Appleton North baseball takes over second place in FVA with home win over Hortonville

By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – In what was a crucial early season Fox Valley Association matchup, the Appleton North Lightning took on the Hortonville Polar Bears with a second-place spot in the conference standings on the line.

Despite some early game pitching struggles from Ethan Wick, it was the Lightning’s offense that rewarded him for his efforts as they pulled out a 5-2 victory on Thursday at Appleton North High School.

Wick was far from perfect in his outing, walking four and striking out three across his five innings. However, he managed to limit the damage from the Polar Bears, holding them to four hits and allowing just one run before handing things off to Ryan Tesch and Alex Ramus.

The same can be said about Hortonville starter Griffen Jens, who also walked four in 4⅓ innings while striking out six. Jens was bitten by several hit by pitches throughout the game as the Lightning pushed across five runs off of him despite picking up just three hits in the game.

Right from the start, it was the Polar Bears that had the pressure on as a pair of first-inning walks mixed with a one-out single loaded the bases before Wick was able to escape trouble.

Jens came out unscathed in the second as three consecutive hit batters loaded the bases for North only to come away empty handed. It took three innings for someone to break through as a leadoff hit batter from Wick put Jens on base.

Unlike the first inning where the Polar Bears failed to cash in, Jack Coenen delivered a two-out RBI single to put Hortonville in front 1-0. Not to be out done, the Lightning continued to match Hortonville in their half of the third as a lead-off walk to Bennett Popp set the offense up with a two-out hit by pitch putting a runner in scoring position. What looked to be a routine grounder off the bat of Brandon Schopf, turned into a costly error as the Lightning managed to tie things up 1-1.

It was that error that seemed to awaken the Lightning’s offense as the next two innings saw them push across four runs and open up a sizable lead. Two of those runs came in the fourth with Popp connecting for an RBI double to put North in front for good 2-1, with Ramus adding a sacrifice fly to extend that lead to 3-1.

After pitching into and out of trouble in the fifth, Wick saw his day on the mound come to an end as it was up to the North offense to keep the pressure on. Three walks from Jens helped do the trick as North loaded the bases with only one down. Two batters later, and with Kameron Chronis coming in on the mound, it was the Lighting pushing their lead to 5-1 as a pair of wild pitches allowed for two more runs to score without a hit.

Unable to tack on any more runs in their final at-bats, things got a bit interesting in the seventh as it was Hortonville’s turn to mount a rally.

Jens got things started with a one-out single, which was followed by a walk as the Polar Bears were threatening. Another single from Bo Anderson pulled Hortonville (5-4, 4-2 FVA) to within 5-2. Rece Much worked a walk later in the inning to load the bases with two outs, but Ramus stood tall to retire the final hitter of the game and picked up the save.

“The 5-2 win over Hortonville was a big win for our program,” Appleton North coach Gus Maves said. “The last two years we have been on the bad side of some close games versus the Polar Bears. Our defense was the key to tonight’s victory turning two double plays in big moments, stopping some scoring opportunities for Hortonville. At the plate we continued being aggressive and getting some timely hits.”

Appleton North (4-2, 4-1 FVA) will be back in action Friday at home against D.C. Everest.

Lightning 5, Polar Bears 2
Hortonville   001   000   1   –   2   6   1
Appleton North   001   220   x   –   5   3   0
WP: Ethan Wick. LP: Griffin Jens. SV: Alex Ramus.
SO: Jens (4 1/3 inn.) 6, Kameron Chronis (1 2/3 inn.) 2; Wick (5 inn.) 3, Ryan Tesch (1 2/3 inn.) 2, Ramus (1/3 inn.) 0. BB: Jens 4, Chronis 1; Wick 4, Tesch 2, Ramus 1.
Top hitters: Jens 1×3, 2 runs; Bo Anderson 1×3, RBI; Jack Coenen 1×3, RBI. AN, Bennett Popp 2B, RBI, run; Ramus 1×3, RBI.
Records: Hortonville 5-4, 4-2 Fox Valley Association; Appleton North 4-2, 4-1 Fox Valley Association.