All eyes were on the small town of Maplewood, where the only Door County Baseball League action you could find was the fourth-seeded play-in game between the Baileys Harbor A's and the Maplewood Mets. Both teams ended the regular season 7-7 overall, hence the need for the extra game to see who would earn the right to take the trip north to Sister Bay to play the regular-season champion Bays. Coming into the matchup, runs were expected from both offenses, and they did not disappoint.
The first inning showcased both offenses, as Baileys Harbor got to Maplewood starter Tory Jandrin early, scoring three runs in the top of the inning. Ethan Kratcha and Aaron Brey both singled, although Brey's single could have easily resulted in a 6-4-3 double play after a grounder bounced high, forcing Gavin Brady to leave his feet and allowing Brey to reach. Owen Danhausen started his fantastic day with a two-run ground-rule double, and a walk to Justin Hartel brought home another run for the A's.
In the bottom half, Maplewood looked to respond. After a walk and a hit-by-pitch to the first two Mets batters, Tory Jandrin rocketed a two-run single to score both runners. Mark Villers brought in two more runs on an error by Kratcha at shortstop, and a dropped third strike that got to the backstop allowed another run to score, making it 5-3 after one inning.
Maplewood was not done there. In the bottom of the second, Kody Kissinger walked for the second consecutive inning, and Kordell Draves took a 3-2 fastball deep into left-center field and over the head of Gavin Blink to expand the Mets' lead from 5-3 to 7-3. It appeared Maplewood was going to slug its way to a matchup with Sister Bay next week. Baileys Harbor had other ideas.
It took until the fifth inning for the offense to get going again, but another gap-splitting double from Owen Danhausen started the rally for the A's. Danny Lodl singled to put two on with two outs for Baileys Harbor. Designated hitter Justin Hartel played his role perfectly and lifted a high fly ball into right-center field. Maplewood's Jaden Diller gave it a chance, but the ball one-hopped the base of the wall, giving Hartel a two-run double and cutting the four-run lead in half.
Danny Lodl replaced Aaron Brey in the bottom of the second and pitched a gem into the sixth inning, when a two-out walk to Jaden Diller came back to haunt him. Adam Gutschow sent a screamer into the gap to score Diller all the way from first, extending Maplewood's lead back to three.
Fast-forward to the eighth inning, when the magic happened for a team that felt destined to do some damage. After struggling with runners in scoring position all afternoon, manager Hunter Pawelski decided to make a move, pinch-hitting Isaac Baudhuin for trusty center fielder River Pawelski. The move paid off and then some, as Baudhuin lifted the fourth pitch he saw over the fence in left-center field, sending A's fans into a frenzy and trimming the lead to one.
If you thought that was all, you would be wrong. Will Jandrin retired the next two batters after the Baudhuin home run and then faced Aaron Brey, who had already reached base three times. Brey won yet another battle, singling back through the middle and putting a runner on for Owen Danhausen, who had already recorded two extra-base hits earlier in the game.
Danhausen, looking for a pitch to attack early, rocketed Jandrin's offering to left-center field, where his third extra-base hit sailed just beyond the fence, silencing the Mets faithful and sending the A's players halfway onto the diamond. Danhausen's two-run home run off Jandrin could arguably be the play of the season thus far. Ethan Kratcha then blanked the Mets in the bottom of the ninth, sending Baileys Harbor to the playoffs for the first time since 1998.
The DCBL playoffs are now set, as the top-seeded, regular-season champion Sister Bay Bays will host the underdog, fourth-seeded Baileys Harbor A's. Elsewhere, the second-seeded Kolberg Braves will host the third-seeded Washington Island Islanders in a rematch of the final game of the regular season, when Kolberg earned the win and home-field advantage for the playoff matchup.
