The Bay Port Pirates baseball team will play for it's third state championship in the last four years after winning a pair of games on the opening day of the 65th WIAA spring baseball tournament at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Pirates won back to back titles in 2009 and 2010, missed the tourney a year ago but the second place finishers in the Fox River Classic Conference put on a solid display of pitching and timely offense Tuesday. In the quarterfinals, Bay Port rolled second ranked Kenosha Bradford 9-0, scoring three in the first and three in the seventh. Senior Ben Messenger was the story however as the pitcher went the distance allowing only three hits and striking out 16. In the semifinals Tuesday night against Hartford Union, starter Jack Violetta got knocked around for 12 hits but let his defense do a lot of the work holding the Orioles to three runs. The Pirates erupted for six runs in the 4th inning to advance to Thursday night's championship game where they will face top ranked Sun Prairie who extended their winning streak to 25 straight games with a 6-4 victory over Appleton North and a nailbiting 4-3, 10 inning victory over Stevens Point in a game that ended at 12:15 AM. The Cardinals are seeking their 6th state title. The championship game will be played Thursday night at 6:00 PM.


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