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Baseball can so often be a game of breaks and a game of opportunity - and then there are the instances when an opposition pitcher, well, simply 'has your number' on a given afternoon under the sun. Such was the case Tuesday at Oakfield's Bob Redman Field where Johnson Creek righthanded hurler Justin Swanson dominated Pecatonica batters for much of the contest in the 'Jays' 5-1 win, tossing six-plus innings of six-hit baseball while he walked just one and struck out eight of coach James Strommen's Vikings.
Swanson's teammates also contributed, with the leather, on a day coach Marc Blakeley's defenders used a key 4-6-3 double play to get out of the fifth inning and made several critical catches on flares from Pec hitters that had potential to fall - but instead went for harmless outs.
Swanson also proved to be a threat on offense, as he led his team in hitting in the semi-final contest, going 3x4 including a double and a RBI.
Johnson Creek wasted little time getting on the scoreboard with Swanson helping his cause by leading off the game with a double and scoring moments later on a single by teammate Bryce Henningson.
Bluejays' centerfielder Kaleb Hartwig then sent a breaking ball pitch from Pec starting hurler Carter Ruegsegger into the right centerfield alley for a run-scoring double to drive in Henningson.
Pec answered with one run in the home half of the first when Ruegsegger drew a walk and courtesy runner 'Griff' Gordon scored on Viking rightfielder Lane Busser's single.
The Bluejays scored twice more in the second inning when Zach Johnson singled, Micah Garvey doubled and Swanson singled to drive in Garvey.
The 'Jays' added a solo run in the third inning when Kaleb Hartwig singled and a Pec throwing error on a potential double play ball toss, and a fielder's choice grounder, led to the game's fifth and final tally.
Strommen called on reliever Evan Prust who was able to shut out the Bluejays the rest of the way, but Pec's offense was unable to rally.
The only hits of the day for the Vikes were singles by Ruegsegger, Busser, Prust, Cory Swenson, Colton Schraepfer, and Zander Brunker.
"That's baseball...it was a day we ran into a very good pitcher in Swanson and he really worked on hitting the outside corner well, hit his spots, had excellent control, plus, his defense made some critical plays behind him and they turned a big double play. Plus, to start the game, they took good swings and hit the ball hard and although we had baserunners at times we just could never bunch anything together," said Strommen.
Swanson had entered Tuesday's game with an impressive 2.20 ERA and was averaging more than a strikeout per inning and the righthander improved upon both statistics versus the Vikings.
"I felt Evan (Prust) did a great job in relief after we have fallen behind but we just couldn't put anything together in terms of a rally," added Strommen. "This shouldn't take anything away from the great season we had however. To win a fourth consecutive conference championship, to win a third straight WIAA regional crown - these guys have much to be proud of for the hard work and great season we had and we, as coaches, had a lot of fun coaching them."
The Vikings finished at 19-6 for the 2018 season.
In the first battle of the day Tuesday morning at the WIAA Oakfield Sectional, the D-4 Green Lake-Princeton co-op ballclub entry jumped out to a commanding 9-0 lead, then hung on for dear life, edging Almond-Bancroft High School by a final of 9-8.
Johnson Creek displayed the heavy lumber in the third game of the day - the Sectional championship match-up, by walloping Green Lake-Princeton 20-6 for the Sectional crown. With the win, the Bluejays advance to an approximate 10:15 a.m. game versus Thorp High School Wednesday morning at Fox Cities Stadium at the 2018 WIAA State Tournament.
Johnson Creek entered the Sectional with a 15-8 record, but got hot late in the season, beating Waukesha Catholic Central for the Regional title late last week.