Seidl goes deep twice as Medford salvages a split in Marathon
Blaine Seidl hit a pair of solo home runs to lead Medford to an 11-0 win over Marathon in game two of a Monday night summer baseball doubleheader, giving the team a split in the games played at Marathon High School.
Kole Kaldunski’s third-inning grand slam home run was the key play in Marathon’s 6-4 win in the opener.
The results put Medford at 4-3 heading into a home doubleheader with Rib Lake. The pair of five-inning games will start at 5:30 p.m. at Jaycee Field.
Medford took a 2-0 lead in game one right off the bat. Seth Mudgett led off the game with a single, followed by a John McMurry double to right, an RBI infield single by Spike Alexander and a single to center by Aiden Gardner.
It stayed that way until Marathon’s big five-run third. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs. Brock Warren hit a sacrifice fly, then another walk loaded the bases for Kaldunski, who smacked an Alexander offering over the leftfield fence to put the home team up 5-2.
Medford had a chance to erase that damage in the top of the fourth, loading the bases with no outs. Nate Retterath singled in a run, but a strikeout, line out and a pop-up left the bases loaded.
Medford loaded the bases again in the sixth, but only got a sacrifice fly from Mudgett to pull within 5-4. A bases-loaded walk by Jaden Koeller gave Marathon its last run in the bottom of the sixth.
The offense collected nine hits, including three by Gardner, but the team left 10 runners on base. Alexander took the loss. He allowed only three hits, but gave up an uncharacteristic six walks while striking out five. Mudgett allowed two hits and three walks while striking out two in two relief innings. Koeller was the winning pitcher. He went the distance, allowing three earned runs and four walks while striking out five. Koeller also went two for four at the plate.
Game two was only scheduled to go five innings, but as it turned out, that’s how long it would’ve lasted anyway with Medford’s 11-0 margin.
Alexander drove in Mudgett with an infield single and that was followed by Seidl’s first bomb over the leftfield fence, making it 2-0 in the top of the first.
A six-run third broke the game open. Nate Doriot and Mudgett walked and moved up a base on a wild pitch. Bryant Konieczny singled in Doriot. Mudgett scored on Alexander’s fielder’s choice. Alexander later scored on a passed ball. With two down, six straight Medford batters walked, producing three runs.
Seidl hit his second bomb to lead off the fifth. Brigham Kelley closed the scoring by slapping a two-run double to left.
McMurry and Logan Baumgartner each pitched two innings. McMurry allowed two hits and two walks and struck out three. Baumgartner struck out three, walked two and gave up a hit. Konieczny struck out two, walked two and allowed a hit while stranding three runners in the fifth.
Medford had six hits and drew 12 walks. Kelley had three RBIs.
After Monday’s Rib Lake doubleheader, Medford will be at Abbotsford Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. first pitch.
