The fifth-seeded Belleville baseball team faced off against the number one seed Cambridge in the second round of regional play Wednesday, June 3, at Cambridge. The Wildcats lost this matchup, 9-1.

Offensively, John Gorski was two for three; Scott Schowoegler had one RBI; and Gorski scored a run.

Drew Shrader pitched the first four innings for the Wildcats, giving up six runs – two earned – on six hits. He walked two and struck out one.

Taking over for Shrader was Cody McMillan going the final two innings. He gave up three runs – two earned – on five hits, and he walked one and struck out two.

“The Wildcats tried to take the momentum of their big round one victory into the following day…but just could not come up with the key hits when they needed them this time around as they stranded 11 men on base,” explained Head Coach Jon Benash.

“The last game of the year is never much fun unless you can say that you won it. These young men have fought through this season every step of the way. They took some huge steps along the way and will continue to move this program forward with every game that they play.”

The day before, the Wildcats upset four seed Deerfield in the first round of regional play, 6-5.

Gorski went the distance for Belleville, giving up five runs on eight hits while striking out seven and walking four.

At the plate, the Wildcats were led by Jesse McNamar going two for five and a run scored; Gorski going two for four with a double, two RBI, and a run scored; Cash Hoffman went four for four; and Kevin Zimmerman had a triple.

“This was a total team effort by our kids; everybody contributed to this win! Gorski was fantastic on the mound, and the defense had his back. We finally got some key hits when we needed them most on offense,” stated Benash. “We are just so proud of the way that our guys fought back after losing that early lead. We never gave up and believed in ourselves that we would get this done. That’s something that we lacked at times this season, so it was great to see us be able to do it on a big stage in a big situation like the playoffs.”

Reflecting at the end of the year, Benash said, “the varsity season was a bit of a rollercoaster ride, but the wins and losses don’t begin to measure how far we’ve come as a team and a program. Baseball is a game filled with highs and lows, and we just have to learn to play through it all and never doubt that we will have more highs than lows if we can get through and do the things we need to do as a team, together.”