EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday throughout the calendar year.
By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal / Fennimore Times / Boscobel Dial
Dawson Cole, Sr., P/2B/OF, Fennimore baseball
What a week it was for senior Dawson Cole and the Fennimore baseball team.
The Golden Eagles (20–4, 12–2 SWAL) rallied to beat host Cuba City 11–7 in nine innings last Friday to earn a share of this year's SWAL title, the fifth in Fennimore history — all since 2000 (2000, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2023).
Cole (4–1) came on and pitched a gem from the fifth inning on, allowing one earned run on two hits and a walked in 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn the win. Cole entered the game with two out in the fifth after the Cubans (16–5, 12–2) had scored five runs off starter Lucas Lendosky and reliever Konner Swatek to build a 6–2 lead. Cole promptly stuck out Rosenkrantz to end the inning and only allowed two Cuba City hits the rest of the way. Cole also had a hit and an RBI ground out in the first to drive in Fennimore's first run.
Monday afternoon, Cole did his damage at the plate. The senior accomplished an unbreakable feat when he smashed two grand slams in one inning to propel Fennimore to an 18–5 six-inning victory over Six Rivers West champion Potosi/Cassville.
Cole slugged his first slam early in the bottom of the sixth inning after an intentional walk to fellow senior Lucas Lendosky to give the Eagles a 10–5 lead. Fennimore continued to bat around and Cole slammed his second, after an unintentional walk to Lendosky, to end the game via the mercy rule. Cole finished the game 3-for-5 with two home runs and nine RBI. Cole is batting .341 (24-for-63) with four home runs and 24 RBI in 21 games.
“It such an awesome feat for Dawson and that’s why we have moved him in the cleanup spot behind Max and Lucas who both continue to hit the ball well,” said Sheckler. “We have an incredibly good offense. We are not super fast but we have good base-running IQ. The goal of the game was to get some feel good swings and hit the ball hard and we did that.”
HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order)
Grant Herbst, Sr. and Gavin Voigts, Jr., Platteville golf
Senior Grant Herbst shot an 85 to place third individually at the SWC conference tournament and junior Gavin Voigts shot an 87 to tie for fourth , to lead the Hillmen to the team title at last week's SWC Championships and the overall SWC conference title. Herbst finished three back of SWC Championships medalist Roman Johnson of Richland Center. Johnson shot an 82 to win the conference tournament and the 2023 SWC Player of the Year award. Herbst finished second in the final individual SWC standings with 229.5 points, behind Johnson, to earn first-team All-SWC honors for a second straight year. Voigts finished fourth in the individual SWC standings with 205 points to join Johnson (229.5), Herbst (226.5), Prairie du Chien senior James Reilly (224) and River Valley’s Gavin Davidson (194.5) on the five-player All-SWC first team.
Brady Larson, Sr., Fennimore golf
Larson shot a 3-over-par 74 to finish second individually behind Mineral Point’s Alex Ross (72) to lead the Fennimore boys golf team (372) to a third place finish at last Tuesday’s SWAL Championships at the Par 71 Edelweiss Chalet Country Club. This Wednesday, Larson shot an 81 at the Par 72 House on the Rock Resort to tie for fourth at the WIAA Division 3 Barneveld Regional and advance as an individual qualifier to next week's D3 Mineral Point Sectional.
