Live updates: Bruce vs. Rosholt

Good morning. And I do mean morning. We're a few minutes shy of 8 a.m. at Fox Cities Stadium, and in a few minutes, Bruce is about to play its first state tournament game against Rosholt.

There's quite the contingent from Bruce. While doing some research ealier this week, I discovered that there was a fan bus that was going to leave Bruce at 3:30 a.m. for this game. Whether or not that actually happened, I'm not sure. But if it did, that's impressive.

Come back here for inning-by-inning updates.

Top of the first: Kurt Johnson swung at the first pitch, flying out to center field. David Hegeholz singled to center. Kyle Wallace struck out, Hegeholz stole second. Ryan Gerber struck out looking.

Bottom of the first: Charlie Bembenek walked. Mitch Zdroik walked. Kyle McHugh lined to short, but Hegeholz overthrew second baseman Cody Stewart in an attempt to double off Bembenek and the runners advanced a base. Styles Carlson struck out swinging. Austin Klesmith reached on another error by Hegeholz which allowed both runners to score. Kyle Zdroik struck out looking.

It definitely wasn't the inning Bruce wanted. The errors were costly, but Bruce pitcher Kyle Wallace put himself in that position by walking the first two batters. Rosholt leads, 2-0.

Top of the second: Kevin Witkiewicz struck out swinging. Casey Gudis singled to right. Damon Petras flied out to center. Gudis stole second. Ryan Wallace struck out swinging.

Bottom of the second: Kyle Borski grounded out to the pitcher. Dan Osowski walked. Osowski's courtesy runner advanced to second on a wild pitch. Shawn Skibba flied out to center. Bembenek grounded out to short.

After throwing 32 pitches in the first inning, Wallace was much more efficient in the second, only throwing 15. Rosholt leads, 2-0.

Top of the third: Cody Stewart popped out to first base. Kurt Johnson walked. Johnson advanced to second on a balk by Styles Carlson, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. David Hegeholz struck out swinging. Johnson scored on a passed ball. Kyle Wallace singled to left. Wallace stole second. Ryan Gerber flew out to center. Bruce now trails, 2-1.

Bottom of the third: Mitch Zdroik walked. Kyle McHugh homered to left, giving Rosholt a 4-1 lead. Styles Carson was hit by a pitch and replaced by courtesy runner Jeff Singer. Singer advanced to second on a wild pitch. Kurt Johnson came in relief of Kyle Wallace, who moved to first. Singer advanced to third on a passed ball. Klesmith walked. Kyle Zdroik struck out looking. Johnson got out of the inning with a 6-4-3 double play. Bruce has got to start throwing more strikes. Wallace didn't have his best stuff today for whatever reason, and was charged with five walks. All but one of Rosholt's runs initially reached base via the walk.

Rosholt leads, 4-1.

Top of the fourth: Kevin Witkiewicz grounded out tos econd. Casey Gudis walked. Damon Petras walked. Gudis took third on a wild pitch. Petras stole second without a throw. Ryan Wallace popped out to first. Cody Stewart struck out swinging. Bruce may want that inning back.

Bottom of the fourth: Shawn Skibba grounded out to second. Charlie Bembenek singled to right on a ball the Bruce rightfielder lost in the sky. Bembenek stole second. Mitch Zdroik lined out to first. Kyle McHugh was intentionally walked. Styles Carson fouled out to third.

Rosholt still leads, 4-1.

Top of the fifth: Kurt Johnson walked. Johnson stole second. David Hegeholz walked. Austin Klesmith came in to pitch for Styles Carlson, who replaced Klesmith in right field. Johnson stole third when Klesmith wasn't paying attention. Hegeholz stole second. Kyle Wallace struck out swinging. Ryan Gerber popped out to third. Kevin Witkiewicz singled to left, scoring Johnson. He advanced to second on the throw home. Casey Gudis beat out an infield single to score Hegeholz. The throw to first was high, and Witkiewicz scored while Gudis advanced to second. Damon Petras flied out to center.

Big, big inning for Bruce, which finally came through with runners in scoring position. We're all tied at 4.

Bottom of the fifth: Austin Klesmith singled to center. Kyle Zdroik tried to sacrifice Klesmith to second, but Kurt Johnson fielded the bunt and whirled around to force out Klesmith. Kyle Borski singled to right. Dan Osowski reached on a fielder's choice. Shawn Skibba reached on an infield single and Borski never stopped running, scoring from second. Charlie Bembenek flied out to deep center.

Bruce was one strike away from keeping the score tied, but Kurt Johnson did a good job of keeping his composure and getting out of the inning without further damage. Rosholt leads, 5-4, but this game is far from over.

Top of the sixth: Ryan Wallace was hit by a pitch and promptly stole second. It was the seventh stolen base of the game for Bruce. Pinch hitter Aaron Ewert tried to lay down a bunt but was unsuccesful. He struck out swining, but the ball was in the dirt and Wallace took third. Kurt Johnson bounced back to the pitcher, who looked Wallace back to third before throwing to first. David Hegeholz flied out to right, stranding Wallace at third.

Rosholt still leads, 5-4. Bruce is down to its final at-bat.

Bottom of the sixth: Mitch Zdroik grounded out to second. Kyle McHugh singled to left. Styles Carson walked. Austin Klesmith doubled to left, scoring Zdroik. David Hegeholz came in from short to relieve Kurt Johnson, who replaced Hegeholz at shortstop. Kyle Zdroik's suicide squeeze scored Carlson. Kyle Borski walked. Dan Osowski struck out.

Rosholt added two very important insurance runs and leads, 7-4, heading into the seventh.

Top of the seventh: Kyle Wallace was hit by a pitch. Ryan Gerber reached on an error. Kevin Witkiewicz singled to load the bases. Styles Carlson, the starting pitcher, returned to the mound. Casey Gudis reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Kyle Wallace. Witkiewicz was forced out at second. Gudis stole second. Damon Petras walked. Ryan Wallace reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Gerber. Cody Stewart struck out to end the game with the tying run on third.

Rosholt wins, 7-6. Check for the story in tomorrow's Leader-Telegram.

- John Casper Jr.