Win streak ties school record; Raiders get to 9-1 in the GNC

MEDFORD BASEBALL

Pitchers from both teams got out of big jams in the fourth, but the Lakeland Thunderbirds weren’t as fortunate in the bottom of Tuesday’s fifth inning when the Medford Raiders hung an eight-spot on the board and quickly turned a tight 1-1 battle into an eventual 11-1 blowout in six innings at Raider Field.

Held to just three hits through four innings by Lakeland senior Will Fortier, the Raiders opened the fifth with three straight hits off Fortier and then found all the holes against reliever Ben Peterson. In the fifth inning alone, the Raiders had eight of their 13 hits, an error contributed as well and even an out was productive on a sacrifice fly by Logan Baumgartner.

The win was Medford’s 13th in a row, tying the school record set by the 1988 team. The Raiders can set a new record in their Friday rematch with Lakeland in Minocqua with first pitch set for 5 p.m. The Raiders are 15-3 overall and 9-1 in the Great Northern Conference, two wins away from wrapping up at least a share of the league title. Medford hosts Antigo Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the GNC finale.

“It’s been very fun,” junior catcher Braxton Weissmiller said of the winning streak. “Our whole order has been hitting the ball hard, hitting great, pitching great. Ty (Metz) and Bummy have been giving us great innings and Tanner (Hraby) coming in in relief, Moby (Gavin Fuchs), all of them. Everyone is coming together as a team and we’re playing really well.”

Weissmiller’s single in the fifth was the hit that seemed to finally relax Medford’s hitters. Baumgartner lined a single to center to start the inning, courtesy runner Alex Dittrich went to second on a wild pitch, then Weissmiller just reached out on a 3-2 pitch and poked a single to center to score Dittrich.

“I was just trying to stay up the middle and hit the ball hard and hopefully it would drop and it did,” Weissmiller said. “It dropped. It’s just crazy how you get one hit and everyone just starts clicking and hitting the ball hard and the order keeps moving and flipping.”

“Braxton had some big at-bats to get our bats going,” head coach Justin Hraby said after the win. “He’s a dangerous hitter and when he is right, watch out.”

Max Dietzman doubled to deep leftcenter to chase Fortier. Parker Lissner greeted Peterson with an RBI line-drive single to center, Metz singled to right to drive in Dietzman, Jacob Eckert singled to right to plate a run and an error on a ball hit by Nick Steliga drove in one, making it 6-1. Tanner Hraby blooped an RBI single to right and Baumgartner’s sacrifice fly and Weissmiller’s second RBI single of the inning pushed the lead to eight.

Eckert finished things in the sixth by driving a two-run double deep to the gap in the left-center.

Weissmiller, who hit a long RBI double to centerfield in the first inning to drive in Baumgartner, was three for four with three RBIs. Baumgartner, Lissner, Metz and Eckert had two hits apiece. Eckert drove in three runs.

“Jake Eckert was big at the plate for us tonight,” coach Hraby said. “The more at-bats he gets, the more comfortable he is. His double to walk it off was a very fitting end to his night. Parker and Ty had some big hits for us too. The middle to the bottom of the order got it done for us.”

The pitchers also got it done. Metz started and struck out six in three-plus innings. Lakeland’s first-inning run was unearned. But a dropped third strike and a single to left that was misplayed put runners on second and third with no outs and with the Raiders struggling to hit Fortier early on, Hraby turned to his ace to get Medford out of the jam and Baumgartner did it, getting two strikeouts and a groundout to keep the game 1-1. Fortier pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half, but Lakeland obviously wasn’t as lucky after that. Baumgartner struck out five and walked two in two innings. Tanner Hraby pitched a scoreless sixth.

“I am so happy that Logan is on our team,” coach Hraby said. “He does so many things well. Tonight, it was coming in in a tough spot and getting us out of a major jam.”

In between the last two GNC games, Medford has a newly-added 10 a.m. doubleheader at Abbotsford-Colby on Saturday and a 5 p.m. home game with Wausau West on Tuesday. Mosinee is a half-game behind the Raiders in the GNC standings at 8-1. The Indians host Northland Pines Friday and play Antigo (5-1) twice next week.

“We’re excited,” Weissmiller said. “We know what we have to do. We know we have to keep hitting and keep pitching well. We know what’s going to happen if we keep winning these games.”

Medford 10, West 4

Medford completed a two-game swing into Fox Valley Association territory Saturday and came back with two wins, the second of which was a 10-4 victory at Appleton West, a team coached by Medford native Mitch Krug.

The Raiders snapped a 3-3 tie by scoring seven runs in the top of the fifth on four hits, six walks and some defensive miscues by the Terrors to break it open. Tanner Hraby threw five innings and got the win, allowing four runs, one of which was earned, five hits and two walks while striking out two. Fuchs finished up, pitching out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth by getting a strikeout and a double-play ball.

Medford had just eight hits, but three of them were from Baumgartner, who hit two doubles. Dietzman was two for three with three RBIs and Lissner was two for four.

“This was not a sharp game for us in any area, but we found a way to grind, put one good inning together and hang on,” Justin Hraby said. “Tanner did not have his best stuff, but found a way to get through five and hold a lead. Gavin then came in and pounded the zone the next two innings. Max Dietzman had a big day driving in six runs in two games. He looked good at the plate and was clutch in some big spots.”

