Raiders hold off potent Antigo, sweep Hodags after upset loss
MEDFORD BASEBALL
In a baseball slugfest Tuesday at Raider Field, what wound up being the winning run scored on a balk in Medford’s wild 9-8 Great Northern Conference win over Antigo.
The run put Medford up 9-7 in the bottom of the sixth inning and it wound up being a big one as Red Robin Mason Gray slugged his second home run of the game, a solo shot, to lead off the top of the seventh and pull Antigo within one. But Seth Mudgett, who picked up the win with 2.1 solid innings in relief of starter Tanner Hraby, retired three of the next four batters to keep the score where it was. Not only did Mudgett pitch well, he was three for three with three RBIs from the top of a batting order that was actually carried by its bottom half, which collected six of the team’s 10 hits.
“Seth was great both at the plate and on the mound in relief,” Medford head coach Justin Hraby said. “He really picked us up tonight. The bottom of the order really performed tonight. They all found ways to get on two or three times and also drove each other in. There’s not too many nights where Chubs (Guden), Tanner and Logan (Baumgartner) go Ofer and we win. Speaks a lot to our team and what we can do at the plate.”
The win puts Medford at 7-2 in the GNC, one-half game behind 7-1 Mosinee, and 15-5 overall. The Raiders have a rematch with the Red Robins in Antigo Friday before playing games next week with last-place Tomahawk. Medford is at Tomahawk Monday and hosts the Hatchets on May 19 to close out GNC play. Medford is no longer going to the Adams-Friendship tournament on Saturday.
Mosinee is at Antigo today, Thursday, at Tomahawk Friday and plays Rhinelander twice next week.
After quickly falling behind 2-0 Tuesday, Medford seemed to have the game in control in the middle innings. Parker Lissner walked and Max Dietzman hit a bullet off the shin of Antigo starter Reed Kuenzli for an infield hit to get a secondinning rally started. Kuenzli stayed in the game, and gave up a single to Brigham Kelley and a two-run double to Mudgett, who hit a laser to the rightfield corner. Guden’s sacrifice fly made it 3-2.
The Raiders kept hitting in the third. Gardner got all the way to third on a throwing error to start the frame and scored on a one-out double by Braxton Weissmiller. Lissner’s single put runners on the corners and Dietzman lined a double the opposite way to the leftfield corner to score courtesy runner Colby Elsner. Kelley lined an RBI single just under the glove of shortstop Hunter Aiuppy and Mudgett’s RBI single made it 7-2.
Things changed quickly in the top of the fifth when Antigo got four singles to score one run and then Gray unloaded the bases with an absolute bomb to left that easily cleared the fence for a gametying grand slam.
“Antigo was scrappy,” Justin Hraby said. “Tanner pitched well through four. In the fifth inning they found some holes through the infield and then got the big bomb. Pretty soon it was tied. We probably should’ve got him out of there a hitter or two before that.”
Guden’s sacrifice fly in the bottom half put Medford back on top. The key balk was called on reliever Marvin Duchac in the sixth. With two down and Aiden Gardner on third and Elsner on first, Elsner made a move toward second as Duchac was just getting set in the stretch. Duchac flinched and that was all the umpires needed to make the call and advance the runners.
Dietzman was two for three with three runs scored out of the eighth spot in the order. Kelley was two for two out of the nine spot. Gray had six RBIs while going two for four for Antigo.
Took two from Hodags
Medford got two much-needed wins Saturday in differing ways. The Raiders pounded host Rhinelander 11-1 in game one of their GNC doubleheader, but they needed a walk-off RBI double from Tanner Hraby in the bottom of the seventh to earn a tense 2-1 victory and stay within a game of Mosinee in the standings.
Baumgartner and Rhinelander’s Ryan Jamison were outstanding on the hill in game two. Baumgartner went the distance for the Raiders, playing as the home team, striking out 11, walking none and allowing four hits and one unearned run in seven innings. He threw just 94 pitches.
Jamison hit the 102-pitch mark for the game on a one-out walk to Guden in the bottom of the seventh. On Kolby Ridderbusch’s first pitch, Guden stole second. On the reliever’s second pitch, Hraby lined his game-ending double to deep left.
“Logan was flat out dominant,” coach Hraby said. “The one run he did give up was a product of some weak swings that blooped in and an error. He kept us in that game by shutting them down. When Caleb got on in the seventh, it was obvious to everyone there that he was going first pitch. He did and stole second, setting the table for Tanner. Tanner put a charge into that ball and was about a foot away from a walk off homer.”
