GRAND CHUTE –This just seems to be the norm for Wilmot Union center fielder Landon Tenhagen.

With two outs and two strikes against him, the Panthers junior belted a shot off the left field wall that scored Joe Felgenhauer from second base and delivered the 4-3 WIAA Division 1 state quarterfinal victory over Kimberly at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

“He was feeding us curveballs all day, so I knew he was going to come with it, so just sat back and waited,” Tenhagen said. “It felt good right off the bat.”

It is just old hat for Tenhagen who did the same thing against defending champion Kenosha Bradford in the seventh inning to get the Panthers (23-5) into the state tournament.

“When that situation is there and that kid comes to bat, you think to yourself, ‘How many times can this kid come through,’” Wilmot coach Josh Pye said. “Sure enough, with two strikes on him he comes through again.”

The victory earns Wilmot a spot in tonight’s Division 1 state semifinals where it awaits the winner of the Milwaukee Riverside/Eau Claire North quarterfinal.

Wilmot jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning again Kimberly ace Brad Schreiber which seemed to settle the Panthers down.

“We didn’t think we’d score two runs the whole game,” Pye said. “We came in with the approach thinking it was going to be a low-scoring game and we have to manufacture some runs at some point over those seven innings.

“In that first inning, the guys were aggressive and really came through.”

Kimberly (22-5) scratched out runs in the third and fifth to tie the game at two and did so without leadoff hitter Jamison Wells who left the game in the third on the same play that scored a winning run with an injury to his left foot.

The Papermakers came through to take the lead in the sixth after a Will Randerson double. His courtesy runner, Kevin DeBruin scored on the next batter even after a failed squeeze bunt attempt.

Wilmot scored to tie the game in the sixth on an equally odd play that involved a run down.

Designated hitter Tyler Thomas hit a shot to left field with two runners on. He took of for second base, but the runners in front of him stayed put at second and third.

With him nearly on second base, the Kimberly defense turned its attention to him. At which time pinch runner Brandon Jones took off from third to score, just before the tag was applied on Thomas.

“As soon as they threw the ball to first behind the runner I told (Jones) to take off,” Pye said. “We were lucky to score that run before the tag because there wasn’t much time between that and the tag.”

That helped set the stage for Tenhagen to come through in the bottom of the seventh.

FULL GAME STATS