MEDFORD BASEBALL - Baseball team moves to 6-0 while playing anyone but Mosinee

MEDFORD BASEBALL

Parker Lissner went four for four at the plate and pitched two scoreless innings to lead the Medford baseball team to its first Great Northern Conference win of the season Monday, a 14-0 rout of host Tomahawk.

Medford banged out 16 hits in just five innings and scored in four of those innings, highlighted by a seven-run third. The win was the Raiders’ third straight after they dropped two straight games to GNC favorite Mosinee last week. Medford is 6-2 overall and 1-2 in the GNC heading into a home rematch tonight, Thursday, with Tomahawk at 5 p.m.

Evan Wilkins had three hits, scored three times and drove in two Monday, while Braxton Weissmiller also had a multi-hit day, going two for three with a pair of RBIs. Tanner Hraby struck out five in three scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and Lissner allowed one in his first pitching appearance of the spring.

“Parker Lissner had a game,” Medford head coach Justin Hraby said. “He had some really good at-bats, hitting the ball hard every time up. He also came in and pitched well the last two innings. Braxton Weissmiller and Evan Wilkins had big nights at the plate as well. Evan is really starting to be a table-setter for us. With his speed and ability to get on for the top, we will be able to put up some runs that second time through the order.

“Tanner came out and pounded the zone early and often, pitching well in his three innings.”

The offensive onslaught against the Hatchets (1-2, 1-4) started with a three-run top of the first. Hraby walked, Lissner singled to center and Weissmiller walked to quickly load the bases. All runners moved up on a wild pitch by Tomahawk starter Brayden Larson, Max Dietzman hit a sacrifice fly and Nick Steliga’s hard ground ball was mishandled, allowing courtesy runner Sawyer Elsner to score.

Wilkins singled in the second and came all the way around to score when Tomahawk poorly handled getting the ball back into the infield. The Raiders then put the game away in the third.

Lissner started it with a single and took an extra base on another Hatchet error. He scored on Weissmiller’s single to center. Dietzman singled to left and Steliga hit a single to right that scored Elsner. With one out, Charlie Gierl singled to right to score Dietzman and Steliga to make it 8-0. Wilkins singled to drive in a run, Hraby reached on an error, Lissner drove in Wilkins with a hit and Weissmiller’s single drove in the final run of the frame.

“Charlie Gierl and Nick Steliga had some big RBI hits that helped us in our big third inning,” coach Hraby said. “Those two guys are going to be key in what we do offensively this year.”

Jack Wojcik’s double in the fifth put runners on second and third for Wilkins, who drove in Gierl with an infield hit. Hraby’s single drove in Wojcik and Lissner’s single scored Wilkins.

Tomahawk’s only scoring threat came in the bottom half with a one-out double by Ethan Ihn and a two-out error that allowed Brody Hilgendorf to reach, but Lissner struck out Walter Horabik to end the game early.

After tonight’s game with Tomahawk, Medford has added a 5 p.m. home game with Pittsville Friday. The team is at Chequamegon Monday for a 4:45 p.m.

non-conference game. The Raiders then start their GNC set with Rhinelander, hosting the Hodags Tuesday at 5 p.m. The rematch is April 26.

2-0 at UW-SP

Medford picked up two quality wins Saturday in a triangular at UW-Stevens Point, dominating Eleva-Strum 10-0 in five innings and then outlasting Denmark in a down-to-the-wire thriller 8-7.

Medford built an 8-2 lead through five and a half innings over Denmark, now coached by 1998 Medford graduate Lucas Kraschnewski, but the Vikings made a game of it, scoring four times in the bottom of the sixth.

In the bottom of the seventh, Denmark had the tying and winning runs on base with no outs, but Gierl induced a double play, started by shortstop Tanner Hraby that, despite a run scoring, got the Raiders within an out of victory. A walk and stolen base got the tying run into scoring position, but Jacob VandenBush lined out to Dietzman at first base to finally end it.

Two big innings drove Medford to its six-run lead. Denmark scored two in the bottom of the first. The Raiders jumped ahead with a four-run top of the third. It started with a Wilkins walk. A balk put him at second and he scored all the way from there on a wild pitch, just barely beating the tag from catcher Ebyn LaForest. Hraby walked, Lissner singled and Weissmiller’s single to left scored Hraby and an errant throw back to the infield allowed Lissner to score as well.

With one out, an error on a ball hit by Steliga plated the courtesy runner, Elsner.

