JANESVILLE — Firing on all cylinders, the Wisconsin Cheese Kings shut out the Johnson Creek Mapaches, 10-0, in a Dairyland Collegiate Baseball League game Monday afternoon at the Janesville Youth Sports Complex.
Wisconsin had 15 hits backing Max Woll’s pitching effort. Garrett Guenther blasted a solo home run to highlight the Cheese Kings’ offensive performance. The Cheese Kings also had an error-free day.
Woll made just his second start after returning from a broken finger. The Dakota State (S.D.) University pitcher only allowed one hit during his 7-inning outing. Woll also had five strikeouts and just one walk.
“It’s hard coming back from a rehab start,” Woll said. “so I was working the best off what I could.”
Woll said that he varied his use of curveballs and fastballs and mixed in sinkers.
Woll started his outing by retiring the side in order, with two ground outs and a strikeout. In the second inning, he walked the first better than shut down the next three he saw.
He again retired the side in order in the third inning. Johnson Creek got its first hit in the sixth inning, to which its coach at third base said, “Now I can breathe.”
“He just dominated, he let his defense play for him, didn’t try to do too much and our bats came to play for him,” Wisconsin Head Coach Luke Schultz said.
Those bats came alive in the third and fifth inning, which each saw the Cheese Kings score a trio of runs.
Guenther hit his home run in the third inning and Brandon North provided two RBIs. Konner Giddley tripled in the fifth inning and scored off a Charlie Kober single. Andy Buckley also provided a run-scoring single.
In total, six Cheese Kings drove in runs, and the game ended after Wisconsin scored two more in the seventh inning.
Charlie Claas enjoyed a 3-for-5 performance with a run batted in and run scored. Guenther went 2-for-4, and Giddley went 2-for-3.
“Today we had just really good approaches,” Schultz said. “It’s probably the first time all season where we didn’t try to hit home runs the whole time or try to lift the ball. We were thinking of line drives.”
The win comes off the heels of an 11-9 loss Wisconsin suffered Sunday against Northshore.
“This should help us,” Schultz said. “It should give us some momentum.”
Guenther echoed that sentiment.
“Momentum is definitely a factor,” he said. I think that this is just going to keep rolling. Don’t let the Kings get hot.
Wisconsin takes on Northshore in its next game Wednesday. That game takes place at Lakeside at 6 p.m.
