The Superior High School baseball team traveled to Chippewa Falls on Saturday and won both games of a doubleheader with the Cardinals 7-2 and 7-5.
The wins would have given the Spartans an overall record of 7-5, including 5-1 against Big Rivers Conference teams, but the team found out Monday morning that it was playing with an illegal player and had to forfeit both games.
"We had a baseball player falsify eligibility records that allowed him to play in Saturday's games vs. Chippewa Falls," SHS activities director Ray Kosey said. "We discovered this on Monday and notified Chippewa Falls and the WIAA immediately. Because this player should have been ineligible for these two games and played in them, SHS will forfeit the two victories."
According to the SHS code of conduct and WIAA regulations, students who are academically ineligible must sit out 15 schools days and can become eligible on the 16th school day after the end of the grading period if they provide documentation by completing a progress report proving they are now passing all their classes. The progress report turned in by the player contained falsified records.
The forfeits leave the Spartans with an overall record of 5-7.
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The forfeits wiped out two excellent pitching efforts for Superior, complete games by Grant Rindal and Ryan Myhre.
Rindal tossed a two-hitter in the opener with six strikeouts and four walks, while Myhre gave up five hits and two earned runs while striking out 12, walking five and hitting a batter.
Rails 8, Spartans 0
The Spartans returned to action with an 8-0 loss at Proctor Tuesday evening.
Dane Sislo, Jordan McDonald and Spencer Severson each pitched two innings for the Spartans, now 5-8 overall and 1-4 in the Lake Superior Conference.
Severson had Superior's only hit.
Jake Lewis was the winning pitcher with 12 strikeouts and Ben Nelson hit a home run for the Rails (7-3, 1-2).
The Spartans are back in action with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. Friday at Ashland.
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SPARTAN SPIN: Chippewa Falls improves to 11-6 with Saturday's wins. ... The Spartan JV lost 10-0 and 7-4 on Saturday. Tyler Lehikoinen started for the Spartans in the first game and pitched 4 2/3 innings allowing 10 runs (seven earned) on 11 hits while walking three and striking out one. The Spartans had two hits, a triple by Kyler Krob and a single by Phil McCotter. Logan Griffith started the second game and pitched three innings allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and one walk while striking out one. Pete Guski pitched three innings of relief, allowing four runs (one earned) on four hits and no walks. The Spartans had nine hits including two each from Griffith, Sean O'Neill and Brandon Moe. Jake Libal, McCotter and Peyton Flanders each had one hit. ... The SHS JV defeated Proctor 4-2 behind a complete-game pitching performance from Taavi Mattson who allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits, no walks and two hit batters. He struck out 13. The Spartans had five hits with Logan Griffith picking up two, while McCotter, Will Mullens and Sean O'Neill had one each.
Proctor 8, Superior 0
At Proctor. WP: Jake Lewis 7IP, 1H, 10K, 1BB. LP: Dane Sislo 2IP, 3ER, 4H, 1BB. P (7-3): 13 hits; Jimmy Merling 3x4 (2B), RBI, 3R (school-record 72); Ryan McCarthy 2x4 (school-record 74), RBI; Ben Nelson 2x3 (HR), 2RBIs; Jake Malec 2x3, 2R; Cody Dolsen 2B; Ian Scherber 2B. S: Spencer Severson 1H.
