Team tied atop Land O’Lakes with one game left
By Mike Ramczyk
Thanks to an infusion of young talent mixed with veteran stars, the Burlington Rotary Barons are battling for the top spot in the Land O’Lakes Southwest Division.
The semi-pro baseball players, who play their home games at Ginger Beaumont Field in downtown Burlington, have won four of their last five games with one game remaining in the regular season – a noon first pitch at Harvey Kuehn Field in West Allis Sunday.
Overall, the Barons have won seven of nine games and are 15-4 on the season, tied atop the LOL Southwest standings with New Berlin (14-3).
Both teams are 1.5 games ahead of the Waterford Rivermen, who beat Burlington, 4-0, on Aug. 5.
Waterford broke open a 1-0 lead with three runs in the eighth inning. The Rivermen out-hit the Barons, 12-5, led by Adam Brechtl’s three hits.
Dan Leicht held Burlington scoreless in 8-2/3 innings and struck out five.
Burlington bounced back in their most recent game, however, and won at Genessee, 7-4.
The Barons got a stellar pitching performance from rookie Travis Stahulak, a 2013 Lake Geneva Badger graduate, on Aug. 2 in their first game against Waterford.
Stahulak, a left-handed pitcher who began his career at Wisconsin Lutheran and now plays for UW-La Crosse, nearly earned a no-hitter as the Barons rolled, 10-0, in Waterford.
Stahulak held the Rivermen hitless through 8-2/3 innings before a Waterford batter got just enough on a base hit in the ninth inning.
The masterful pitching performance resulted in 15 strikeouts and only one hit.
Former Burlington High School standout Dylan Friend, who graduated in 2010 and went on to win a national championship at UW-Whitewater as a center fielder, paved the way at the plate with four hits and added two RBIs.
Dane Helnore, a 2015 BHS grad, added three hits, while 2016 BHS grad and Southern Lakes Newspapers All-Area Player of the Year Aaron Mutter tallied two hits and two RBIs.
Marshall Gilbert, a 2015 Westosha Central High School grad who plays infield for the Barons, paced the team with three RBIs.
Solid pitching has led the Barons all season, led by veteran right-hander Karl Richter, along with rookie lefties Stahulak and Colton Andresen, Stahulak’s teammate in high school and a fellow Genoa City native.
With plenty of talent already in tow from past high school squads, Burlington added some new prospects within the last month.
The end of the American Legion and high school seasons meant the Barons picked up Bryan Sturdevant, Mutter, Cal Tully, Tanner Strommen and Zach Campbell from the 2016 WIAA Division 1 state champion Burlington Demons.
The Demons were honored Tuesday night at Miller Park before the Milwaukee Brewers played the Atlanta Braves.
The team was introduced on the field before the game, and the roster appeared on the Miller Park scoreboard.
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