Pittsville returns to state baseball tourney

MARSHFIELD – After 19 years, Pittsville head baseball coach Justin Rayburn and two of his assistants have returned to the WIAA State Baseball Tournament in Appleton.

The Panthers won their Div. 4 Sectional Championship at Blair-Taylor High School on June 10 by first defeating the host Wildcats, 2-1, in the semifinals, then cruising past Highland, 13-3, in a four-and-a-half inning sectional final.

Now, for the first time since they were playing for Pittsville in 2006, Rayburn and then-teammates and current assistant coaches Casey Krohn and Sam Schwanebeck are back at the state tournament at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute.

“Any time I drive over to the Green Bay area or the Appleton area, anytime we go past the stadium on the interstate there, I always look at it and – without saying it out loud – I always think, ‘Man, it’d be nice to go back there.’ So, to finally make it back is pretty cool,” Rayburn told Hub City Times on June 12.

Also returning are Dave Rademan and Lee Garrels, who were assistants under Bill Urban when he led the Panthers to the state tournament in 2006 and again in 2012 and 2014.

“There’s probably no bigger fan than Bill,” Rayburn said. “I talk to Bill I would say weekly throughout the season, and sometimes it’s me calling him and telling him how terrible we’re playing. Other times it’s me calling him and telling him how great we’re playing. And he’s usually pretty good at staying somewhere in the middle. He’ll tell me, ‘You’re not playing as bad as you say you are,’ or he’ll tell me, ‘You’re not quite as good as you think you are right now.’ And he’s usually right,” Rayburn added.

Urban’s state tournament teams all lost in the semifinal round. In 2006, when Rayburn was a junior, Pittsville lost to eventual state champion Kenosha-St. Joseph. In 2012, the Panthers got beat by Coleman in the semis. Lake Country Lutheran beat Pittsville in the first round two years later.

Excluding 2020, the Panthers have claimed Regional championships 11 of the past 14 years and have now made three consecutive Sectional appearances, losing to Eleva-Strum in the semifinals in each of the past two seasons.

Now, Rayburn thinks he’s got the team to bring a state baseball championship to Pittsville.

“If there’s ever been a team that deserves to go, it’s these guys,” said Rayburn. “The amount of time that they put into baseball outside of just actual practice and games is pretty incredible. These guys play a ton of summer baseball. If we have practice at four o’clock, I’ll show up at three-thirty and half the team’s already there swinging in the cage, and that’s before practice even starts,” added Rayburn. “I’ve had guys call me at nine o’clock at night asking, ‘Hey, can I turn the lights on and go hit on the field?’ or they’ll send me a text, ‘Hey, can you come throw to us in the cage on Saturday at 10 a.m.?’ The amount of extra time that they put into baseball, it’s probably one of the hardest-working groups I’ve ever had, which says a lot because I’ve had some hard-working teams over the years.”

Rayburn also credits Pittsville’s relatively new River Bandits amateur adult summer baseball program for his high school team’s recent success.

“Some of those teams have college pitchers throwing, so if you can get a junior in high school to face a kid that’s throwing in the WIAC somewhere, you’re seeing some pretty good pitching as a 17-year-old, so I think that’s definitely helped develop some of our guys,” Rayburn told us.

This year’s Pittsville roster includes Corbin Leigh, Dawson Luther, Logan Zickert, Brody Withers, Liam Parkison, Peyton Leigh, Will Tolzmann, Jameson Krueger, Ben Friday, Chris Zawislan, Logan Vollert, Grant Rademan, Racyn Schooley, Kash Ostermann, Daryn Luther, Matthew Gudel and Zach Roberts.

The Panthers finished the regular season 18-7 and tied for the Central Wisconsin – South Conference championship with Pacelli, who split two games with Pittsville during the season. The Cardinals are also making an appearance at this year’s state tournament.

No. 3 Pittsville was scheduled to face No. 2 Johnson Creek in the Div. 4 semifinals on June 17 at 9 a.m. The winner advances to the Div. 4 state championship contest June 19 at 9 a.m.