The Upsala Blue Jays entered Memorial Day weekend with an undefeated 6-0 (5-0 VL) record.  With things heating up in the Victory League West, Upsala welcomed in two division rivals to Varsity Field, the Flensurg Falcons (0-4 VL) and the Sobieski Skis (5-0 VL)

The Jays earned a hard fought 4-3 victory over Flensburg on Sunday.  Johnny Fuchs would get the start on the mound for Upsala, and Flensburg would counter with lefty Gabe Ploof.  Upsala would get on the board first as Brady Burggraff knocked in Brandon Welinski with a single in the 2nd.  Flensburg would answer with a run in the 3rd on a pair of Upsala miscues.  Flensburg would then take a 3-1 lead in the 4th on back-to-back RBI singles by Adam Hallberg and Paul Krebs.  The Blue Jays would respond with a run in the bottom of the 4th as Dustin Biniek singled in Brandon Welinski.  Upsala would then tie the game in the 5th when a throwing error off the bat of Adam Gerads allowed Joe Bartkowicz to score.  The Blue Jays would go ahead in the 6th on a RBI groundout by Ben Burggraff.  After six innings of work, starting pitcher Johnny Fuchs would give way to Chris Ripplinger.  Ripplinger would pitch 3 effective innings of relief to earn the save, while Fuchs would get the victory.  The Falcons would threaten in the 9th as Flenburg put runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs, but Ripplinger would would get Issac Thoma to pop out to short stop to end the game, preserving the 4-3 victory.  Brady Burggraff, Dustin Biniek, and Matt Swanson all had 2 hits for Upsala.  Paul Krebs, Matt Stumpf, and Luke and Issac Thoma all had 2 hits for Flensburg.

With the win on Sunday, Upsala would enter Memorial Day with a 6-0 record in Victory League play.  Their opponent, the Sobieski Skis, would also enter the game with a perfect 5-0 mark due to a 2-1 extra inning victory of St. Stephen on Sunday.  With first place on the line, two of the leagues best pitchers would do batte, Tyler Jendro for Sobieski and Matt Swanson for Upsala.  Upsala would get on the board first with an RBI single in the bottom of the 1st off the bat of Joe Bartkowicz.  Sobieski would answer quickly with a Nate Olson RBI single in the 2nd.  The Skis would then break the game wide open in the top of 3rd.  Sobieski would score 7 times in the 3rd to take an 8-1 lead.  Swanson would be knocked out of the game in the 3rd, giving way to Brandon Welinski.  Welinski would get the final out of the 3rd, but the Skis would add 7 more runs in the 4th, pushing the lead to 15-1.  Upsala would add a run in the 5th, but Sobieski would counter with 7 more runs in the 6th.  At that point a hard and steady rain would suspend play, and the game was called shortly there after.  The game ended 22-2 Sobieski.

With 19 hits, there were a lot of hitting highlights for Sobieski.  Leading the way was Joey Hanowski with 4 hits and Nate Olson with 3 hits.  Johnny Czech and Tyler Jendro would each add 2 hits a piece.  For Upsala, Joe Barkowicz had 3 hits.  Adam Gerads, Brandon Welinski, Brady Burggraff, Eric Lampert, and B.J. Lange each added a hit.

The loss left the Blue Jays a 1/2 game behind Sobieski in the standings.  Upsala is back in action this coming weekend as the Jays travel to Randall to face the 3-3 Cubs.  Opening pitch is scheduled for 1:30.

In unrelated news, congratulations to Bluebird Eric Lampert on his graduation from high school!

Also, best of luck to Eric Lampert, Tyler Evans, Justin Cichon, and Myron Ripplinger, as well as coaches Adam Gerads and Brady Burggraff, as the USA Patriots continue on in high school baseball playoffs.