Afternoon State Sports Briefs: Coleman wins D-4 State Baseball title

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GRAND CHUTE - Coleman High School won the state Division-Four baseball championship this morning, by prevailing in a slugfest over Johnson Creek, 20-to-11 at Fox Cities Stadium near Appleton.

Johnson Creek led 11-4 after four innings. But Coleman then exploded for six runs in the fifth inning, seven in the sixth, and three more in the final frame. Believe it or not, Coleman only had three extra base hits – and all were doubles. Mason Mergener drove in five runs, went 2-for-4, and scored twice. John Kupsche had Johnson Creek’s only extra-base hit, a double. He drove in two runs and scored once. Coleman ended its season at 28-1. Runner-up Johnson Creek ended at 21-6.

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Sun Prairie shut out Franklin 10-0 this afternoon in the third Division-One quarter-final game at the state girls’ high school softball tournament in Madison at UW's Goodman Diamond. Sun Prairie scored eight runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings to seal their victory. Kristen Hoppman homered and pitched a four-hitter, as Sun Prairie improved to 23-3. Stevens Point or Germantown in tomorrow night’s Division-One semi-finals. Point and Germantown were playing the last quarter-final game late this afternoon. Earlier today, Chippewa Falls crushed Sussex Hamilton 18-2, and Appleton East pulled off a 1-0 win over Westosha Central in nine innings. Nicole Kitten drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the ninth to win it. Chippewa Falls will now face Appleton East in tomorrow’s Division 1 semis. Tonight, the Division-Two tournament begins with the semi-finals. West De Pere plays Baldwin-Woodville. And then Monroe will wrap up Day-One of the tournament against Plymouth.

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Kenosha Tremper won the opening game of the girls’ state high school soccer tournament this afternoon in Milwaukee. Tremper eliminated Eau Claire Memorial in a 4-2 shootout, after both teams played to a 3-3 tie. Game-Two of the Division 1 quarterfinals was being played late this afternoon between De Pere and Waukesha West. That winner will face Kenosha Tremper in the D-1 semi-finals tomorrow night. Semi-finals will also be played tomorrow in Divisions 2 and 3. Title matches in all three divisions are set for Saturday.

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The University of Wisconsin’s football game at Oregon State on September eighth will start at three p.m. The Pac-12 conference announced the kickoff time today. The game will be shown on FX, a Fox cable channel.

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Shaun Marcum will try to win his fourth straight start, when the Milwaukee Brewers close out their three-game series at Kansas City. The Brewers will attempt to salvage a win from the Royals, who hope to sweep their first Interleague series since mid-June of 2009. Marcum is 5-3 with an ERA of three-and-a-half. He has a two-point-two-nine ERA in his last three outings, all victories – but he gave up two homers last Friday night in a 9-5 Milwaukee win over San Diego. Right-hander Luke Hochevar is going for KC. He’s 3-7 with a 6.57 ERA. He has pitched poorly at home, going 0-4 in five starts at Kauffman Stadium with a 10-point-two-three ERA. And Hochevar is 0-4 in his last five overall appearances, after a loss at Pittsburgh last Friday in which he gave up four runs in six innings.

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Green Bay Packers’ coach Mike McCarthy promised this spring that his players would no longer have grueling two-a-day practices at training camp. And today, he kept that promise when the Packers announced 20 public practices to be held over 20 days. Players will report on Wednesday, July 25th. And then practices will start on Thursday the 26th – the earliest date workouts can begin, two weeks before the team’s first exhibition game which is on a Thursday instead of the normal Saturday. For the first week, practices will start at 8:15. Then from August second-through-13th, there will be night workouts at seven o’clock except for August seventh-and-14th when they’ll be at 3:30. The final six practices will start around 11 in the morning between August 19th-and-28th. All practices are at Ray Nitschke Field and will be open to fans for free unless it’s raining – and then, they’ll move into the Don Hutson Center which is closed to the public. Packers-Dot-Com has complete information about training camp. Today, the team held its final mini-camp practice. Reporters noted a longer emphasis on special teams, among other things.

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