Wrapups: July 18

New Berlin Eisenhower baseball

The Lions did not suffer any letdown after clinching their first conference title since 1996.

Eisenhower wrapped up the regular season with five wins from July 12 through Friday, entered the playoffs on a nine-game winning streak and won its final 11 Woodland Conference games to finish 20-2 in league play.

The final surge also secured the Lions with a new school record for wins; entering this week they were 28-6.

Top-seeded Eisenhower was scheduled to host eighth-seeded Wauwatosa West in a regional final on Tuesday, after deadline. The winner advances to a semifinal in the New Berlin West Sectional at 11 a.m. Friday. The sectional final is 5 p.m. Friday, also at New Berlin West.

The Lions closed out the league portion of their schedule with a 9-6 home win over St. Thomas More on July 13.

Adam Vlaj pitched six strong innings (five strikeouts) and also belted a home run and drove in four runs to carry the Lions.

Alex McRae also homered for the Lions, who got two hits each from Brian York (two RBIs), Dan York, Erik Kust and Bryan Holmstrom.

One day earlier, the Lions swept visiting Greendale in a doubleheader, 11-4 and 2-1.

McRae and Anthony Hintz stood out in the blowout; McRae struck out eight over six innings pitched to earn the win and Hintz drove in three with a team-best three hits.

In the nightcap, Kelvin Hall limited Greendale to just three hits. He struck out four and walked two, and got all the offensive help he needed from Kyle Hegeman, who had three hits and drove in both his team's runs.

In nonconference action, Eisenhower went on the road to beat Port Washington, 7-3, July 15, as Kurt Hegeman and Tom Swokowski combined on a six-hitter for the Lions.

Eisenhower scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to snap a 9-9 tie and pull out a 10-9 victory over Catholic Memorial on Friday to end the regular season.

Brian York pounded out three doubles among his four hits and drove in three runs.

Muskego baseball

The Warriors came up a bit short in their quest for two conference titles in one season.

Muskego (29-7) lost to Franklin, 7-0, in the semifinals of the first-ever Greater Metro Conference Tournament on July 13, after winning the league title with a 16-4 record one week earlier.

The hitting of junior Ryan Geil and the pitching of Ian Malmstadt were a 1-2 punch for the Sabers that couldn't be beat. Malmstadt pitched a complete game, with six strikeouts and no walks.

"I've been working on three pitches and keeping them low," Malmstadt said. "(I used) a fastball and then changed it up every time and then worked backwards - start with off-speed and then go with the fastball to keep them off kilter."

Warriors coach Mike Schramek chalked it up to being one of those days.

"I would say there were at least three, if not upward to five or six balls that were typically going to find green space but today they didn't," Schramek said. "What are you going to do? Those can get very taxing on the mental mind, but we just kept swinging and kept making those tough outs."

Schramek said he didn't expect the loss, only the seventh of the season, to affect his players as they prepare for postseason play.

"(The team feeling) is awesome," he said. "The team has a lot of confidence in what we can do and what we're all about and this absolutely, positively will not rattle us. Not even close."

At the plate, Geil was 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs as Franklin collected nine hits off Muskego's Cole Borek.

The top-seeded Warriors were to play eighth-seeded Waukesha South in a regional final Tuesday, after deadline. The winner plays in a semifinal of the Muskego Sectional at 10:30 a.m. Friday. The final is 4:30 p.m.

- David Cotey