WIAA DIV. 2 BASEBALL REGIONAL - Raiders edge Pines, roll at Merrill for repeat championship
The Medford Raiders fell behind early Thursday and got a scare in the last inning, but in between they grabbed enough control to secure the program’s second consecutive WIAA Division 2 baseball regional championship with a 4-3 win over Great Northern Conference rival Northland Pines.
Getting an unexpected home game after the fifth-seeded Raiders and eighthseeded Eagles both knocked off higher seeds the day before, Medford got a strong six-inning start from senior Charlie Gierl, a big two-out, two-run hit from Gierl early in the game and a huge double play to escape a major jam in the sixth.
Medford’s 14th win of the season sent the team to Tuesday’s sectional tournament in Merrill, a place not many area baseball followers predicted the Raiders would be when the season began.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” senior Parker Lissner said. “It’s just game by game. Anything can happen in baseball, but once you have a group of guys like us that keep battling and battling, it’s fun to play.”
“I’m proud of the guys,” first-year head coach Chandler Schmidt said. “This one’s special to my heart for sure. I have a huge heart for these senior boys, the junior class, the sophomores and the two freshmen. It’s a special group. The way they really competed. What was our theme all year? Just compete. That’s what we did tonight and we’re playing our best ball right now.”
“Our defense has been playing great, and our hitting has been on,” Gierl said.
In the low-scoring game, Gierl’s hit was clearly the biggest of the game. The Eagles jumped ahead quickly 2-0, getting an RBI single from their top player, Jonathan Miller, in the top of the first inning and a two-out, RBI double pulled just fair down the leftfield line by number-nine hitter Jason Linn in the second.
“That was OK,” Lissner said. “You have to score to win anyways.”
Medford got its first chance to score in the bottom of the second when Evan Czarnezki singled off Pines starter Aiden Minx and Hayden Strebig and Restyn Kraschnewski drew walks to load the bases with no outs. Minx got Sam Hierlmeier to pop up on the infield and struck out Nick Krause. Suddenly he was an out away from getting out of the jam and potentially adding some tension in Medford’s dugout.
But Gierl came through, bouncing a single up the middle, driving in the tying runs.
“Two outs, I knew coming up to the plate I have to put something in play,” Gierl said. “I can’t watch strikes. I have to get the bat on the ball, put something in play. I hit one up the middle and it worked out.”
“That was huge for (Gierl) as a pitcher,” Lissner said. “If you have bases loaded with no outs and you don’t even get a run, the pitcher morale just is not there.””That definitely helped me out,” Gierl said.
While Gierl started mowing down Eagle hitters, the Raiders took the lead with unearned runs in the third and fourth innings. Lissner chugged all the way around from first base on a third-inning throwing error on a ball hit by Czarnezki. Gierl walked and scored on a misplayed ball hit by Ryder Kraschnewski in the fourth.
In the sixth, however, Pines finally got something brewing. Alex Wethington walked, Minx singled and both moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Nolan Huelskamp. Brody Hoeft was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Schmidt was tempted to turn to reliever Conor Anderson, but stuck with Gierl and was rewarded when Davis Beyer hit a grounder right to Lissner at short, who started a 6-4-3 double play.
“I knew the batter wasn’t the quickest,” Lissner said. “I was like, ‘Resty we’re going to turn two on this guy. I had to field it first. I just flipped it to Resty and he made one helluva throw to first.”
“There’s your senior making a play, a senior pitching and getting a double-play ball and a freshman stepping up big-time getting rid of it,” Schmidt said. “That was a heck of a play all-around.”
Gierl walked Linn to start the seventh, ending his day. Anderson took over and walked Griffin Beyer and then threw a wild pitch. Jonah Will hit one hard, but centerfielder Evan Wilkins ran it down in the gap to limit it to a sacrifice fly. Anderson then got a huge out, striking out Miller swinging. The Eagles did eventually get runners on second and third when Anderson finally got Minx to pop out to Will Wojcik at third to end it.
