Bremen holds off Winamac 7th inning rally, advances to sectional final

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Baseball

Bremen 4, Winamac 2 (Saturday): Kaden Runk and Brayden Mathias each had RBIs in the top of the seventh inning, but Bremen held off Winamac in a Class 2A, Sectional 34 semifinal at Jimtown Saturday.

Aden Hunziker pitched a four-hitter with four walks and five strikeouts for Bremen. He also hit a solo homer at the plate.

Cody Wheeler walked to lead off the seventh. Wheeler advanced to third when freshman Xavier Adriano doubled for what turned out to be Winamac’s lone extra-base hit. Brody Wenzler then walked to load the bases.

Peyton Attinger struck out, but Runk singled home Wheeler to make it 4-1 and reload the bases.

Mathias hit a grounder to Silas Laidig at third, who stepped on third for a forceout as Adriano scored and Runk advanced to second.

Will Malchow’s infield single again loaded the bases.

Hunziker then got Addison Allen to fly out to right to end the game. Hunziker threw 121 pitches, which means that he would have had to have been replaced if Allen had reached base, per IHSAA pitch count rules.

Bremen improved to 18-9. Winamac finished 15-12.

Wenzler, a senior left-hander, pitched a six-hitter with six walks and five strikeouts.

J.J. Cencelewski walked with the bases loaded in the first for the Lions. Wenzler walked the first two batters in the fourth, and both came around to score on an Aiden Alvarado RBI single and a passed ball. 

Hunziker’s homer in the fifth increased the lead to four.

“We had our shot,” Winamac coach Mark Hendryx said in a statement. “We had bases loaded in the top of the seventh down two with two outs. It just didn’t fall for us. Brody didn’t have his best stuff today, but he did what good pitchers do – he battled and kept us in the game. We had our chances. We just didn’t capitalize.”

Bremen will play Jimtown (21-7) in the final at 5:30 p.m. today. Jimtown blanked Knox 7-0 in the other semifinal. Jimtown won both meetings against Bremen in Indiana Northern State Conference play.

Bremen 4, Winamac 2

Winamac 000 000 2 – 2 4 0

Bremen 100 210 X – 4 6 2

WP – Hunziker (7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 5 K)

LP – Brody Wenzler (6 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 5 K)

2B – Xavier Adriano (WIN)

HR – Aden Hunziker (BRE)