MEDFORD 4, RIB LAKE 2 - Raiders get big play in first inning, do just enough to beat Redmen
Walking 10 batters usually isn’t a formula for success, but Medford pitchers Nick Krause and Brody Paulson also only gave up two hits, and a big defensive play limited what could’ve been a big first inning as the Raiders edged Rib Lake 4-2 Tuesday in non-conference baseball.
It was a tough week offensively for the Raiders, who were blanked 8-0 Thursday in a perfect game by Rhinelander’s Connor Rappley and then shut out 7-0 Monday by Pewaukee standout Owen Dobberstein, who gave up just two hits.
They saw one of the area’s best smallschool pitchers Tuesday in Talon Scheithauer. The Raiders broke their 15inning scoreless streak with a secondinning run and then scored two in the third to take the lead for good and finish the regular season at 11-9.
“I’m actually happy we’ve seen the talent we have,” Medford head coach Chandler Schmidt said. “Pitching-wise we’ve seen two really good, top-tier arms. That’s going to help us in the playoffs. The deeper you go, the better the pitching gets. We had (Dobberstein) clocked in the high 80s, 87-88 mph. We haven’t seen that all year, so it was good to see that.”
The pitching for both teams was a bit up and down Tuesday. Medford starter Nick Krause seemed headed for a quick hook when a Seth Borchardt single and walks to Scheithauer, Ethan Cook and Brady Heiser forced in a run and had the bases still loaded with one out.
Brevin Brahmer laced a bullet to leftfield, but it was right at Sam Hierlmeier, who caught it and made a perfect one-hop throw to catcher Evan Czarnezki to nab Scheithauer, who had tagged up and tried to score. The double play got Medford out of the inning down by just one.
“Sammy has done it all year,” Schmidt said. “We practice it. The guys have bought into the footwork and all that stuff.”
“If that ball is 5 feet to either side it clears the bases,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said. “Brevin hit it right at him. That was a beautiful throw. You couldn’t ask for a better throw.”
Hayden Strebig singled and Restyn Kraschnewski and Sam Hierlmeier walked to start the bottom of the second for Medford, loading the bases. Will Wojcik drove in Strebig with a fly ball to tie it.
Rib Lake got the lead back briefly in the top of the third. Slade Scheithauer doubled to leftfield and moved to third on Seth Borchardt’s groundout to the right side. After walks to Talon Scheithauer and Cook loaded the bases, Paulson relieved Krause. Heiser’s fly ball to center drove in a run, but Paulson struck out Brahmer to get Medford out of the inning.
In the bottom half, Ryder Kraschnewski walked and Parker Lissner singled to start things up for Medford. Czarnezki’s fly ball scored Kraschnewski to tie it. Strebig walked but got picked off first base for the second out, but Restyn Kraschnewski’s clutch single drove in Lissner with the go-ahead run.
In the fourth, Wojcik singled, stole second and scored on a base hit by Charlie Gierl.
Paulson went 4.2 hitless innings, striking out five and walking five. He escaped a bases-loaded one-out jam in the fifth and stranded two Redmen in the sixth. Krause struck out two, walked five and allowed two hits and two runs in his 2.1 innings.
Talon Scheithauer struck out two and walked four in three innings. He allowed six hits. Borchardt struck out four and walked two while allowing one hit in the final three innings.
“(Paulson and Krause) have been pitching well all year for us no matter what situation it is, whether it’s a relief role or starting role,” Schmidt said. “The biggest thing is throwing strikes. We did that tonight for the most part besides the first inning. They were mixing speeds, hitting spots. We’re going to go as far as the pitching takes us.”
Lissner was three for three for Medford at the plate.
“It was a good game,” Iverson said. “When made a mistake or gave them a walk, Medford took advantage of it.”
Medford starts WIAA Division 2 tournament play tonight, Thursday, as the fifth seed in the sectional half-bracket. The Raiders will host GNC rival Antigo (512) in first-round play at 5 p.m. The winner will face either 13th-seeded Lakeland (6-13) or fourth-seeded Merrill (11-11) Tuesday with the higher seed hosting the regional semifinal contest. The regional final follows Wednesday.
Two of Lakeland’s six wins have come against Medford this year. Medford did not play Merrill, who was originally scheduled to be the Raiders’ opponent Tuesday.
Rib Lake is the three-seed in its Division 5 sectional half-bracket. The 15-5 Redmen won’t start tournament play until Tuesday’s regional semifinal round when they’ll host either sixth-seeded Gilman or 11th-seeded Spencer.
In the meantime, the Redmen have added a non-conference game for today at Marathon with the first pitch set for 4:45 p.m.
