Merchants sweep Reds, defeat Cadott

The Abbotsford Merchants are now 114 after extending their current winning streak to four games following a weekend sweep of the Whittlesey Reds and a close 1-0 victory over the Cadott Red Sox.

Cadott, 1-0

Tanner Hraby pitched a complete game shutout, Payton Schreiber drove in Haydn Gustafson for the go-ahead run in the eighth and Abbotsford edged out the Cadott Red Sox on the road on Tuesday evening, defeating them 1-0 in an eight-inning exhibition game.

The intention was for a shortened seven frames, but with Hraby and Cadott’s Rick Danielson dealing on the mound, the two teams entered extras without a run scored.

Gustafson started on second for the Merchants in the top of the eighth and Hraby was able to move him over to third on a sacrifice bunt. JV Castillo was able to make it to first safely after an error by the Red Sox infield, but Gustafson was held at third on the play.

Schreiber finally broke the scoreless tie with a fly ball to center field, allowing Gustafson to tag up and score on the play. Castillo was able to steal second to put himself in scoring position, but the one run was all Abbotsford could muster in the top half of the frame.

Cadott was able to move over their own runner on second with a sacrifice fly to start the bottom of the eighth. With a man on third and one out, the Merchants made the bold decision to intentionally walk the Red Sox’s J Hanson, putting the go ahead run on the base paths.

The move worked to perfection, however, as Hraby was able to induce a ground ball to Castillo at shortstop, resulting in a game-ending double-play.

The intentional walk was Hraby’s only base on balls over the eight inning contest. The Merchants’ starting pitcher was highly efficient, throwing 71 of his 92 pitches for strikes. He held the Red Sox to just six singles over the eight innings.

Cadott was able to get runners to second base in both the third and fourth innings, but Hraby and the Abbotsford defense were able to escape both scenarios without any damage being done.

While Danielson did not have overpowering stuff, ending his eight innings of work without a strikeout, he was able to limit the Merchants lineup to just four hits and two walks. JJ Heller had two of those hits, one of which came in the seventh inning. Heller was able to advance to second after an error on his one-out single, giving Abbotsford their best scoring opportunity since the first inning, but he was thrown out on a fielder's choice on the next at bat. Hraby and Stahnke also had singles for the Merchants.

Whittlesey, 3-0

Payton Schreiber pitched a complete game shutout, Blake Bargender hit a goahead home run in the seventh inning and Abbotsford completed the series sweep of the Whittlesey Reds during their Sunday road contest against the club, notching a 3-0 victory over their Dairyland-Large foes.

Schreiber went all nine innings on the mound, allowing just five hits over the course of the afternoon while striking out five batters. The Abbotsford defense played a clean game behind their starting pitcher, ending the game without an error and leaving all six Whittlesey base runners stranded.

Bargender’s bomb to lead off the sev-

STAFF PHOTO/MATT FREY enth was the breaking point in a pitchers’ duel between Schreiber and the Reds’ starter Nick Retterath. After fouling off several pitches in the at-bat, Bargender won the battle by launching the 1-2 pitch over the left field fence. The home run broke the 0-0 tie and turned out to be the difference maker for the visitors.

The Reds managed to get a man into scoring position in the bottom half of the frame, but Schreiber was able to induce a ground out to end the threat.

Abbotsford scraped together a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Brett Nelson reached second after being hit by a pitch and advancing on a ball that got away from Whittlesey’s catcher and Aaron Morrow was able to drive him in with a one-out single to left. After Morrow was able to reach second after another wild pitch, Tanner Hraby was intentionally walked and Blake Jakobi was hit by a pitch to load the bases. JV Castillo answered the call with an infield single to put the Merchants up 3-0.

A one-out single for the Reds gave them some life in the bottom of the ninth, but Schreiber was able to keep the base runner at first with a strikeout and a pop up in the infield to end the game.

Schreiber was efficient with his pitches, needing only 111 to get through nine. Seventy-six of those were thrown for strikes and he only allowed two walks.

Hraby, Jakobi, Castillo, Bargender, Nelson and Morrow all had hits for Abbotsford. Two of those hits went for extra bases.

Whittlesey, 6-4

Lucas Stahnke went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs, Mateo Lopez added three hits of his own and scored twice and the Merchants defeated the Whittlesey Reds 6-4 last Friday evening.

While the visiting Reds outhit the Merchants 12 to 10, pitchers JV Castillo and Tanner Hraby along with the Merchants defense were able to limit the damage enough to come out with the win in the Dairyland-Large contest. Three errors by Whittlesey also hurt their chances, allowing two unearned runs to come in to score.

A big third inning for Abbotsford put them ahead early. Five straight batters reached safely in the frame, allowing the Merchants to rack up three runs in the inning. A one-out single for Lopez and a walk drawn by Schreiber started things off for the home team and Stahnke got his team on the board first with an RBI single. Back-to-back singles for Blake Bargender and Brett Nelson added to Abbotsford’s total as both drove in runs themselves.

A leadoff walk for Hraby to start the bottom of the fourth led to another run for the Merchants. Castillo was able to reach on an error by Whittlesey and Lopez loaded the bases with a bunt single. Stahnke once again delivered in the clutch for the Merchants, hitting a one-out single to center to drive in another run.

After pitching four shutout innings for Abbotsford, Castillo finally ran into problems in the top of the fifth. A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases for the Reds and while Castillo nearly worked his way out of trouble after a strikeout, Whittlesey’s Ryan Alexander delivered a twoout single to drive in two runs. Hraby entered after another walk and was able to limit the damage, inducing a bases-loaded pop-up to end the inning.

Lopez, Stahnke and Bargender combined once again in the sixth to help add two important insurance runs in the sixth. All three hit singles in the inning, Stahnke driving in Lopez on his two-out hit and then advancing home himself after a throwing error on Bargender’s own hit.

The two runs in the sixth turned out to be key for Abbotsford as the visitors tried to rally late. Hraby nearly worked his way around a leadoff double in the eighth but an error by the Merchants with two outs allowed the Reds to cut the lead down to three.

A pair of leadoff singles for Whittlesey brought the tying run to the plate with no outs in the ninth. Hraby once again worked his way out of trouble, inducing three ground balls in a row to get Abbotsford out of the inning with just one run surrendered and a 6-4 victory.

Castillo and Hraby split the game in half on the mound. Castillo pitched four and two-thirds innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out two batters. Hraby allowed two runs, one earned, on seven hits and one walk in his four and a third innings of work. He also struck out two batters.

Stahnke had three hits in as many at bats, scored twice and drove in three runs. He also reached safely after being hit by a pitch. Lopez was 3-for-5 with two runs scored, Bargender went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Nelson and Carson Carbaugh both had one hit each.