Posted on

Jays win in extras; Raiders nip Hodags and split with Terrors

Jays win in extras; Raiders nip  Hodags and split with Terrors Jays win in extras; Raiders nip  Hodags and split with Terrors

MEDFORD BASEBALL

The breaks, for the most part, didn’t go Medford’s way in the final innings, but the Raiders didn’t make their own breaks either, leaving 10 men on base in a nine-inning 3-2 loss at Merrill Tuesday.

The end of a stretch of five games in five days, Medford pitched and defended well enough to win, but the Raiders didn’t make much happen against Merrill pitchers Alex Mann, Michael Mc-Crae and Peyton Becker. Mann ended the game by lining a two-out single off the outstretched glove of Medford third baseman Logan Baumgartner into shallow leftfield, scoring Ryder Depies, who had walked to lead off the inning.

“It was a well played game tonight,” Medford head coach Justin Hraby said. “Two good teams battling it out.”

After a bumpy start, Medford’s Seth Mudgett pitched well, going seven innings and allowing just six hits and two runs on three walks. He struck out two. Spike Alexander got five outs in relief, but a couple of close calls in the ninth didn’t go his way and he was tagged with a tough loss, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out two.

“Seth was impressive on the mound, going seven innings,” Hraby said. “After the second inning he really settled in and pitched well. Our pitching is strong this year. Seth adds to that impressive depth we have.”

What Medford hasn’t found yet is consistent offense. The Raiders didn’t score until the sixth in Tuesday’s game and even that inning wasn’t as big as it could have been.

Down 2-0, the Raiders got a boost when Logan Baumgartner led off by getting to second base on a throwing error by Merrill third baseman Henry Reimann. Blaine Seidl singled sharply to left to send Baumgartner to third and Brigham Kelley snuck a grounder past Becker, who was playing shortstop at the time, to score Baumgartner and put two on with no outs.

McCrae’s wild pitch put both runners in scoring position, but his strikeout of Nate Retterath gave him a chance to minimize the damage. Mudgett followed with a bouncer to first baseman Mason Johnson, who threw home late in an attempt to cut down Seidel, tying the game at 2-2. Depies then made a sliding catch off Tanner Hraby’s sinking liner to left. Kelley tried to tag up and score, but he was ruled to have left third base early and was doubled up to end the inning.

Medford had another chance in the eighth when Seidl walked with one out, stole second and went to third on Kelley’s infield single. Retterath hit a comebacker to Becker, now in his second inning on the mound, who got Seidl in a rundown. Seidl nearly avoided a tag at home plate but was ruled out, but runners Nate Doriot and Retterath wound up at second and third. Becker got out of the mess by retiring Mudgett on a comebacker.

Medford finished the game with just six hits. Seidl and Kelley both were two for three.

“I was disappointed in our situational hitting and the fact that we did not make adjustments at the plate as the game progressed,” Justin Hraby said. “We have to get better at that. We left too many guys hanging on the bases.”

Merrill left the bases loaded in the first when Mudgett caught Johnson looking on a beautiful curveball. Caleb DeJong did come through in the second inning, hitting a two-out bouncer up the middle that took a bad hop past shortstop Caleb Guden to score two runs. DeJong was two for three with two walks and Isaac Sutton was two for four for Merrill.

Medford, now 4-2 overall, looks to stay on top of the Great Northern Conference today, Thursday, when it hosts Rhinelander at 5 p.m. at Raider Field. Lakeland is in town for a GNC doubleheader Saturday that starts at 11 a.m. The Raiders go to Marshfield Monday for a non-conference game and then get home and away games with Tomahawk Tuesday and next Thursday.

Medford 3, Hodags 1

Behind Guden’s second outstanding GNC pitching performance of the young season, the Raiders edged Rhinelander and its top hurdler Isaac Bixby 3-1 Monday at Stafford Field. Both teams had entered the game 2-0 in the GNC.

Guden’s pitch count was all that prevented him from a complete-game victory. In 6.2 innings, he allowed just two hits and four walks while striking out seven. Rhinelander scored its only run in the fourth when Quinn Lamers walked, went to third on Sam Schneider’s double and scored on Ryan Jamison’s fielder’s choice. That made it a 2-1 game at the time.

Guden surpassed the 100-pitch limit while facing Hodag Tim Fox with two outs in the seventh. Fox reached on an error. Baumgartner retired Bixby on a comebacker to pick up the save.

“Another great outing for Chubs on the bump,” Justin Hraby said. “He had to be good as their guy was pretty good as well. Chubs made some big pitches when we needed it.”

The Raiders also got two big defensive plays. Second baseman Tanner Hraby robbed Bixby of a hit with a diving stop and throw from his backside to start the game. Doriot made a running grab in leftfield with two runners on in the sixth. Guden stranded the runners on second and third with strikeout.

“Once again we had some nice defensive plays, the biggest of them being Nate Doriot’s catch in the sixth with two runners on,” Justin Hraby said. “That ball was headed to the corner and he tracked it down. Big play.”

After stranding two runners in the first, Medford got on the board in the top of the second. Seidl doubled and Baumgartner waited back on a curveball from Bixby and lined it to left for an RBI single. Kelley singled and Nate Retterath bunted the runners into scoring position. Mudgett’s groundout drove in Baumgartner for a 2-0 lead.

