GET OUT THE BROOMS
MEDFORD BASEBALL
7-0 Raiders sweep a pair of doubleheaders
With the exception of one inning, the Medford Raiders welcomed baseball back to Raider Field with a dominant performance Monday, overwhelming Lakeland 14-1 and 21-10 to start Great Northern Conference play.
Already having five games under their belts while Lakeland was on a field for the first time, the Raiders took advantage of several T-Bird miscues while Logan Baumgartner and Ty Metz limited Lakeland to two hits in the fiveinning opener. The nightcap wasn’t nearly as solid defensively for Medford, who trailed 7-5 after one inning. But the Raiders banged out 25 hits and couldn’t be stopped while improving to 7-0 overall.
Game one got out of hand quickly. The Raiders jumped ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning when T-Bird left-hander Zack Peterson walked Seth Mudgett and hit Tanner Hraby to set up Caleb Guden’s two-run triple to deep right-center and a sacrifice fly from Aiden Gardner.
The lack of field time showed for Lakeland in the second when the TBirds committed five errors, leading to a six-run rally for the Raiders and a 9-0 lead. Mudgett had the big hit, getting an opposite-field fly ball to carry with the wind over the head of leftfielder Josh Wagendorf for a two-run double.
Lakeland got its run on a wild pitch in the third, but Medford more than made up for that with a five-run fourth. Baumgartner drew a one-out walk and his courtesy runner, Colby Elsner, scored on Gardner’s double. Braxton Weissmiller doubled in Metz, Gardner’s courtesy runner. Weissmiller eventually scored on a wild pitch and Mudgett capped the scoring with another booming two-run double, this one to deep right.
Mudgett went two for three to lead the offense, which only had seven hits.
“Seth Mudgett has been tough at the plate,” Medford head coach Justin Hraby said. “He is putting up some big numbers and has been a big part of this offensive surge, both driving runs in and setting the table for the big bats.”
Baumgartner struck out five, walked one and allowed one hit and one earned run in four innings. Metz allowed a hit and struck out one while pitching the fifth.
Peterson gave up all 14 runs in 3.2 innings, but just five were earned. He struck out four and walked four.
“Logan did a great job of doing what he does,” Hraby said. “We gave him the ball in game one to set the tone for the day. That he did.”
Game two started with a bang as Mudgett singled on the first pitch from Lakeland’s Will Fortier, the T-Birds didn’t get an out on Tanner Hraby’s fielder’s choice and Guden slammed a three-run homer to rightfield. The Raiders tacked on two more unearned runs for a 5-0 lead, but it didn’t last long.
Peterson led off Lakeland’s bottom of the first with a single off Mudgett, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Brandon Zajac’s single. Danny Gahler walked and, after Fortier hit into a fielder’s choice, Carter Quade singled to left to score Zajac. Wagendorf was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Leonard Chosa hit a misplayed fly ball to right that plated a run. Will Bronoski then lined a grand slam over the fence in left-center to put the T-Birds in front.
Fortunately for the Raiders, Mudgett settled down after that, allowing the offense to take the game back over.
“Game two was a game that we haven’t seen in a long time,” Hraby said. “We win a lot of games with pitching and defense. Pitching and defense wasn’t the greatest, so we won with our bats, pounding out 25 hits.”
Guden doubled and scored on Baumgartner’s single in the second. In the top of the third, Miles Searles scored all the way from first on a Mudgett double. After a passed ball, Hraby drove in Mudgett with an infield hit. Guden was intentionally walked to put runners on first and second and Baumgartner made Lakeland pay by lining a two-run double to the gap in left-center. He scored on a misplayed fly ball by Gardner and Weissmiller added an RBI single to make it 12-7.
The T-Birds got two unearned runs in their half of the third, but Medford kept pulling away in the top of the fourth, getting four more runs, highlighted by a sacrifice fly from Hraby and run-scoring singles from Baumgartner, Gardner and Parker Lissner.
Mudgett’s two-run single and an RBI infield hit by Hraby made it 18-9 in the fifth. Tucker Kraemer’s RBI double to deep left and a single to center by Steve Hraby were part of a three-run sixth.
Mudgett got through four innings to pick up the win. He only allowed five hits and six of Lakeland’s nine runs against him were earned. He struck out two and walked two. Metz put in his third straight short relief outing by striking out three and allowing just one hit and an unearned run in two innings.
“Ty Metz did a nice job of eating some innings,” Hraby said. “He has been a pleasant surprise on the mound.”
Mudgett and Baumgartner led the offense with four hits apiece. Baumgartner drove in four and scored twice. Mudgett scored four times and drove in two. Lissner was three for five, while Guden, Gardner, Weissmiller and Kraemer had two hits apiece.
“It was good to see some of our younger guys swing the bats well,” coach Hraby said. “Parker Lissner and Braxton Weissmiller had big nights at the plate. Also, great to see Tucker Kraemer and Max Dietzman come off the bench and give us some instant offense.”
