Big innings keep Medford on Mosinee’s heels with one left

MEDFORD BASEBALL

Big innings helped the Medford Raiders add two more notches to their Great Northern Conference win column with the latest of those being a 10-0 win at Tomahawk Monday.

After escaping a first-inning jam, the Raiders did all of their offensive damage with a three-run seventh and a seven-run fourth to improve to 9-2 in GNC play and keep hope alive for a piece of the conference title. The Raiders remain one game behind 10-1 Mosinee in the title chase. League play is scheduled to end tonight for the league leaders as Medford hosts Tomahawk at Raider Field and Mosinee hosts third-place Rhinelander, who it beat Monday 11-0.

Medford outhit Tomahawk 10-4, getting two hits apiece from Caleb Guden, Aiden Gardner and Brigham Kelley. Guden was the winning pitcher in the five-inning game, throwing four of them and allowing four hits while striking out two.

Tomahawk’s big chance in the first inning started with a leadoff single by Mason Evans and a triple by Jake Kamiski. But Guden induced a comebacker from Marcus Matti and he threw out Evans at home plate. Tyler Jablonski grounded out to third baseman Parker Lissner and Garrett Nelson flied out to centerfielder Steve Hraby to end the threat.

“That first inning got a little hairy,” Medford head coach Justin Hraby said. “Our infield made a few plays to keep runners from scoring. Caleb did a great job of working out of an early jam.”

Medford then took the lead in the third. The rally started with a Kelley single and a Seth Mudgett walk. Guden’s double to right scored Kelley. Tanner Hraby’s groundout scored Mudgett and Gardner singled in Guden.

The Raiders’ ended Tomahawk’s hopes of an upset in the fourth. Braxton Weissmiller led off with a base hit, Lissner walked and both moved up a base following an error on a pickoff attempt. Weissmiller scored on Max Dietzman’s groundout and Lissner scored on Kelley’s single to left to make it 5-0.

Mudgett walked and Guden singled, scoring Kelley. After Tanner Hraby walked, Gardner bounced a hard-hit tworun single to left. Baumgartner’s double to left scored Hraby and Weissmiller added a sacrifice fly to score courtesy runner Colby Elsner.

“Offensively we put together some really good at-bats to get us another big inning,” coach Hraby said. “We have been scoring a lot of runs lately, due to the fact that we have been hitting throughout the order. That is the sign of a good team –– a team that scores no matter who is hitting.”

Mudgett relieved Guden in the fifth and struck out the first two batters he faced. He walked number-nine hitter Addison Peissig, but Miles Searles ended the game by snagging Evans’ liner.

“Miles had a great catch to end the game,” Hraby said. “His diving catch in right, got us out in five.”

Evans did have two hits for the Hatchets, who sit at 0-10 in the GNC and 1-12 overall at the time.

After tonight’s rematch with the Hatchets, Medford, now 17-5 overall, hosts Merrill Friday at 5 p.m. and visits Stratford Monday at 4:45 p.m. in nonconference play. Seeding for the Division 2 regional took place Wednesday night with Medford likely falling in line for the two-seed behind Mosinee (19-2). If that’s the case, the Raiders would open WIAA tournament play at home on May 26 against the bracket’s seventh seed.

Medford 18, Antigo 1

Three days after surviving a 9-8 battle against the Red Robins at Raider Field, Medford went to Antigo’s Kretz Park on Friday and put a 15-spot on the board in the second and demolished the Robins 18-1.

Medford had 20 hits and took advantage of six walks in the win. Baumgartner needed just 54 pitches to get through four innings. He struck out six, walked one and allowed just one fifth-inning hit and an unearned run. At the plate, the junior was four for five with two doubles and drove in five runs.

“It was really good to see our bats get hot when they did,” Justin Hraby said. “We really haven’t had a big inning like that all year. Logan was tough. His defense let him down a little in the first inning, but he minimized that damage and got us out of it with just one run. He carried a no-hitter into the fifth, and a blooper busted that up.”

It was 2-1 after one inning. Mudgett led off the top half with a base hit and advanced to third on a two-base error on a ball hit by Guden. Mudgett scored on Gardner’s infield squibber that went for a hit and Baumgartner’s line-drive single to left scored Guden. Antigo used two Medford errors to get its run in the bottom half.

The bats then caught fire for Medford in the second with most of the damage coming against soft-tossing right-handers Malik Brisby and Hunter Aiuppy.

The big rally started with Dietzman dropping a bloop single into no-man’s land in shallow right. He was bunted to second by Kelley and scored on Mudgett’s slow roller that found its way up the middle for a hit. Guden followed by yanking a two-run bomb over the fence in right to make it 5-1.

Tanner Hraby bunted for a hit and scored on Gardner’s line-drive double that got over the head of Antigo leftfielder Mason Gray. Baumgartner greeted Aiuppy by ripping a RBI double down the leftfield line. Weissmiller tripled on a ball that scooted by rightfielder Zach Zupon. After Lissner was hit by a pitch and Dietzman walked to load the bases, Kelley hit a ball that was bobbled by the shortstop to make it 9-1.

Mudgett then hit a drive off the fence in right that only went for an RBI single as the runners had to hold to make sure it wasn’t caught. Guden singled to right to drive in one, and Hraby and Gardner walked in two more to make it 13-1. Gardner’s walk was issued by reliever Jacob Hanus. Baumgartner found the gap in left-center, clearing the bases with a three-run double.

“Logan’s bat got hot as he had a great day at the plate,” coach Hraby said. “That was really good to see. If he continues that, we will score a lot of runs.”

After Weissmiller walked to become the 15th straight batter to reach, Lissner flied out to right for the second out of the inning, but Dietzman doubled to gap in left-center to drive in a run before Kelley grounded out to finally end the 20-batter inning.

Kale Klussendorf’s first hit of the season, a single in the fourth, drove in Elsner with the final run.

Guden was three for four with three RBIs and three runs scored along with his fourth homer of the spring. Gardner was three for four with three driven in and two doubles. Mudgett was three for four with two RBIs and three runs scored. Dietzman was two for two. Miles Searles had a hit and two runs scored.

Guden pitched a scoreless fifth, recording a strikeout. Hanus was Antigo’s most successful pitcher, going 3.2 innings and allowing eight hits and three runs while walking four.

“Aiden, Chubs and Seth are cementing their case for first team all-conference honors,” Hraby said. “They have been playing really well as of late. It is fun to watch them grow and get better every time they take the field.”