That was it for the offense until the seventh when Guden doubled with two outs and scored a big insurance run on a clutch single by Alexander. Bixby needed exactly 100 pitches to get through seven innings. He scattered nine hits, but walked only one and struck out three.

The offensive momentum Baumgartner picked up over the weekend continued as he went two for three. Guden was two for four. Schneider was two for two to account for both of Rhinelander’s hits.

“A good win versus a good team in a hard place to play,” coach Hraby said. ‘Bixby was tough. He could throw three different pitches for strikes. He kept us on our toes all night.”

Split with the Terrors

Appleton West’s Carson Huiting ended game one of Saturday’s doubleheader with a tie-breaking single in the bottom of the seventh, but Medford got its revenge in game two with 17 hits in a 17-3 pounding of the Terrors, who are coached by Medford native Mitch Krug.

“Overall it was a good day of baseball against a good baseball program,” Justin Hraby said. ‘It was also good to see Mitch again. Two Medford grads coaching against each other, that was a lot of fun. I have known Mitch for a long time and have a lot of respect for him as a coach and person. I look forward to doing this again next year.”

Game two turned in the top of the third when the Raiders turned a 2-1 deficit into an 11-2 lead.

It started with a Tanner Hraby triple and he scored on a wild pitch. Guden walked, Alexander singled and both scored on Aiden Gardner’s triple. Seidl’s single knocked in Gardner. After Baumgartner’s one-out single, Retterath’s bloop single scored Seidl. An error on a ball hit by Mudgett loaded the bases for Hraby, who hit an infield single to score Doriot, the courtesy runner. Guden smacked a two-run single to center to make it 9-2. An Alexander fielder’s choice and an RBI single by Gardner capped the big inning.

“It was great to see our bats get hot,” Justin Hraby said. “Caleb, Aiden and Tanner all had three hits and three or more RBIs. Two other guys had multiple hits as well. It was fun to watch us hit the way we are capable.”

Guden hit a two-run single and Gardner singled in a run to widen the lead to 16-3 in the fourth. Baumgartner singled, Desmon Firnstahl doubled and Hraby hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Baumgartner pitched the first three innings to get credit for the win. He struck out two and allowed five hits. Two of them were homers by UW-Milwaukee recruit Nick Lavigne, accounting for all three West runs. Hraby struck out two while allowing three hits in the last two innings.

“Logan showed why he is one of our top four guys on the bump and will be in that mix for a few years,” Justin Hraby said. “Tanner did a nice job finishing up throwing strikes in the last two innings.”

Guden was three for three with four RBIs, Gardner was three for four with four driven in and Hraby was three for three with three runs scored and three RBIs.

Medford led much of game one, but Lavigne and Huiting led Appleton West’s offense to its 6-5 win.

The Raiders took the lead in the opening inning on a two-run triple by Gardner and his run on a wild pitch. Lavigne hit the first of his four homers on the day, a two-run shot, to make it 3-2. He tied it with a solo shot in the third.

Baumgartner’s two-run double put Medford up 5-3 in the top of the fourth, but the Terrors tied it in the fifth with a run-scoring wild pitch and Huiting’s RBI double. Lavigne walked to start the bottom of the seventh and he went to third on Tanner Larsen’s one-out single. After Larsen took second on defensive indifference, Huiting found a gap to win it.

Gardner and Baumgartner had two hits apiece for Medford. Mudgett allowed six hits and three earned runs in four innings while striking out three. Nate Retterath went 2.1 innings, allowing three runs, four hits and four walks while fanning one.

“We did a good job of coming out of the gates and putting up three early runs,” coach Hraby said. “We did not keep the pressure on them and add on like we would have liked. We did hit into a little bit of bad luck, but we still needed to be better at the plate.

“Once Seth got the ball down, he was tough on the mound,” he added. “It was a good first outing for him.”

Medford 3, Pines 0

In a rematch of the April 27 opener, Medford collected its second straight shutout over Northland Pines Friday, though this one was much closer at 3-0.

Alexander needed 96 pitches to go the distance, striking out eight, walking four and allowing three hits.

“Spike did what Spike does,” Justin Hraby said. “He competes and comes at you with everything he has. He was tough and we needed him to be as the bats were cold.”

Three days after putting up 10 runs against the Eagles, Medford only got sacrifi ce flies from Seidl in the second and Alexander in the fifth and an unearned run in the sixth. Matthew Vedder went four innings and gave up a run on four hits. Brady Beyer gave up the fifth-inning run and Nolan Lurvey allowed three hits and the unearned run in two innings.

“Pines rebounded well from Tuesday’s loss and played a good baseball game,” Hraby said. “Vedder pitched well and their defense was much improved.”

Retterath, batting out of the ninth spot in the order, was two for two. Five others had a hit apiece.

“Nate Doriot made a couple of nice catches out in leftfield,” Hraby said. “Emett Grunwald came off the bench and had a big stolen base. Guys willing to accept their roles and wanting to win. That’s what we have.”


MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Thorp-Gilman’s Grady Kroeplin takes a healthy cut at this offering during the team’s 10-0 win over Loyal Friday in Gilman. It was the first win of the season for the baseball co-op.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
LATEST NEWS