Badgers claim regional baseball championship with win

Niagara defeats Laona-Wabeno 12-0

LAONA, Wis. -- Niagara is on a roll.

The Badgers beat Laona-Wabeno 12-0 to win the regional championship and advance to the WIAA Division 5 sectional semifinal at 1:30 p.m. against Gibraltar/Washington Island at Crivitz. The sectional championship is scheduled for 4 p.m.

It's Niagara's first regional championship in two years.

"We're so used to seeing fast pitching in the M&O and this guy threw pretty slow compared to them," Niagara head coach Dean Neveau said. "Our top of the order struggled because of that. Our end of the order did pretty good against them."

Bob Brauer started for Laona-Wabeno and gave up six runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in four innings. Carson Kalata threw the last two innings and gave up six runs (four earned) on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Landen Kaldor threw a complete game for Niagara and gave up three hits with no walks and four strikeouts. He threw 63 pitches -- 47 for strikes.

"Landen pitched well. He threw a lot of strikes," Neveau said. "That's pretty impressive. They did swing and hit the ball but our kids made the plays. They weren't costly errors because nobody was on base. Landen came up or someone else came and got the next guy out and we're out of the inning."

Tristan DeJardin hit a solo home run in the fourth inning. Elliot Peterson had three RBIs. Ethan Sweig had two RBIs. Dawson Lincoln and Anthony Hansen also had an RBI.

Niagara scored six runs in the fifth to take a 9-0 lead. Laona-Wabeno made five errors, while Niagara had none.

"Really happy for the kids," Neveau said. "They worked with us all year trying different stuff to get to this point. So far, so good."

Niagara 020 163 -- 12 10 2

Laona-Wabeno 000 000 --  0 3 5