By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
After routing Antigo Tuesday, the Plover American Legion Post 543 continued to pour it on Wednesday while Stevens Point Post 6 may have hit rock bottom.
The two local rivals squared off at Memorial Park and the Black Sox crushed the Sixers 25-4, thanks in large part to a 15-run fourth inning.
"Things are falling into place right now," Plover coach Kraig Terpstra said. "I hope we can build on this. We have a big three weeks now. We want to just keep playing good baseball."
The fourth inning was a dreadful one for Point, whose four errors led to 12 unearned runs in the frame. Plover sent 19 batters to the plate and Brandon Grabski made three appearances himself before flying out to end the inning.
Dan Weinkauf, who dominated Point from the mound, highlighted the eight-hit, four-walk inning with a three-run homer to left-center field. The shot actually capped off the onslaught, in which 12 straight batters scored.
The Black Sox then added more to the scoreboard in the sixth, with seven more runs on five hits and four walks.
"I hope this was the dead bottom. I hope this really sinks in," Post 6 coach Gary Kostuchowski said.
Post 6 held the early lead after a pair of solo home runs in the top of the second. Both Chris McCarten and Dan Hetzer went deep off of Weinkauf to give their team a 2-0 lead.
But the Black Sox answered back with two of their own in the second on a Josh Owens two-run single and then Weinkauf took over. The Plover pitcher struck out 12 in six innings, including five straight in the third and fourth innings.
"He was overpowering. He mixes pitches, tries to keep the ball down and hit spots," Terpstra said.
The Sixers added two more in the top of the seventh following a Brad Wysocki double and a Senica Omernick single.
"One positive thing was we scored two (in the last inning)," Kostuchowski said.
Plover (18-6 overall, 5-2 Valley) and Stevens Point (4-18, 2-6) both have busy weeks ahead of them before regionals in two weeks.