The Verona baseball team is tied for second place in the Big Eight Conference heading into a week with four games.
The Wildcats lost a clash to Madison West 7-6 on Wednesday, April 17, at Stampfl Field. Verona (6-2, 5-1 Big Eight) was coming off a 7-3 victory over Middleton on the road on Tuesday, April 16, at Breitenbach Stadium.
Verona had a home game against Middleton postponed on Thursday, April 18 and a road game against Janesville Craig postponed for the second time on Monday, April 22, at Riverside Park.
The Wildcats’ game scheduled at Janesville Craig was first postponed on Saturday, April 20, because Verona coach Brad D’Orazio said the conference has a policy not to play games when it’s below 40 degrees.
Verona will play Sun Prairie West Wednesday and Thursday before playing at Waunakee on Friday, April 26. The Wildcats will then host Middleton in a rescheduled game on Saturday, April 27, at the Verona Area High School field.
“If the weather was perfect it would be better not to have the same pitcher facing the same team for a second straight time,” D’Orazio said. “At this point, we just want to keep our pitchers on schedule and get the most out of them.”
Sun Prairie East (8-0 Big Eight) leads the conference by one game over Verona and Madison Memorial who are tied for second place.
Madison West 7, Verona 6
The Wildcats scored four runs in the top of the first inning. Verona senior Nate Novinska, sophomore Brady Patten and senior Tre Grignon each had RBI singles in the inning.
The Regents rallied with four runs in the second off Verona starting pitcher Alex Rech. It didn’t take the Wildcats long to regain the lead.
Grignon knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice and senior Braden Rozga hit an RBI double to give Verona a 6-4 lead.
Madison West answered by scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Cadel Donovan and Quinn Lightbourn delivered RBI singles to tie the game at 6. Madison West’s Michael Morson came through with a sacrifice fly to score the game-winning run.
Verona junior Caleb Hallmark tossed 2 â…” shutout innings and struck out one. Senior Jack DeTienne went 2-for-3 with one run scored.
Verona 7, Middleton 3
Senior Garrison Codde went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs to lead Verona to a win over Middleton.
The Wildcats jumped on the Cardinals for three runs in the second. Nathan Kirwan drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. Both Codde and DeTienne had RBI singles.
Codde hit a two-run home run in the sixth to give the Wildcats a 6-2 lead. Five players for Verona had multi-hit games and the Wildcats finished with 11 hits. DeTienne went 2-for-3 with one run and an RBI. Patten went 2-for-3 with one RBI and Novinska finished 2-for-3 at the plate. Grignon went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.
Verona’s Nolan Witkowski pitched five innings and gave up two earned runs on five hits to earn the win. He struck out seven and walked four. Rozga tossed two innings to get the save.