“It’s fun, but there’s a lot of pressure to finish them,” Anderson said of the finisher’s role that evolved for him late in the season. “I was kinda rough at the start, so I just went back to the basics. I put my glove forward, finished through, drive my leg and tried to just close them out, only give them something my outfielders could get to, trust my fielders.
“That (last out) was straight excitement. I was jumping for joy.”
“They had a guy on third and I was like, well if he gets in we still have an inning left to hit,” Gierl said. “But to make it easy and just get out of it was huge. Conor threw strikes, did what he had to do and got the last few outs.”
Gierl struck out five, walked six and allowed just four hits. All three runs were earned. Minx pitched well for Pines, allowing just five hits and two earned runs.
He struck out five and walked three.
“Kudos to the Northland Pines pitcher,” Schmidt said. “He threw really well. He changed speeds, had us on our toes. The grit this team has is spectacular.”
Medford 7, Merrill 1
The Raiders got ahead quickly with a three-run top of the first inning and the pitching and defense made sure they stayed ahead in an impressive 7-1 win at fourth-seeded Merrill in a June 4 WIAA Division 2 baseball regional semifinal.
Strebig picked up his second postseason win in six days, going 6.1 four-hit innings. Strebig did walk five hitters, but the junior left-hander struck out four and Merrill did not find home plate until the final inning.
Wilkins, Czarnezki and Hierlmeier powered the offense with three hits each as the fifth-seeded Raiders sprung the minor upset and advanced to Thursday’s regional final against Northland Pines. The Eagles also pulled off a June 4 upset, winning 5-1 at top-seeded Hayward.
The tone was set quickly when Medford put up the early crooked number against the Blue Jays and their top pitcher EJ Weix.
Wilkins smacked the game’s third pitch into rightfield for a double and moved to third on Ryder Kraschnewski’s single to left. Lissner singled up the middle to drive in Wilkins and Czarnezki bounced a single to left to score Kraschnewski and, just like that, it was 2-0.
Restyn Kraschnewski drew a one-out walk to load the bases for Hierlmeier. The senior came through with the fifth hit of the inning, a single to center, to drive in Lissner. The Jays then turned a double play, but the damage was done.
“We had a good scouting report on their lefty,” Schmidt said. “The guys listened and they barreled it. We had 13-14 hits. Guys really came to play.”
Half of the 10 hits Medford got against Weix in 4.2 innings came in that top of the first. The Raiders stranded a runner in each of the next three innings before padding their lead in the fifth.
Lissner led off by reaching on an error and he stole second base. Czarnezki’s second hit of the day drove him in. A passed ball and then a groundout by Restyn Kraschnewski moved courtesy runner Sawyer Elsner to third base and he scored on Hierlmeier’s single up the middle that ended Weix’s pitching outing.
After leaving two runners on base in the sixth, Medford put the game out of reach in the seventh against Merrill reliever Carter Kaminski. Restyn Kraschnewski walked and became Hierlmeier’s third run batted in of the day when Hierlmeier lined a double to rightfield. Merrill did cut down Hierlmeier as he tried to stretch the hit into a triple.
Krause singled, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Wilkins.
“That was awesome,” Lissner said. “We were having so much fun in that game. It was unbelievable. That was one of the best senior games we’ve had.”
“We hit the ball probably the best we’ve ever hit,” Gierl said.
Strebig worked out of some early trouble. Merrill had two on with one out in the first, but the inning ended on a groundout and strikeout. The Jays loaded the bases in the second on two walks and a two-out error, but Strebig struck out Brady Norton to escape the jam.
Merrill had another great chance in the fifth, loading the bases after two were out, but Ben Thom grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Weix hit an RBI double with one out in the seventh as Strebig reached his pitch limit. Conor Anderson got the last two outs on a flyball and a comebacker.
Medford outhit Merrill 14-4. Kaminski covered the last 2.1 innings for Merrill and allowed four hits, two earned run, a walk and two hit batters while striking out one.
Medford eliminated Merrill (12-12) from the post-season tournament for the third time in the last five years.
