By Noah Chavez

KENOSHA, Wis. – In a two-game sweep against the Kenosha Kingfish in the Great Lakes East Sub-Divisional Series, the Royal Oak Leprechauns have advanced to the 2026 Great Lakes Championship.

Across the series, the two teams battled closely, but at home Royal Oak took the Game One victory by a score of 6-4, and then won Game Two in Kenosha 5-3.

On Sunday night in Game One, the Leprechauns got the scoring started in the third, when Oliver Service and Kam Yearsley each tallied RBI singles to grab a 2-0 lead.

An inning later, Royal Oak would add on two more, courtesy of run-scoring doubles from Mason Barth and Connor Larkin.

In the fifth, a Mateo Noto RBI single made it 5-0 for the home team, but 4 unanswered from Kenosha across the next two frames had them back to within a run heading into the bottom of the seventh.

With two outs, Michael Zielinski capped off a multi-hit performance to double the lead, and make it a 6-4 Leprechauns lead.

Having come into the game to close out the seventh, Ethan Reidy stayed on the mound for both the eighth and ninth innings, securing the seven-out save and putting Royal Oak ahead in the series with the Game One win.

Heading to Kenosha for Game Two, the Leprechauns once again jumped out to the early lead, thanks to a Mason Barth two-RBI double and Luke Kosko RBI two-bagger in the first.

In the third, Kosko once again provided an offensive spark, sending a two-run homer over the left field fence to make it 5-0 in the third inning.

While the Leprechauns were held scoreless the rest of the way, Taylor Falls and Jon Tober were stellar on the mound in keeping the lead. Falls, in his final start of the summer, went six full innings and allowed just three runs in the win, passing the ball to Tober, who recorded the final nine outs with six strikeouts to earn the save.

With the Leprechauns earning the sweep, Royal Oak will continue traveling into the heart of Wisconsin, taking on the Madison Mallards in the Great Lakes Championship Game. Because both prior series ended in a sweep, the teams will play on Tuesday night, before the winner earns an off-day ahead of Thursday’s Northwoods League Championship Game.

Streaming on FloSports, first pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. CT in Tuesday’s Great Lakes Championship Game from Warner Park in Madison.