Playoff Profile: #5 Denmark

DENMARK, Wis.–

It was quite the hectic scene when Denmark High School outfielder Marcus Pribyl hit a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Vikings of Denmark their 21st win of the season on Friday, but it wasn’t the first time the Vikings have had to deal with a one run win, or even a walk-off finish.

“We’ve been very fortunate to win as many games as we have,” Denmark left-handed pitcher Riley Pelischek told me after his victory on Friday, “we’ve had a lot of one or two run wins this year.”

“I think we’ve been pretty fortunate, probably 15 or 16 of these wins could have gone either way,” Denmark head coach Bill Miller told me, “We look back at those where many games it goes into the sixth or seventh inning tied up or we’re holding a one run lead and somebody makes a real nice defensive play for us, and we go back up on top. Like I said, many of them could have gone either way.”

The Vikings began their unbelievable season at 15-0 before dropping the second game in the season series to West De Pere, who Denmark is currently tied with for first place in the Bay Conference. A huge part of the Vikings’ success is due to their “Four-Headed Monster”.

FROM THE DENMARK NEWS – MEET DENMARK’S FOUR-HEADED MONSTER, BY: ALEX STROUF

They’ve been referred to as the best group in the state. The powerhouses of division two. The guys you don’t want to face if they’re having fun in the dugout. And of course, my personal favorite, “The Four-Headed Monster”.

The group I’m referring to is Denmark varsity baseball’s four starting pitchers–all with collegiate futures–who have been absolutely dominant this season; seniors Jack Collins, Riley Pelischek, Tanner Umentum, and Derek Van Pay.

Collins and Pelischek are both left-handed pitchers and both plan on playing baseball at the University of North Dakota next spring. Collins has been playing at the varsity level full-time since his sophomore season, while Pelischek’s first year at the varsity level was last season.

Umentum is a right-handed pitcher who’s been batting leadoff all of this season and playing the rest of his time at shortstop for the Vikings the past two seasons. Umentum is a guy Miller and Co. always want on the field, because his electric and fast-paced style is entertaining and gets the rest of the team excited. He is signed to play baseball with Chicago State University.

Van Pay, a right-handed pitcher and third baseman, is signed to play collegiate baseball at St. Cloud State, a division two school in Minnesota. He’s been batting fourth for the Vikings for the hefty majority of the past two seasons.

Now at 21-2 on the season, the Vikings hope to continue to ride into regionals and sectionals with the same momentum they began with. The Vikings started out at 15-0 before dropping a game on the road to Bay Conference rival and fellow first place team in the Bay, West De Pere.

The other loss on the year was in game two against Menasha during a doubleheader two weeks ago.

With only three games remaining, pitcher Riley Pelischek wants nothing more than to keep on keepin’ on.

“We of course need to start by getting out of regionals, winning regionals, then winning sectionals,” Pelischek told me last week, “then trying to achieve our ultimate goal, which is making it to state.”

This Saturday, May 30th, are the seeding meetings regarding regionals and sectionals. With Denmark almost guaranteed a top seed in regionals, that only increases their chances at making their “ultimate goal” of playing in Appleton in mid-June. 

~Alex Strouf (@LetsGoAlex)