Fortier got roughed up while going 2.2 innings for Lakeland. He struck out two and walked two while allowing 10 hits and 12 runs, 11 of which were earned.
Medford will get tested Saturday when it visits the Prep Baseball Report high school tournament at The Rock Complex in Franklin. The original schedule has been tweaked as Medford will now play both of its games in one day. The Raiders will face Muskego, a talented but young team that started the year ranked 15th in Division 1, at 1 p.m. and then face Division 1’s top-ranked team, Whitefish Bay, at 4:30 p.m.
The Raiders return home to face Stevens Point, ranked 13th in the Division 1 pre-season poll, on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Eagles swept
On Saturday at Mauston’s Woodside Sports Complex, the Raiders earned a non-conference doubleheader sweep of Auburndale with scores of 10-2 and 10-3.
Steve Hraby relieved Seth Mudgett with one out in the second inning of game one and threw 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out three to pick up a win and eat up some major innings for Medford in the 10-2 win. Offensively Medford struck for four runs in the bottom of the third and five in the sixth to break the game open.
“Steve Hraby was great on the mound,” Justin Hraby said. “He came on in a tough spot, got us out of it and then cruised the next five innings. He was very confident and pounded the zone.”
Tanner Hraby doubled with one out in the first and scored on Guden’s single to put the Raiders on the board, but Auburndale, after leaving the bases loaded in the first, answered in the top of the second with an RBI single by Alex Willfahrt that ended Mudgett’s outing and a runscoring double by Aidan Chesney that started Hraby’s outing. However, Willfahrt was called out on runner’s interference on the play and Hraby got Caden Weinfurter to fly out to limit the damage. The Eagles didn’t get a runner past first base against him the rest of the way.
Medford took control with its big third inning. Mudgett and Tanner Hraby started it with singles and both moved up a base on a throw that missed the cutoff. Mudgett scored on a wild pitch and Hraby scored on Baumgartner’s one-out single. Baumgartner went to third on Gardner’s single and scored on Dietzman’s groundout. Elsner, in as a courtesy runner, scored the final run of the inning on a wild pitch.
Elsner led off the sixth with a double, Kraemer walked and Weissmiller singled sharply up the middle to load the bases. The Eagles didn’t record an out on Ty Metz’s fielder’s choice, scoring Elsner. Mudgett drove in Kraemer with a sacrifice fly. Hraby’s hit re-loaded the bases. Chesney struck out Guden, but Baumgartner came through with a threerun double down the leftfield line.
Baumgartner finished two for four with four runs batted in. Hraby was three for four and scored three runs. Medford outhit Auburndale 10-4.
“It was great to see us blow it open late,” coach Hraby said. “They hung around for five innings, then our bats put it away. Tanner had a good game at the plate, hitting the ball hard all over the place. Colby came off the bench and got our big sixth inning going. He has proved to be a valuable piece to our team, both running bases and being a bat off the bench.”
Ian Brown took the loss for Auburndale, allowing five runs, four of which were earned, six hits and two walks while striking out two in three innings. Chesney allowed five earned runs on four hits and a walk while striking out two in his three innings.
Game two was decided quickly as Medford, now playing as the visitor, jumped ahead 9-0 by the top of the third. The Eagles got their three runs in the bottom of the third and Medford tacked on the last run in the sixth.
Three pitchers got work for the Raiders. After Hraby allowed three runs on three hits and two walks while striking out three in 2.1 innings, Kelley gave Medford 2.2 clutch innings, striking out six while working around three walks and a hit. Metz covered the last two innings, striking out four while allowing a hit and a walk.
Mudgett went three for four, while Weissmiller and Lissner both had two hits as Medford outhit the Eagles 14-5.
“All three of our pitchers were good in this game,” Hraby said. “Tanner, Brigham and Ty pounded the zone and our defense backed them up.”
Mudgett drilled a triple on the game’s first pitch and scored on Hraby’s sacrifice fly. Baumgartner and Gardner drew twoout walks and Weissmiller reached on an error to load the bases for Lissner, who singled up the middle to drive in two.
The five-run second started with a walk and stolen base from Mudgett and a single by Hraby. A fielder’s choice by Guden scored Mudgett. A walk to Baumgartner and a single by Gardner loaded the bases for Weissmiller, who reached on an error to drive in Guden. Lissner’s single scored Baumgartner. Miles Searles drove in a run with a twoout walk and Mudgett drove in one with an infield single.
Weissmiller hit an RBI double in the third and Mudgett drove in the last run with a single in the sixth.
Weinfurter was the losing pitcher. He was tagged for eight runs, three of which were earned, on six hits and five walks in 1.2 innings. He struck out one.
Medford’s Braxton Weissmiller is called out on the tag by Lakeland third baseman Will Fortier in the fourth inning of Monday’s second game as he tried to go from first to third on a Parker Lissner single.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
Pitcher Seth Mudgett focuses on the target from catcher Aiden Gardner Monday.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
