Xavier baseball blanks Notre Dame to win WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal

AppletonSportsPage.com

GREEN BAY – Xavier pitcher Quinn Comerford tossed a two-hit complete-game shutout as the Hawks prevailed 2-0 over Green Bay Notre Dame in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal on Tuesday at Neville Field.

The No. 5 seeded Hawks (17-9) move on to a D-2 regional final at No. 1 seed and Bay Conference rival Seymour (15-6) on Wednesday with a berth in next Tuesday’s sectional at Chilton on the line.

Comerford struck out six and allowed only one walk while the Hawks committed only one error in the victory.

Xavier plated both of its runs in the fourth inning when Kyler Bleck led off with a single, stole second, moved up to third on an error on the play, and scored on a single by Gavin Wiese. Titan Milhaupt followed with another single and after a pop out, Easton Stempa knocked in Wiese with a single.

The Hawks only had two hits outside of the four in the fourth inning, but that one offensive outburst proved to be enough as Comerford worked around two baserunners in the sixth inning and erased a one-out single in the seventh with a double play groundball to end the game.

Hawks 2, Tritons 0
Xavier   000   200   0   –   2   6   1
Notre Dame   000   000   0   –   0   2   1
WP: Quinn Comerford. LP: Drew Magnuson.
SO: Comerford 6; Magnuson 6. BB: Comerford 1; Magnuson 1.
Top hitters: X, Kyler Bleck 1×3, run; Gavin Wiese 1×3, run, RBI; Easton Stempa 1×3, RBI.
Records: Xavier 17-9; Notre Dame 12-15.