Muskego game gets away late; Whitefish Bay shows why it’s ranked #1

MEDFORD BASEBALL

A seventh-inning rally fell just short in a 7-6 loss to Muskego and, as feared, none of Medford’s available pitchers were able to keep the Whitefish Bay juggernaut off-balance in a 16-2 loss during the Raiders’ Saturday appearance in the Prep Baseball Report at The Rock Invitational.

The losses were the first of the year for the Raiders after a 7-0 start, with both coming to ranked teams in Division 1. Whitefish Bay, a team that includes five NCAA Division I recruits, is the topranked team in the state. Medford led Muskego in a 2-1 pitchers’ duel through five innings. Both offenses came to life in the last two innings. After allowing a first-inning triple to Brock Lulewicz and an RBI single to Ashton Kampa in the top of the first, Medford’s Logan Baumgartner had kept the Warriors off the board over the next four innings while striking out nine and allowing just two more hits.

But the Warriors finally got to him in the sixth on their third turn through the batting order. Lulewicz tied the game with a leadoff homer to leftfield and Kampa singled. Clean-up hitter Sam Steuber blasted a two-run homer to straightaway center, putting Muskego up 4-2.

Nolan Tomsyck singled and went all the way to third on an error after the Raiders retired Daniel Hauboldt on a ground ball. Steven Wintheiser’s sacrifi ce fly scored him to make it 5-2. The Raiders had taken their 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second when Baumgartner doubled and his courtesy runner, Colby Elsner, scored on Aiden Gardner’s single up the middle. Singles by Braxton Weissmiller and Parker Lissner brought Gardner around with the go-ahead run, but Muskego turned a huge double play that short-circuited what could have been a big inning.

Caleb Guden started the bottom of the sixth with a single off Muskego starter Ethan Engelfried and Baumgartner got hit by a pitch. Gardner’s single to left loaded the bases with no outs. Guden scored on Weissmiller’s groundout to third –– the only time Medford’s designated hitter was retired in the game. With two outs and the bases loaded, reliever Zach Olson hit Ty Metz with a pitch to force in a run, but he retired Seth Mudgett on a ground ball to keep it a 5-4 game.

Mudgett took over on the pitching mound for Medford after Baumgarther gave up a leadoff single to Jack LeRose in the seventh. LeRose scored on a Lulewicz single and Lulewicz eventually scored on a groundout after stealing two bases. “Logan came out gave up a run in the first inning, then dominated for four innings after that,” Medford head coach Justin Hraby said. “He was spot on with his fast- ball and really gave them troubles with his off-speed pitches. They grinded out some good at-bats in the sixth and took advantage of every little mistake we made. That’s what really good teams do, make you pay for not getting a bunt down, not holding runners, an error in the outfield. It was a great learning lesson for us.”

Medford didn’t quit, getting a one-out solo homer to center by Guden in the bottom of the seventh. Baumgartner again got hit by a pitch and got into scoring position on a wild pitch. He scored on a two-out Weissmiller single, but Olson got Lissner to fly out to center to end it.

Medford had 11 hits with Weissmiller going three for four and Guden and Gard- ner each going two for four. Weissmiller drove in two runs, while Guden scored twice.

Baumgartner allowed nine hits and six runs, five of which were earned while taking the loss. He did not walk a batter while striking out nine.

Mudgett struck out two hitters and allowed a hit and a run in the seventh.

Lulewicz had four of Muskego’s 10 hits. Kampa was two for four. Engelfried got the win while striking out four and walking one in 5.2 innings. He allowed nine hits and four earned runs.

Medford had a chance to grab an early lead against Whitefish Bay but left the bases loaded in the top of the first. The Blue Dukes then scored six times on five hits and an error in the bottom half and never looked back. The highlight of the inning, however, was Raider pitchers Tanner Hraby and Brigham Kelley both retired leadoff hitter Jack Counsell, a University of Michigan recruit and son of Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell. Jack Counsell, though, still wound up two for four with a triple.

Louisville recruit Michael Lippe hit a two-run inside-the-park home run in the second and added a two-run double in a four-run third that made it 12-2.

“They are very deserving of the number- one ranking,” coach Hraby said. “The D-I commits they have are the real deal.”

Medford got its runs in the top of the third when Guden crushed his second solo homer of the day, which came off Lippe, and Baumgartner singled and scored on Gardner’s double.

“Caleb hit a ball off of Lippe that left the stadium,” Hraby said. “I would guess he hit that ball about 450 feet. An absolute bomb that had everyone in the stadium in awe and others outside the stadium talking about.”

Lippe went three innings for the Blue Dukes, allowing four hits, two walks and two earned runs while striking out four. Mudgett had Medford’s other hit.

Whitefish Bay’s four-run fourth included Counsell’s RBI triple, a runscoring single by Mitch Voit, another Michigan recruit, and two hit batters, including one with the bases loaded.

Tanner Hraby lasted just two-thirds of an inning and took the loss. Three of the six runs charged to him were unearned. Kelley allowed six runs, four of which were earned in 2.1 innings. Elsner hit the only batter he faced in the fourth. Steve Hraby took over and allowed four hits and three runs while striking out one.

Medford’s home game with Stevens Point scheduled for Tuesday was pushed back to today, Thursday, with a 5 p.m. first pitch. The Raiders host Appleton West, coached by Medford native Mitch Krug, on Saturday at 10 a.m. in what has now been changed to a doubleheader before going into a very important week next week.

Medford will host Mosinee on Tuesday and then travel to Mosinee on April 29 for 5 p.m. matchups between the two pre-season favorites in the Great Northern Conference. Marshfield is in town for a non-conference game in between the Mosinee matchups on April 28.

Caleb Guden