Raiders complete remarkable GNC year for boys sports teams
MEDFORD BASEBALL
The Medford Raiders capped a historic sports year Thursday with their 4-1 baseball win over Mosinee at Raider Field on the 10th annual Brain Cancer Awareness Night at the Ballpark.
Not only did the Raiders cap a 12-0 run through the Great Northern Conference, Medford ended the school year by going 30-0 in conference football (6-0), boys basketball (12-0) and baseball games. On paper, the Raiders were 7-0 in football but one win was a forfeit when Lakeland was hit by COVID.
That kind of success in one school year has never been accomplished in the Great Northern Conference since its formation in 2008. However, Medford was robbed of a chance to do it last year when the spring sports season was canceled after the Raiders had gone 6-0 in football and 12-0 in boys basketball.
In GNC history, the only trifecta even close to this one was accomplished by Merrill’s girls in 2008-09 when they went 12-0 in volleyball, tied Antigo by going 11-1 in girls basketball and tied Mosinee by going 10-2 in softball.
Five players –– senior Nate Retterath, juniors Caleb Guden, Aiden Gardner and Brigham Kelley and sophomore Logan Baumgartner –– were members of all three of this year’s championship teams. Seniors Blaine Seidl, Joe Gierl, Nate Doriot and Emett Grunwald, junior Seth Mudgett and freshman Tanner Hraby were members of two of them.
“It’s definitely something we wanted to do,” Baumgartner said after Thursday’s win.
“It’s really cool,” Retterath said. “We weren’t really thinking about winning conference the whole time. We were just thinking about beating the team that we were playing and feel like that’s true for all the sports.”
“It was one game at a time,” Baumgartner said.
“Going 12-0 is not easy,” head baseball coach Justin Hraby said. “These boys have worked hard and played well all season. This is quite an accomplishment and to know that some of these boys did it in two or three sports is absolutely impressive.”
The final win didn’t come easily as Mosinee gave Medford a battle for the second time in three days. Back-to-back two-run rallies in the third and fourth was all Medford mustered offensively. But, Guden threw a 98-pitch complete game with 10 strikeouts and solid defensive work behind him to make those four runs enough.
Guden allowed just four hits and was unfazed after breaking his nose in the previous night’s win at Wisconsin Rapids.
“Caleb did a nice job of bouncing back from taking a ball in the nose the night before,” Hraby said. “He was tough on the mound for us.”
Medford stranded two runners, Spike Alexander was nabbed while trying to score on a wild pitch and Seidl’s long drive down the leftfield line was ruled foul instead of being a three-run homer in the second inning. But, after the defense turned a 5-4-3 double play in the top of the third, a couple of clutch hits got the Raiders on the board in the bottom half.
Mudgett singled with one out and stole second. After Tanner Hraby flew out, a wild pitch by Mosinee’s Trevor Garski sent Mudgett to third. He scored when Guden poked a single to left-center. Guden stole second and scored when Spike Alexander dumped a single in almost the exact same spot as Guden’s hit.
Mudgett went three for four in the win.
“Seth Mudgett back in the lead off spot is something that will get our offense going right away and will help better set the table for Chubs and the rest of our boppers behind him,” coach Hraby said. “Spike was aggressive at the plate and had results to show for it.”
Seidl singled and Baumgartner walked to start the bottom of the fourth. Both eventually scored with Mudgett collecting an RBI single.
Garski’s RBI single in the fifth got Mosinee on the board. The Indians threatened by putting two runners on with one out in the sixth, but Guden got out of it with a pop-up and a strikeout.
“It was a grinder,” Retterath said. “Blaine got robbed of a home run. Otherwise, we played good defense. We hit the ball here and there. They made good plays defensively too. We just made more.”
“In the beginning we had a lot of situations where we should have scored,” Baumgartner said. “We had some mental mistakes and some mistakes that we can’t control. In the end, we just fought through and found ways to score.”
As winning teams sometimes have to do, they just found ways to win.
“Once you start winning, you just want to keep winning,” Retterath said. “(This year) was weird with all the practice schedules. We didn’t get to practice as much. But we put in good work when we did have practice.”
