Merchants shut down Augusta for 15-0 win

By Nathaniel Underwood

The Abbotsford Merchants have opened up their season with a 5-3 record. After going 4-2 in their opening two weeks in May, the club went 1-1 in their first two weeks of June, falling in a close battle with Minocqua on Friday before bouncing back with a blowout win over the Augusta Athletics on Saturday.

Augusta, 15-0

Tanner Hraby and JV Castillo combined for a seven-inning shutout, Brett Nelson hit a three-run home run in the second inning, and the Merchants thumped the visiting Augusta Athletics 15-0.

A huge nine-run second inning fueled Abbotsford to a blowout win over the Athletics.

After notching a run in the first, Thomas Keszo and Nelson both reached safely to start things off for the Merchants in the second. A walk drawn by Judd Hraby loaded the bases and Tanner Hraby drove in the first run of the inning on a fielder's choice. The rest of the damage would be done with two outs. A single by Jaxon Blomberg added two more runs for the home team, Mateo Lopez picked up another RBI single two at-bats later and a third base hit with two outs from Blake Bargender put the Merchants up 7-0.

Nelson put the icing on the cake, launching a three-run blast to left center on the first pitch he saw to cap off the scoring for Abbotsford in the second.

The Merchants’ bats kept things rolling in the third, piling on five more runs to solidify their hold over the contest. A walk and a pair of singles from Tanner Hraby and JV Castillo loaded the bases with one out.

Patience at the plate was key for the Merchants. A pair of bases loaded walks and a hit by pitch drove in three runs for Abbotsford before Aaron Morrow delivered a single to knock in a fourth run. Another walk drawn by Judd Hraby, his second of the inning, resulted in a 15-0 lead for the Merchants.

While Abbotsford would fail to get back on the board in the subsequent four innings, their 15 run lead was more than enough for the Merchants’ defense to defend. Behind an excellent four inning start from Tanner Hraby, where he surrendered just three hits and a walk while striking out five and three clean innings of relief from Castillo, who gave up just two hits and two walks and struck out three batters, the home team would have merely needed the one run they earned in the first to claim the win.

Eight of the nine batters in the Abbotsford lineup finished with a hit, with Keszo and Lopez leading the team by collecting two each. Keszo reached safely in all four of his plate appearances, also drawing two walks and scoring twice. Lopez was not far off, going 2-for-3 and drawing two walks himself. Castillo had a team high three runs scored and also stole two bases.

Minocqua, 2-1

A pitchers’ duel unfolded in Abbotsford on Friday night between the Merchants and the Minocqua Wood Ducks. A single run in the ninth inning for the visitors was enough to swing the score in their favor and the Merchants suffered a tough luck 2-1 loss.

Brady Schmidt pitched a tremendous game for the home squad, delivering seven innings of shutout baseball. While he did not strike out many batters, recording only two over the course of the game, the Merchants played solid defense behind their pitcher for most of the contest.

Though they played excellent defense, the Abbotsford lineup struggled against Wood Ducks starter Peter Aerts. Aerts silenced the Merchants’ bats, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out 10 batters over the first seven innings of the game.

Eventually, something had to give, and Minocqua struck first in the top of the eighth. A pair of infield singles off of Schmidt and a sacrifice bunt gave the Wood Ducks runners at first and third with one out. A sacrifice fly to center field broke the tie in the visitors favor but Abbotsford was able to get out of the inning by catching the runner trying to advance to second.

A double by Schmidt led off the Merchants half of the frame. After a sacrifice bunt from Judd Hraby moved Schmidt to third, Tanner Hraby delivered a one out single to left to knot things back up at 1-1.

Only at 92 pitches, Schmidt went out to the mound once more to start the ninth for the Merchants. Unfortunately, he would not be able to finish what he began, as a hit batter and a walk ended his outing. Payton Schreiber stepped in with runners at first and second and a single loaded the bases. Minocqua squeezed in a run on an infield fielder’s choice and Schreiber ended the inning with a strikeout, but the damage had been done.

A one-out walk from Aaron Morrow gave the Merchants a base runner in the bottom half of the frame, but a doubleplay ball ended Abbotsford’s rally before it could get started.

Schmidt went eight and a third innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks. Schreiber went two-thirds of an inning, surrendering one hit and striking out one.

Tanner Hraby had three of the Merchants four hits, going 3-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and two stolen bases. Schmidt had the only extra base hit and scored a run.