Baumgartner doubled in the first and scored on a dropped fly ball hit by Braxton Weissmiller and Dietzman drove in courtesy runner Peyton Gilles for a quick 2-0 lead. The Terrors tied it at 3-3 in the second and that’s where the score stood until the fifth, which started with Baumgartner’s second double. He scored on a Dietzman single. Lissner and Weissmiller also had RBI singles in the rally. Baumgartner drove one in with a walk. Centerfielder Ryder Hoffman made a sliding catch to rob Lissner of a hit and prevent Medford from doing even more damage.

Beat North 6-4

The first game of Saturday’s Division 1 road trip was a good one with the Raiders using some heads-up base running and defense in the eighth inning to beat Oshkosh North 6-4.

The Raiders took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and didn’t score again until the seventh. In a 3-3 tie, Tanner Hraby drew a leadoff walk from reliever Shaun Gavin, Miles Searles reached on an error and, with one down, Searles beat a throw from the shortstop on Weissmiller’s fielder’s choice to load the bases with one out. With the infield playing in, Dietzman pulled a grounder to the right side that second baseman had to dive to stop. His only play was at first to get Dietzman as Hraby scored.

The Spartans, though, sent the game to an extra inning by tying it in the bottom half. Speedy leadoff hitter Kegan Schlichting drew a one-out walk, stole second, barely beat a throw to third on a passed ball that didn’t get far past Weissmiller and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Carson Steinbeck.

But Medford came right back in the eighth. Eckert got it started by grounding a sharp single up the middle with one out. Jack Wojcik put down a sacrifice bunt, moving runner Peyton Gilles to second, and nearly beat the throw for a hit. Now with two outs, Gilles went to third on a wild pitch and scored on another one as Hraby walked. Hraby stole second and scored all the way from there on an infield single by Searles, who beat out a slow roller to third. A poor throw from third to first allowed Hraby to score on the play.

North threatened in the bottom half, getting leadoff singles from Jeremiah Housworth and Zachary Kiffmeyer, but Weissmiller chased down a fouled bunt attempt by Jackson Hill. Searles chased by Logan Frank’s drive to right-center and the Raiders doubled off pinch runner Jacey Vang, who had strayed too far from second base, to end the game.

Steliga got the win with five strong relief innings. He allowed four hits and one earned run while striking out one and walking one. Metz started and went three innings. He allowed six hits, three earned runs and two walks while striking out two.

“Nick Steliga came in and gave us five big innings,” Justin Hraby said. “He earned that win. We did a great job of manufacturing some runs. Jake Eckert found his way on. Peyton Gilles ran for him, Jack got a bunt down. Then Peyton used his speed to score on two wild pitches. Tanner then got on, stole second and then scored from second on an infield hit. Speed and smart base running got us our two runs in the eighth.”

Medford had nine hits off Spartan pitchers Kiffmeyer and Gavin. Dietzman was two for four, including a tworun single in Medford’s first-inning rally. Searles was two for five and Eckert was two for three. Searles and Logan Baumgartner hit back-to-back doubles with one out in the first.

Medford 5, Antigo 1

On Thursday, the Raiders moved into first place in the GNC standings, getting a 96-pitch complete game from Baumgartner and a four-run fifth inning rally in a 5-1 win at Antigo.

The loss was the first GNC defeat of the season for Antigo (5-1), who plays Mosinee twice and Medford in a four-day span next week.

Baumgartner won a good starting pitching duel with Connor Cornelius, who the Raiders finally got to in their long fifth-inning rally. Cornelius and the Robins just couldn’t get the final out, allowing Medford to build a lead Antigo wasn’t going to come back from against Medford’s ace.

The Raiders had one potential rally in the second fizzle due to a double play and they did take a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Baumgartner and Weissmiller led off with singles and Dietzman bunted courtesy runners Gilles and Tucker Kraemer into scoring position. Gilles scored on Lissner’s groundout.

Medford had one man on when the two-out uprising in the fifth got going. Searles singled to right, sending Hraby to third. Baumgartner and Weissmiller both knocked run-scoring singles to left. Then, after a passed ball put the same courtesy runners on second and third, Dietzman poked a single to shallow center to score both Gilles and Kraemer to make it 5-0.

Antigo put multiple runners on base in an inning for the first time in the bottom half with one-out singles, but a pop-up and ground ball ended that. An error led to Luke Bastle’s two-out RBI single in the sixth. Baumgartner set the bottom third of the lineup down in order in the seventh to sneak in under the 100-pitch limit.

Weissmiller went three for four at the plate, Baumgartner was two for four and Dietzman was one for one with a walk and a sacrifice to go with his key hit.

Baumgartner allowed five hits, no walks and struck out nine.

“Logan pitched a great game,” Justin Hraby said. “He hit spots and when they did put it in play it was weak contact. He’s a big game pitcher. Logan, Max and Braxton all had big at-bats in our big fifth inning. Twoout hits, clutching up, that’s why those guys hit in those spots in the order.”

Cornelius allowed eight hits and five earned runs in 4.2 innings. He struck out two and walked two. Mason Gray struck out three and walked one in 2.1 hitless innings.

Medford third baseman Parker Lissner sets his feet before making a throw to first baseman Max Dietzman during Tuesday’s win.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS