Whitnall's Josh Serio is Woodland Baseball Player of the Year

The postseason accolades have just started to roll in for Whitnall senior pitcher Josh Serio, who on Thursday was named the Woodland Conference East Division player of the year.

But the hard-throwing right-handed Falcons ace can’t shake how hits team’s season came to an end.

Despite pitching one his best games of the season, Serio and the Falcons suffered a hard-to-swallow, 1-0 loss to Muskego in the WIAA regional final, leaving Whitnall with a 15-9 final record.

The only run scored on a throwing error in the final inning.

“That was one of the biggest games I’ve pitched in, in my high school career and it was one of my best games,” Serio said. “I felt like I had all my stuff that game. It was heartbreaking how it played out.”

Though the loss will keep Serio shaking his head for a while, his opponents were left to do the same every time he took the mound. One of the few high school pitchers in the state to consistently pitch 90 mph, Serio was dominant. He was 6-3 overall with a whopping 114 strikeouts in just 60 2/3 innings pitched.

He helped the Falcons to their first league title in over a decade and was an easy pick as the division’s top player.

“It was humbling because that was one of my goals, to get conference player of the year and to see it through was very exciting,” Serio said.

He got things rolling early with two no-hitters in the season’s first few weeks, and he never let up. He struck out eight or more batters in nine of his 11 appearances, including 16 against Cudahy on May 30.

Perhaps equally as impressive as the strikeout totals was that he allowed only 15 walks.

“I don’t like to walk batters. As a pitcher, I hate coming out of the stretch,” he said. “I feel like I lose some velocity. So I try to get every pitch on the black, on the corner. I get those ground-ball outs and if the ump is calling it, the outside strikes.”

Serio is playing for the New Berlin Lakers in the Land O’ Lakes league the rest of this summer before starting his college career at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside next fall.

Joining Serio on the all-Woodland East first team from Whitnall were outfielders Sam Mentkowski and Danny Weymier, infielder Brent Sluka and designated player Tyler Regeth.

Second-team choices were infielder John Caron and utility player Zach Sutton.

The Greenfield Hustlin’ Hawks had a handful of all-conference selections as well, with infielder Tyler Haim and utility player Parker Rome earning first-team nods.

Outfielder Bryce Laverdure and designated player Jordan Koutnik were second-team picks.

• Check out Patch's unique look at Josh Serio's 90 mph fastball.