Carson Carbaugh doubled in a big twoout run in the fifth. Medford tacked on three more in the sixth. Wojcik walked and wild pitched his way home. Wilkins walked and scored on Hraby’s double and Lissner singled in Hraby.

“Carson Carbaugh hit the ball hard all day long,” Justin Hraby said. “He had some tough luck, but then hit a big double for us to extend our lead.”

Denmark made it interesting, getting to Steliga and the Raiders’ defense in the bottom half as two errors, three hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly made it an 8-6 game.

Steliga went 5.1 innings, allowing six runs, just one of which was earned. He allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out two. Gierl allowed a hit, a run and a walk with his five-out save.

“Nick Steliga pitched well for us, keeping them off balance and getting them to pop up a lot,” Justin Hraby said. “He fought through some early trouble and then cruised until the sixth inning. Some errors on the infield hurt us in the sixth and without those, I think Nick finishes the game. Charlie Gierl did a great job in relief to help get us out of some jams late.”

Medford had nine hits, two each from the top three hitters in the order, Hraby, Lissner and Weissmiller. Weissmiller led with two runs batted in.

Game one got away quickly from Eleva-Strum, who entered the season as the state’s top-ranked team in Division 4. Starting pitcher Jacob Bjerke walked five Raiders in two innings and threw seven wild pitches as Medford hit him for nine runs, six of which were earned.

Meanwhile, Tanner Hraby encountered little trouble in his four innings, striking out five. The Cardinals got two singles in the top of the first but a double play on a comebacker ended that threat. Eleva-Strum finished with four hits, one against Ryder Kraschnewski, who pitched the fifth and struck out two.

Medford turned a Hraby hit, three walks and Carbaugh’s sacrifice fly into three runs in the bottom of the first. The six-run second featured Lissner’s RBI double to the rightfield corner, an error on a ball hit by Dietzman that scored two and run-scoring singles by Steliga and Gierl. Hayden Strebig drove in the final run in the fourth on a fielder’s choice.

Seven Raiders were credited with one hit apiece.

“Tanner came out and was able to spot all his pitches and shut down a pretty good lineup,” coach Hraby said. “Offensively we took advantage of some mistakes and free bases and really blew the game open early. It was good to see our guys capitalize on those mistakes.”

Denmark beat Eleva-Strum 6-5 in the final game of the triangular.

Mosinee 11, Medford 1

On Thursday, Medford had a chance for a big first inning but got only one run out of it and the offense was quiet after that in an 11-1 loss at Mosinee.

The game was still close at 4-1 until the Indians scored seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to bring it to an early end via the 10-run rule.

Medford ended the game with five hits off Indians’ ace Keagen Jirschele, two of which came in the opening inning. Jirschele struck out five and walked one.

Medford’s three pitchers only allowed six hits, but they walked nine and an error played a part in each of Mosinee’s big offensive innings.

Medford’s first inning started with Hraby’s double to left-center. Lissner reached on an error to put runners on the corners for Braxton Weissmiller, who drove a Jirschele offering just over the leftfielder’s glove for a long single that scored Hraby. Jirschele threw a wild pitch but left the runners stranded at second and third with three strikeouts.

Then, for the third straight time while facing Medford, Jirschele hit a leadoff homer to quickly tie the game at 1-1.

“I really like how the guys competed at the plate against Jirschele,” coach Hraby said. “We had a lot of hard-hit balls off him, but only one run to show for it. Tanner, Parker and Braxton were locked in at the plate and put together some really good at-bats.”

It stayed 1-1 until the bottom of the third. Grant Kuklinski hit a leadoff double off Medford starter Hayden Strebig and just beat the throw home on Jirschele’s single to left. Jirschele hustled all the way to third on that throw and scored on Taylor Lemanski’s double to deep center. Lemanski stole third and scored an errant throw.

Things fully unraveled in the sixth, starting with two walks, an error and a three-run homer by Parker Filipiak. A walk, a two-out single by Jirschele and then four straight walks ended it.

Strebig kept Medford in it with four solid innings against Mosinee’s potent lineup. He allowed four hits, three earned runs and one walk while striking out three. Carbaugh pitched 1.2 innings and Sam Hierlmeier finished up.

Lissner, Dietzman and Wilkins added hits for Medford.

“Hayden pitched well,” Hraby said. “He worked through a tough third inning, but kept us in the game. It was a big moment for the young guy, and he answered the call. The final score really didn’t indicate what type of game it was. We were right there with them until the bottom of the sixth.”