Alumni revisit unforgettable state baseball record

In my mind, the at-bats were always more dramatic, the throws from the outfield more sure and from the deepest parts of the park and the end time later and later.
But when speaking of football jerseys Germantown's 4-3, record-setting 14-inning WIAA state baseball quarterfinal win over Onalaska in 1986 - the only other time the Warhawks made it to the big dance until their surprise venture two weeks ago - one tends to amplify the facts a little bit and get a little emotional with the memory.
It was the last quarterfinal under the lights at old Regner Park in West Bend, a warm night, with the ivy lush in the last vestiges of a July 30 sun.
But before I engage in too much poetry about this affair, it's good to have someone around who was at the heart of the issue, Germantown pitcher now turned city of Oshkosh Det. Paul Frey, to clarify a few things about this, still the longest game in WIAA state summer baseball history.
"No one really knew the pitching rule back then," he said by phone a couple of weeks ago. "I was actually getting stronger as the game went along, but everybody thought that I had to come out after nine innings but the rule was actually 10.
"The way I felt, I wished I could have gone the entire game."
But not the next day.
"My Dad always told me to ice my arm down after games," Frey said, "but after that one, I could have iced my whole body (I was so sore)."
Lefty surprise
Frey did get stronger as the game went along, mowing down 12 of his last 14 batters including his last five in a row. He finished with 10 strikeouts and six walks.
Onalaska coach Scott Mihalovic was surprised to see Frey, who also beat Brookfield East the previous week in the sectional final.
"I thought their (the Warhawks) coaches said they were going to use a righty," Mihalovic said at the time, "and here he (Frey) comes out, a lefty. We'd seen only one lefty in the last 20 games."
And Frey made the most of his advantage of Dolphins jersey surprise.
"He was really mixing his pitches well," said coach Chuck Ritzenthaler at the time.
Frey had to, because after sophomore first baseman Jay Olszewski cranked a three-run homer over the ivy on an 0-1 pitch in the bottom of the fourth to give the Warhawks a precarious 3-2 lead, the Germantown offense was nowhere to be found for the next 10 innings.
Germantown gave Frey one good chance at the win in the ninth, loading the bases with none out on two walks and an error.
But a short fly couldn't score the winning run and when catcher Todd Talbot (now Dr. Todd Talbot in Frey's neighboring city of Neenah) hit another short fly ball, it was fielded perfectly in center and then gunned home by the Hilltoppers Phil Horman to double up the tagging Olszewski.
My 24-year old game notes read "unreal" about the play.
As were the remaining four innings as relievers John O'Connell and Mark Chudecke squirmed their way out of jams in the 11th (two runners left on), the 12th (O'Connell threw to Talbot at the plate to nail the go-ahead runner), 13th (missed suicide squeeze, Talbot makes the play at the plate) and 14th (Chudecke stops a liner with a diving effort for the third out and the lead run on third).
To say that home plate umpire and legendary former Sussex Hamilton wrestling coach Bob Longdin was busy that night, would be like saying that traffic on the loop in Chicago on a Friday afternoon is a little tight.
The man literally had to make a game-changing call Vikings jersey on every play and it looked like he got them right every time.
Making amends with hit
It took until the 14th before Talbot was able to make amends for his failure in the ninth. Chudecke walked and then the backstop hammered one of the first pitches he saw to the left-center field fence for a game-winning double.
Chudecke was not challenged at the plate.
It was a fortunate thing, too. The clock was chiming at 12:45 a.m. and in another 15 minutes, West Bend's city curfew was about to kick in.
"They were definitely going to turn out the lights on us," Frey said.
Frey was not surprised that Talbot came through in the end.
"He was such a great catcher, especially defensively," Frey said. "He could throw out runners and start double plays like no one I've ever seen."
Even though a tired Germantown would lose 6-4 to eventual champion Whitehall in the semifinals the next day and lose in the first round of the tournament the next year despite the return of Frey and other state veterans like Talbot, Billy Topp (now a highly respected area prep official), and Jim Flood, there was nothing but nfl throwback jerseys pride in the Germantown camp.
"We knew what the setting was," said Frey. "It was the state tournament all right. You never forget a chance like that because you don't know if you'll ever get an opportunity to do it again.
"Especially in a game that no one will ever forget."