By Adam Roberts – 5/21/2021

Since head coach Kevin Schreiner went out as close to on top with the Aquinas baseball team as you can without a championship, Scott Bagniefski has been tasked with living up to the expectations the program had following their 2015 state title appearance. Scott has handled those expectations well, with a state title of his own in 2017 and a 79-45 overall record in his fifth season as manager. Sure the last couple of seasons before this one hadn’t been quite as good as his first two, but this year Scott is managing a bonafide state contender once again that features high-octane offense and an elite pitching staff. Both were on display yesterday against Logan.

Granted, the Rangers likely won’t advance past their first playoff game this year, but they still don’t just hand out no-hitters for free and I’ve always found multi-pitcher no-hitters, like the one we saw yesterday, to be very fascinating. Blugold pitchers Pearson Feehan and Lucas Ellingson combined for a no-no in the 16-0 win that was highlighted by a nine-run first inning complete with a two-run homer for Jared Everson.

The Blugolds lead the Mississippi Valley Conference by a half game over Onalaska, the only team to defeat Aquinas this year so far. Before the rematch on Thursday, the Blugolds will face Tomah tonight and Sparta  Monday and Tuesday. Aquinas is 15-1 and currently ranked fifth in Division 3 by the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association.

Author’s note: I owe a big thank you to Aquinas’s Brad Reinhart for reaching out to me for the following correction: Kevin Schreiner was the manager for Aquinas baseball in 2015, not Sam Servais. Thanks, Brad!

By Adam Roberts – 5/20/2021

UWL baseball’s Chris Schwarz has now had five 30-win seasons, and the thirtieth of the 2021 campaign was a wild ride.

The Eagles were hosting Platteville, and at different times trailed 5-0, 11-7 in the bottom of the ninth, and 13-11 in the bottom of the tenth. Each time UWL would rebound courtesy of 16 hits, with maybe the biggest coming in the bottom of the ninth on a two-run home run from Connor Roesler as part of a 3-4 4 RBI afternoon. Couple that with a solid five innings of relief for Chris Seveska and the walk-off on a wild pitch, and there you have the 14-13 Eagle win.

The 30 wins are the fifth most in school history, behind the rest of Schwarz’s 30-plus win seasons. The most came in 2016 when the Eagles won 39 games on their way to the D3 championships.

UWL will take on two-seed UW-Whitewater tomorrow morning as part of the double-elimination tournament. The other two remaining teams are UW-Stout and UW-Oshkosh.

By Adam Roberts – 5/19/2021

In the 2010 NFL postseason, the Green Bay Packers hit their stride late in the season, notably winning three straight road playoff games before defeating Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV. On the defensive side of the ball, Green Bay was one of the best in the league that year, as championship teams usually are, and they were led both numbers-wise and leadership-wise by both Charles Woodson and Al Harris. While Harris left the team for Miami during the season, he had a number of great years in Green Bay, and Woodson of course was one of the most vocal leaders on the team that season.

Both players will be enshrined forever for their accomplishments later this year.

The 2021 Packer Hall of Fame Induction Banquet will feature Harris and Woodson as the newest inductees into the HOF. Also being honored is Bud Selig as the Bob Harlan Leadership Award recipient and the late Zeke Bratkowski as the Bart and Cherry Starr Recognition Award recipient. The event will be held August 28th to make up for the 2020 event being pushed back for COVID reasons.

By Adam Roberts – 5/19/2021

The state of Wisconsin has had its premiere football schools over the course of time. Names that come to mind include Jerry Sinz’s program at Edgar, Joe LaBuda’s Menomonie Mustangs, Bob Hyland at St. Mary’s Springs, perennial state contender Stratford, and the Papermakers of Kimberly who didn’t lose a single game between November 2nd 2012 and August 18th, 2018. Looking over the river, you obviously have to throw in Coach Freuchte’s Caledonia Warriors as well. But we also can’t leave out Bangor, who under Rick Muellenberg have won two state championships in 2015 and 2017 and seemingly always find a way to flirt with 60 points a game.

But the winds of change are always blowing, and it seems those winds are blowing through the Bangor community today.

WXOW’s Scott Emerich reported yesterday that Muellenberg has submitted his resignation from the head coaching position along with his assistant Kevin Kravik. That means that the 2021 fall season will be the first without Rick in some sort of leadership position for the Cardinals in 20 years.

In addition to the two state titles, Rick’s Cardinals have also compiled a 166.55 record during that time.

Congratulations to both Rick and Kevin on building a dominant football culture at Bangor! The next person up has some big shoes to fill.

By Adam Roberts – 5/18/2021

Brewers’ pitcher Corbin Burnes recently missed some time due to a COVID situation, and while it was certainly unfortunate to lose maybe the best pitcher in baseball at the moment, at least the Brewers avoided a case like with the Yankees. Nine members of that organization tested positive for the virus after receiving their vaccine series.

While that may seem concerning, one medical expert notes that this shows that the vaccines are actually doing their job. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Charles Lerner says they all show few symptoms, and also says it’s highly unlikely that the players gave it to each other. Studies, he says, show people who get vaccinated don’t share as much of the virus in their bodily fluids.

“It turns out that they do multiple tests on their players” Lerner said in an interview for Metro News. “and one had trivial symptoms and the others were all asymptomatic. If you do get the infection and are asymptomatic, you shed very little virus…[it’s] very hard to infect other people.”

Lerner says the Yankees situation shows why more people need to get vaccinated.

“When you’re immunized, the likelihood of your having severe disease is markedly reduced to almost nothing”.

You can set up a vaccine appointment in your neighborhood at dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19.