Jamison only struck out two, but he allowed just six hits and two walks in his tough-luck loss. Both of Medford’s runs were earned. The other run came in the bottom of the fourth when Gardner singled and his courtesy runner, Tucker Kraemer, eventually scored on a single by Lissner. The Hodags promptly tied the game in the top of the fifth when Ridderbusch singled, moved up two bases on errors and scored on a base hit by Logan Schmoeger. That was the only inning where Rhinelander had multiple base runners.
Medford, on the other hand, stranded one runner in the second, two in the third, two in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth before finally cashing in during the seventh. Seven Raiders had a hit apiece, though Hraby’s double was the lone extra-base hit.
In game one, however, Medford banged out 15 hits and used a five-run fourth-inning rally to break the game open. Gardner’s first-inning double drove in Seth Mudgett, but the Hodags countered with an RBI single from Ridderbusch in the bottom half.
The Raiders took the lead in the third with Guden drawing a walk from Rhinelander starter Jacksen Smith and eventually scoring on a wild pitch. Weissmiller added an RBI single.
The big fourth inning started with a Dietzman walk. An error on Kelley’s sacrifice bunt put runners on first and second, and they moved up on another one of the Hodags’ six errors in the game. Mudgett’s hit scored Dietzman. Reliever Max Ratty hit Guden with a pitch to load the bases for Hraby, who singled in Mudgett. Gardner’s two-run single made it 7-1 and Weissmiller later added an RBI groundout.
Dietzman tacked on a two-single in the sixth and Guden doubled and scored on Hraby’s base hit in the seventh.
Guden got the win. He collected 10 strikeouts in 5.2 innings and walked just one batter. The Hodags’ run was earned. They got five hits. Steve Hraby allowed a hit and struck out one while getting the last four outs.
Mudgett was three for five, scored twice and drove in one. Guden was two for three with two doubles, scored three times and stole a base. Garnder was three for five with three RBIs, Hraby was two for five and drove in two and Weissmiller was two for four with two RBIs.
“Chubs settled in after a tough first inning,” coach Hraby said. “He was tough and battled through a tough strike zone. Steve Hraby was great in his four outs too. Our bats got going. Seth set the table, getting back on track. Tanner did a nice job adjusting to the threespot. Max Dietzman found his way on base in his first start in a while. Aiden Gardner kept his hot hitting going. He has been a huge part of our offense lately. All his hard work is paying off.”
Pines 1, Medford 0
Just when Medford thought it had put itself back into GNC title contention with its April 29 win at Mosinee, Northland Pines came to Raider Field Thursday and pulled off the shocker of the conference season with a 1-0 upset win.
Left-hander Landyn Hoeft kept everyone in Medford’s order but Guden off-balance in a five-hit gem, where he walked two and only struck out three while pitching to contact. That contact wasn’t often hard, the Eagles committed just one error behind him and they got the big hit they needed in the top of the seventh inning to pay it all off.
Northland Pines broke a 15-game losing streak to Medford. The Eagles’ last win in the series had been a 10-6 victory at Raider Field on May 2, 2014.
“Pines is getting better every year under coach Peter Aerts’s direction,” Justin Hraby said. “He is doing a great job there and I look forward to continued battles with them.”
The game’s only successful rally started with Tanner Hraby issuing a leadoff walk to Matthew Vedder, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. Hraby struck out Eric Nagel, but Vedder scored when Jack Bunter dumped a single into right-center.
Lissner drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh and was bunted to second by Kelley. But Nagel, playing second base, speared a line drive hit by Miles Searles and doubled off Lissner to end it.
Medford let more scoring chances get away earlier in the loss. Hraby started a two-out chance in the third with an infield single, which was followed by another Guden single. A double steal put the runners at second and third, but Hoeft got Baumgartner to fly out to right.
In the sixth, Guden hit a leadoff single, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. But Baumgartner pulled a grounder to the left side and Guden had to hold. Aiden Gardner’s fly to very shallow right was dropped, but the umpires ruled the drop came on the transfer, not on the catch. Weissmiller’s fly ball to right also caught by James McCormack to end the threat. Gardner hit a leadoff double but there was no advancement. Gardner walked to lead off the fourth and got to second on an error. Elsner replaced him and got to third on a groundout, Nagel snagged a two-out line drive by Kelley.
Guden went three for three for the Raiders. Hraby and Gardner had the only other hits.
Guden threw 41 pitches while covering the first three innings on the mound. He allowed a hit and a walk while striking out three. Hraby allowed four hits, a run and a walk while striking out two in four innings.
Bunter was two for three for the Eagles, who came into the game at 2-4 in league play and 5-5 overall.
“We pitched very well in this game,” Hraby said. “Caleb and Tanner held them to one run. We are going to win a lot of games holding teams to one run. You have to credit Hoeft for Pines. He pounded the zone and kept us off balance. We had opportunities that we squandered and had a call go against us. That doesn’t much matter. Our situational hitting just wasn’t there.”