Medford’s goal now is to keep the machine rolling through the WIAA Division 2 tournament. The top seed in its six-team regional, Medford will start post-season play Tuesday when it hosts either fifthseeded Merrill or fourth-seeded Altoona in a regional semifinal. With a win, the regional final would follow the next night at Raider Field. Second-seeded Bloomer, third-seeded Mosinee and sixth-seeded Abbotsford-Colby are the potential opponents.
Seven-run second innings propelled the Raiders to 7-0 and 7-2 wins Monday at Abbotsford-Colby in a pair of five-inning games.
The first seven-run rally accounted for all the game’s scoring. It started with a leadoff single to left by Brigham Kelley. Blaine Seidl drew a walk from Abbotsford-Colby starter Marco Olvera. A wild pitch moved up the runners, who scored when Logan Baumgartner launched a double deep into the leftfield corner. Emett Grunwald walked, then Seth Mudgett hit a looper to left that turned into a forceout of Baumgartner at third. The same thing nearly happened on Tanner Hraby’s single to shallow center, but Grunwald just got into the third base safely to load the bases for Guden, who laced a bases-clearing triple down the rightfield line.
Spike Alexander was hit by a pitch and Aiden Gardner dumped a two-run double down the rightfield line.
Alexander allowed a hit in three innings and walked two. He struck out six, including a rare four in the first inning, thanks to a dropped third strike to start the inning. Mudgett gave up a hit in a scoreless two relief innings.
Six Raiders had a hit apiece of Olvera, who walked seven, hit two and struck out three in 4.2 innings.
Abbotsford-Colby got a first-inning run in game two, but that 1-0 lead was very short-lived.
Alexander, Gardner and Joe Gierl walked the bases loaded to start the second against pitcher Brandon Diedrich. Seidl bounced a single through the left side to score two. Baumgartner hit an infi eld single and Mudgett hit a one-out sacrifi ce fly that was followed by a run-run single by Hraby, an RBI double by Guden and an RBI single.
Abbotsford-Colby got a sacrifice fly in the fifth from Hunter Soyk.
Mudgett went three innings for the win. He allowed two hits and struck out three. Baumgartner allowed three hits while striking out three in two innings. Diedrich allowed five hits and seven runs while striking out two and walking three in three innings. Nick Olvera allowed a hit and a walk while striking out two in three innings.
Again, six Raiders had one hit apiece as Medford (20-3) tied a school record for wins in a season.
Medford 7, Rapids 2
In a late addition to the schedule, Medford traveled to Wisconsin Rapids June 2 to make up a May 24 rainout and came away with a 7-2 non-conference win over the Red Raiders.
Baumgartner pitched six innings, striking out eight and allowing just six hits and one earned run. He did not walk a batter. Kelley struck out two in a scoreless seventh. Baumgartner also went two for four at the plate with two RBIs and a long home run to left.
“Logan pitched a great game,” Justin Hraby said. “He located well and was very poised out there. He has shown a lot of promise this year and is a guy I would go to in the playoffs to get some big outs. He also looked great at the plate, showing good discipline and hitting a homer. We hit the ball well. Seven runs doesn’t tell the tale. We hit two rockets that ended up being double plays.”
Retterath, the number-nine hitter, went three for four, Tanner Hraby was two for three and Mudgett, Guden, Alexander and Gardner added a hit.
Caden Sengbusch took the loss for Rapids, allowing five runs in three innings. Only one run was earned. He gave up five hits and three walks while striking out three. Sengbusch also was two for three at the plate.
“Des Firnstahl came off the bench and gave us some big innings at second base after Caleb took the ball to the nose in the fourth,” Hraby said. “The first ball was hit to him and he flipped it to Tanner to start an inning-ending double play. He made a few other plays as well. I was happy to see him get out there and help the team be successful.
“Nate Retterath had a good day at the plate, with another three hits,” he added. “Nate has quietly put together a really nice season at the plate. Tanner added two hits as well, putting together a nice two-day, five-hit run.”
Medford’s Aiden Gardner watches his two-run double find the rightfield grass during the second inning of Monday’s 7-0 win at Abbotsford-Colby.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
