2024 Sconnie Bar Repeats as Champs of 17+ Division in Southern Wisconsin MABL
Southern Wisconsin MABL, 17+ Division
Sconnie Bar 4, Village Bar 2
Submitted by Ron Gatti, Sconnie Bar manager and coach
Sconnie Bar took home the trophy as 17+ Division champions in the MABL of Southern Wisconsin for the second year in a row, with a 4-2 win over the Village Bar in the playoff final at Bowman Field in Madison, Wisconsin.
During the 2024 season, Bobby Ehrlich led Sconnie hitters with a .556 average, followed by Tony Everard (.441) and Mitch Kinnunen (.406). Nick Bulanda hit six of the team’s 16 extra-base hits, while newcomer Nick Thums and Kinnunen tied for most RBIs. Kasey Kuchenbecker and Everard led the team lead in stolen bases.
Matt Ohm was again the dominant pitcher, with most innings pitched and strikeouts/game, lowest ERA, and fewest walks/game. Thums also put up great pitching stats and combined with Ohm for the best pitching duo in the Division.
Rain proved challenging for 2024 baseball in Madison, which packed six nights of rainouts into two games/week and extended the season by two weeks. The same top four teams in the Division faced off in the post-season playoffs as last year.
In the first round, Village Bar (#1 seed) shut out #4 Nightcrawlers 11-0. In their first-round game, Sconnie (#2 seed) beat #3 Epic Bombers 9-7. Despite Ohm striking out 9 batters through five innings, Sconnie was down 5-1 in the sixth inning against Epic’s leading pitcher, Kon Kalnajs, due to 4 unearned runs from errors.
But Sconnie exploded with eight runs on the relief pitcher in the bottom of the sixth on two walks and six straight hits, all after two outs. In the final inning, a 2-run Epic rally was stopped by throwing out a runner at the plate (9-4-2) and two strikeouts by Sconnie hurler Thums.
The championship game was another matchup of complete games between top pitchers, Grant Steinike for Village, and Ohm for Sconnie. Both pitchers threw gems in the two games against each other during the regular season. Sconnie lost 1-0 and 2-1 in extra innings. In the 15 innings of those games, Steinike gave up only seven total hits while striking out 21, and Sconnie pitchers gave up eight hits and struck out 20.
In the title game, Sconnie scored a run in the first on four straight singles, and never lost the lead. Sconnie added three runs in the fourth on a double by Ehrlich, a single by Kinnunen, and a costly error, followed by a 2-out triple by Thums. Village managed single runs in the fourth and sixth, but error-free fielding behind Ohm’s pitching (no BB and 10 Ks) ensured the Sconnie win.
Village has been in the championship game in two of the last three seasons. This was the third title for the Sconnie Bar team, who has been in the top four for all seven playoffs since this Division formed under MABL. Sconnie has played Epic in six playoffs and appeared in four of the last five championship games.