Merchants advance to state tourney

The Abbotsford Merchants hosted one of four Division B Wisconsin Baseball Association regional tournaments held this past weekend and punched their ticket to the state tournament in the process. The Merchants won both of their tournament contests, defeating both Bangor and Bay City to go 2-0 on the weekend and seal their spot at state.

Bangor, 5-2

JV Castillo pitched seven innings of twohit baseball, the Merchants lineup notched four runs in the bottom of the seventh and Abbotsford came out on top to seal their trip to the state tournament with a 5-2 victory over the Bangor Redbirds on Sunday.

The pitchers’ duel broke in the first-seeded Merchants’ favor after a series of defensive misplays by the third-seeded Bangor squad. Entering the bottom of the seventh inning with the score tied at 1-1, Brett Nelson and Mateo Lopez both reached safely for Abbotsford on errors by the Redbirds, with Nelson able to eventually score the go ahead run. After a sacrifice bunt from Aaron Morrow, Tanner Hraby delivered a single to center field to drive in Lopez and put the Merchants up by two. A pair of infield singles from Blake Jakobi and JV Castillo, plus a few more mistakes by the Bangor defense after the balls were put into play allowed two more runs to cross the plate for Abbotsford.

Before the four-run inning, the Merchants had managed just one hit in the six frames prior. Abbotsford managed to scratch out a run in the fifth, using a leadoff walk from Nelson and a single courtesy of Morrow to eventually take a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Hraby.

While the bats weren’t out in force on Sunday, Castillo and the Abbotsford defense held up their end of things, shutting down the Bangor offense. A pair of walks issued by Castillo in the sixth eventually came back to bite him as the Redbirds were later able to tie the game on an error by the Merchants, but other than the one misstep, it was a near perfect day for Abbotsford’s starter.

Striking out eight batters while surrendering just two hits over his outing, Castillo’s performance on the mound was exactly what the Merchants needed on a day when the hits just weren’t coming.

Payton Schreiber came on to close out the game for the Merchants, and while a hit batter to start the ninth eventually came around for Bangor, the Abbotsford relief pitcher was largely able to pick up where Castillo left off. He did not surrender a hit in his two innings of work and allowed just one walk and a hit batter while striking out two.

Hraby had two of the Merchants’ three RBIs, going 1-for-3 at the plate with a run scored, while Castillo notched the other. Nelson scored two runs and Jakobi and Morrow both had one single each. Charlie Gierl had the only extra base hit for Abbotsford, smacking a triple to right field in the eighth inning.

Bay City, 8-3

Six runs in the fifth inning turned around the Merchants’ fortunes in an 8-3 victory over the second-seeded Bay City Bombers in their first regional tournament contest on Friday evening.

Down 3-0, Brett Nelson started off the bottom of the fifth inning with a single to center field. A misplay by the Bombers allowed Nelson to reach third on the play, but it looked for a moment that the Abbotsford second baseman would remain stranded there after the Bay City defense recovered and recorded two straight outs.

However, the third out remained elusive for the Bombers as seven straight Merchants reached base safely in a game-deciding rally. Tanner Hraby came through with a single to drive in Nelson for Abbotsford’s first run of the game, but the home team was just getting started. After a walk by Blake Jakobi, JV Castillo ripped a double to the outfield to tie the game and Lucas Stahnke put the Merchants up for good with an RBI single of his own two at-bats later. Another single from Blake Bargender and an error by Bay City on Nelson’s second at-bat of the inning led to two more runs for Abbotsford and put them up 6-3.

The Merchants added on insurance runs in the next two innings, getting an RBI single courtesy of Payton Schreiber in the sixth and another from Aaron Morrow in the seventh.

Abbotsford’s bats came through in the clutch when they needed them; all eight of their runs against the Bombers came with two outs.

Hraby started the game on the mound for the Merchants. The Abbotsford pitcher cruised through the first three innings but ran into some trouble in the fourth and fifth, giving up three runs on five hits by Bay City. However, only one of those runs was earned and he bounced back to hold the Bombers scoreless in the sixth. He struck out three batters while allowing seven hits and walking one batter over his six innings pitched.

Brady Schmidt was able to come in to close out the game and shut down any hopes of a rally from the visitors, allowing just three hits and no runs in his three innings of work. He did not walk or strike out a batter.

Schreiber reached base four times on Friday, drawing two walks and going 2-for-3 from the plate while notching a run and an RBI. Stahnke and Nelson also had two hits for the Merchants, who accumulated 12 total in the win, the former notching an RBI and a run scored and latter scoring twice. Castillo drove in two runs, Jakobi scored twice, and Hraby, Bargender and Morrow all had RBI hits for Abbotsford. Alex Williams and Nelson both stole a base in the win.

With the two victories, the Merchants will be heading to Augusta for the Division B state tournament held this coming weekend, starting on Friday, August 15. They will be one of eight teams competing for the state title, with Dairyland-Small Interwald and Rib Lake joining them. Fellow Dairyland-Large squads Everest and Wisconsin Rapids will also be competing in the Division A tournament held in Hayward. Abbotsford was given the sixth seed and will play the Ellsworth Hubbers in their first game on Friday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.