Playoff Profile: #2 Janesville Craig

JANESVILLE, Wis.–

BY ALEX STROUF

If you’ve ever heard the saying, “You get out what you put in,” you have something in common with the Janesville Craig High School baseball team. 

“Also it starts with us putting in the extra work and time every day we don’t have a game,” Craig ace Alex Marro told me. “We all get up at 6 and lift on off days and go to practice with lots of energy.”

Marro and Co. are standing happily with a 22-1 record, which included a 19-0 start, and that comes with a Big Eight championship. 

That one loss comes from Sun Prairie two weeks ago. 

“This is baseball, no team is unbeatable. We knew going in there that it was going to be a tough game to win,” Cox told me on Wednesday. “We played really well, but they just played better.”

Ranked number two in the state by Wisconsin Baseball Central is a cool, deal, sure, but that’s not the Cougars’ goal. 

“Our expectations are to play our game and to win,” University of Illinois-Springfield commit and Craig senior McCauley Cox told me on Wednesday. “We will take it one game at a time.”
A trip to state almost seems like an expectation, but one game and one day at a time is too. 

“Before the season started we set 3 goals, and they were to win conference, sweep Sun Prairie and [Janesville] Parker and finally make it to the state tournament,” Marro told me. “Our expectations are for everyone to go out every day and give 100% and not make excuses about things, own up to our mistakes and learn from them.”

Two goals succeeded, but one is still a few weeks away. 

The Cougars’ road to state begins on Thursday, June 4th as they host the winner of #8 Stoughton and #9 Delavan-Darien. 

~Alex Strouf (@LetsGoAlex)