Baseball: Marathon falls to Cedar Grove-Belgium in Division 3 state semifinal

A 6 run top of the 4th inning gave Cedar Grove-Belgium the lead and they would go on to beat Marathon 13-4 in a Division 3 state baseball semifinal at Fox Cities Stadium on Tuesday.

Cedar Grove-Belgium scored twice in the top of the 1st inning to take the lead but the Red Raiders came back to take the lead with a 3 run bottom of the 3rd inning. Blake Underwood singled home Grant Salber to put Marathon on the board. Drew Woelfel then reached on an error by the shortstop that scored Evan DeBroux to tie the game at 2. True Thurs walked with the bases load to drive in the third run and put Marathon up 3-2. The Raiders had the bases loaded with one out but couldn't add anymore runs in the frame and took a 3-2 lead into the 4th inning.

The 4th inning proved to be decisive for both teams. Cedar Grove-Belgium scored six times in the frame with the big hit being a 3 run double by Ira Hilbelink. Hilbelink was the star of the game by going 4 for 4 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored. However, Marathon hurt themselves with 3 errors as part of that inning as well.

Cedar Grove-Belgium added another run in the top of the 5th to extend their lead to 9-3 before Marathon got their final run in the bottom of the 6th on a Quillan Kunkel sacrifice fly to make it 9-4. Cedar Grove-Belgium would add four runs in the top of the 7th to put the game out of reach and earn a spot in Thursday's state championship game.

Cedar Grove-Belgium had 14 hits in the game with Hilbelink getting 4 while teammates Austin Knapp and Seth Race each adding three hits. Knapp also had 3 RBI while Race drove in two. In addition to his big day offensively, Hilbelink was the winning pitcher after throwing 5 1/3 innings, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts. Blake Underwood started for Marathon and went 3 2/3 innings while allowing 8 runs on 9 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Grant Salber had 2 of the 5 Marathon hits while Kunkel, Underwood and Woelfel had the other base hits for the Raiders, who finish their outstanding season at 26-5. Cedar Grove-Belgium improves to 22-5 with the win.