Janesville Craig Outlasts Stoughton

June 4, 2015

By Steve Nielsen
Scouting Supervisor – Wisconsin/Illinois

JANESVILLE, WI – The Janesville Craig Cougars have been one of the top teams in the state all year, suffering just one loss on the season. The No. 1 seeded Cougars and No. 2 ranked PBR Power 25 team won their regional on Tuesday 9-2 over Stoughton, but didn’t come as easily as the score would dictate.

Stoughton threw the first offensive punch and it was all Kansas State commit Cade Bunnell. Bunnell scorched a deep opposite field gapper in the first, driving in Brady Shipper. Then in the fourth the Vikings tallied another with Bunnell leading off the inning hitting a two bagger to the right center gap followed by an Alec Showers double, scoring Bunnell.

Through three and half innings of play Stoughton looked to have the upper hand, up 2-0 and hard throwing freshman RHP Dillon Nowicki keeping contact to a minimum.

However, the bottom of the fourth proved to be the demise of the Vikings. The Cougars sent 13 batters to the plate, five of which walked in the inning. Chase Nyborg led the inning off with a single and then later doubled, while Alex Marro tallied two doubles in the inning. A Stoughton pitching change couldn’t even right the ship as the Vikings went to Cade Bunnell to try to stop the bleeding. Bunnell sat 88-89 mph but still surrendered three of the eight runs in the inning.

Craig scratched one more across in the fifth on a Nick Blomgren RBI single making a final score of 9-2 and a Cougar regional championship. Blomgren finished 2-for-2 with two walks two RBI and a run scored.

Craig moves on to the Sectionals in Janesville where they will face Madison West. The other side of the Janesville Sectional will see Parker take on Verona.

Janesville Craig Outlasts Stoughton

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