mound. He was replaced by ….

mound. He was replaced by freshman hurler Easton Stone.

The Warriors got a break when Mudgett was doubled off first on Tanner Hraby’s popped-up bunt attempt, but Guden was grazed by a pitch to keep the inning going. Alexander then hit a rocket to deep left-center for extra bases. Justin Hraby waved Guden around third, but the relay throw from shortstop Zack Fisher was right on the money to nail Guden at the plate for the third out.

Medford loaded the bases in the fifth on two dropped third strikes and a walk, but Smith got Mudgett to ground out.

“We had some opportunities,” coach Hraby said. “They made a perfect relay on a ball in the gap that got Chubs on a really close play at the plate. Spike had the big hit and two perfect throws just got (Guden). If I had that opportunity 10 times, I’d send Chubs 10 times.”

The nail in the coffin in the sixth came with two outs in the top of the sixth. With Fenske on second, Rowe singled to right. Retterath’s throw to home plate was offline as Fenske scored. Gardner’s throw to try to get Rowe at second was off the mark as well and Rowe came all the way home for the “Little League home run.”

In the three innings before that, Medford’s defense had tightened up.

“Our defense made some plays that got us in the dugout,” Hraby said. “We turned a handful of double plays up the middle and Blaine, Spike and Nate chased a lot of balls down in the outfield.” Rice Lake turned a double play to get out of the sixth and, after Seidl hit a twoout single in the seventh, Clark was in the right spot to catch Baumgartner’s deep drive to center and end it.

Alexander was three for four to lead Medford’s offense. Retterath was two for three. Medford had nine hits but struck out eight times, uncharacteristic for a team that averages only punchouts per game. Stone got credit for the relief win, going four scoreless innings, while allowing three hits and two walks and striking out three.

Baumgartner covered the last five innings for Medford, allowing six hits and four runs, three of which were earned. He struck out one. Rowe was a handful out of the three-spot in Rice Lake’s order, going three for three with two runs scored and three driven in.

Medford 7, Sparta 6

Coming in at 8-13 and 0-12 this season in the Mississippi Valley Conference, Sparta was the underdog of the day but the Spartans made Medford work hard for its semifinal win, which was clinched when Doriot scored from second base on a throwing error with one out in the bottom of the eighth.

“Wow, what a great game,” Hraby said. “Sparta was scrappy and did a good job of putting the ball in play against our pitching. You can tell that they were battle-tested playing in the MVC. They ran our pitch totals up and really made our guys work.”

The Raiders got out of bases-loaded jams in each of the first two innings and built a quick 4-0 lead. In the first, Guden induced a double-play ball from Tye Klass that went right to Baumgartner, the shortstop, at the second-base bag, who easily completed the inningending twin killing. The Raiders then pounced on Sparta’s left-handed starter Brett Stuessel with a single by Hraby, a double to deep center by Guden, an RBI single from Alexander and a two-run single up the middle by Gardner. Stuessel ended the inning with two strikeouts, but Medford tacked on a fourth run in the second on Hraby’s sacrifice fly that drove in Baumgartner, who had doubled to deep left to start the inning.

“The first inning was what we needed,” Justin Hraby said. “A big double play to get out of bases loaded no one out jam, then a big three-spot, aided by some big hits by Tanner, Chubs, Spike and Aiden.”

Stuessel and Sparta’s defense settled down after that and the Spartans’ offense started to chip away. Stuessel’s RBI single got Sparta on the board in the top of the fourth.

In the sixth, number-nine hitter Ryne Brueggeman led off with an infield single –– one of five infield singles Sparta hit in the game –– and Stuessel walked. Guden hit his 100-pitch limit and Baumgartner took over. He lasted just 11 pitches as Chris Jacobs walked, Hayden Brueggeman drove in a run with a groundout and Nick Kent hit an RBI single. Alexander took over and the first batter he faced, Klass, hit a run-scoring bouncer to tie it at 4-4.

Medford’s bats finally woke back up in the bottom half as Gardner reached on an error and was bunted to second by Brigham Kelley. Seidl singled and Baumgartner followed with a tie-breaking sacrifice fly to center. Retterath singled to right to score Seidl for a 6-4 lead.

Sparta came right back with a single by Colby Barry, a walk to Aidan Sprague, a sacrifice bunt by Ryne Brueggeman, an infield RBI single from Stuessel and a squeeze bunt from Jacobs.

Medford loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Klass, who took over for Stuessel after he went 6.1 innings, got Baumgartner to bounce into a fielder’s choice. Alexander quickly set the Spartans down in order in the top of the eighth, giving Medford a chance to walk it off in the bottom half. Retterath started the inning with a single. Doriot pinch run and was bunted to second by Mudgett. Hraby hit a chopper to Hayden Brueggeman at third and his throw to first sailed high past his first baseman, allowing Doriot to easily score. Alexander threw 44 pitches and got the win. In 2.2 innings, he allowed a hit, two runs and a walk while striking out two. Guden allowed 11 hits, three runs and three walks while striking out six in five innings.

Mudgett was three for four out of the leadoff spot, while Gardner and Retterath were two for four. Stuessel allowed 10 hits, six runs, four of which were earned and one walk while striking out seven.

Nate Doriot