Raiders ease past Pines; split with Mosinee to stay atop GNC

MEDFORD BASEBALL

Hraby no-hits Tigers Thursday

Aiden Gardner and Caleb Guden both went three for four with two RBIs and Logan Baumgartner pitched four solid innings in the Medford baseball team’s 11-3 win at Northland Pines Tuesday that kept the Raiders on track in their quest to earn a third straight Great Northern Conference title.

The win put the Raiders, who are ranked seventh in this week’s state Division 2 coaches poll, at 4-1 in the GNC and 12-4 overall. The Raiders trail 6-1 Mosinee in the league standings, but their split with the Indians last week puts them in good shape to at least stay even with them the rest of the way.

In Tuesday’s win over the Eagles, who are in Medford today, Thursday, for a 5 p.m. rematch, the Raiders built a 9-1 lead by the middle of the fourth inning and had little trouble closing the game out from there.

Hitting fifth and sixth in Medford’s lineup, Gardner and Guden got a threerun second-inning rally started by singling with one out off Pines starter Brady Beyer. Parker Lissner singled to left to score Gardner, then Guden and Lissner executed a double steal to make it 2-0. Lissner later scored on a third-strike passed ball that allowed Steve Hraby to reach.

A four-run third put Medford up by a touchdown and most of the damage came with two outs. Gardner’s two-run double was the big hit. Guden’s single knocked in courtesy runner Tucker Kraemer and Lissner’s single chased Guden home.

After Pines got one in the bottom half, Medford tacked on two more in the top of the fourth on walks and wild pitches. The Eagles closed the gap to 9-3 in the fifth on an RBI double by Matt Szafranski and an RBI single from Matthew Vedder, but the Raiders got those runs right back in the sixth. Ty Metz reached on a thirdstrike wild pitch, stole second and scored on a Guden hit. Guden later scored on an error on a bit hit by Steve Hraby.

Gardner, Guden and Lissner all were credited with two RBIs. Guden scored three runs. Lissner and Baumgartner both went two for three. Guden had three of Medford’s eight stolen bases.

Baumgartner allowed three hits, one run and one walk while striking out four. Metz covered two innings, allowing three hits, two earned runs and a walk while striking out two. Brigham Kelley struck out two in a scoreless seventh.

Beyer took the loss, giving up nine runs, seven of which were earned in three-plus innings. He walked four, struck out one and gave up eight hits.

“The boys came out and took care of business,” head coach Justin Hraby said. “Logan was sharp in his four innings and Brigham and Ty did a good job of eating some innings late. Parker Lissner had a big night at the plate, putting together some really good at bats and getting some key hits. Caleb and Aiden were good at the plate, driving in runs for us when we had runners on.”

After today’s rematch with the Eagles, Medford heads to Rhinelander Saturday for an 11 a.m. GNC doubleheader with the always-tough Hodags. Their title hopes were likely doomed last week with two losses to Antigo, but they would certainly love to play the role of spoiler. Medford gets Antigo next week, hosting the Red Robins Tuesday at 5 p.m. and then going to Antigo on May 13.

Medford 6, Mosinee 4

Down 3-0 in the first inning in a mustwin game to stay in the GNC title chase, the Raiders rallied for their biggest win of 2022 so far Friday, taking down Mosinee 6-4 on the Indians’ home field.

The win came two days after Mosinee shut out Medford 2-0 at Raider Field to take temporary control of the GNC standings.

It was far from his sharpest outing, but Guden recovered from the shaky start to go 4.2 innings to pick up the win, Seth Mudgett got the save with 2.1 scoreless innings, the offense got some of the key hits it was missing in the April 27 loss and a couple of defensive gems were huge as well.

“You hate to call an April game a must-win, but that was a must-win –– for conference and regionals,” Justin Hraby said. “Our bats really came alive against some good pitching. We pounded out 10 hits, with five being extra base hits.”

Things didn’t look good early. Medford put runners at the corners with one out in the first and didn’t score. Mosinee turned three walks, an error, a wild pitch, an RBI single by Taylor Lemanski and a sacrifice fly by Trevor Garski into three runs. The Raiders did end the inning on the sacrifice fly when Lemanski tried to go to third after the throw home and play that started to turn the game around.

Braxton Weissmiller doubled after a long at-bat against Mosinee starter Garrett Shupe to start the top of the second. Kelley drew a one-out walk and an error on a ball hit by Mudgett with two outs loaded the bases for Tanner Hraby. Medford finally broke through after eight scoreless innings against the Indians when first baseman Davin Stoffin misplayed Hraby’s ground ball into two runs.

“We had a tough start to the game, giving up three runs on one hit in the first inning,” Justin Hraby said. “Braxton Weissmiller provided a spark starting the second inning off with a gapper. We then grinded out some pretty good atbats, which included Tanner putting the two-strike pitch in play that they threw away and got us two runs. That was a big answer for us after getting down early.”

A double play put a damper on a potentially big third inning, but numbernine hitter Miles Searles saved the frame with a clutch, two-out single to right that scored courtesy runner Colby Elsner with the tying run.

A two-out uprising put Medford on top in the fourth. Baumgartner walked, Gardner singled and Weissmiller bounced a 3-2 pitch into leftfield for a hit. Baumgartner barely beat the throw home and the tag from catcher Gavin Obremski to make it a 4-3 game.

After the Indians stranded two runners in the bottom half, the Raiders kept adding on in the top of the fifth. Searles hit a one-out double to left-center and Mudgett walked. Hraby’s double to the wall in left-center scored Searles, but Mudgett was thrown out at home. Guden then beat out an infield hit to drive in Hraby to make it 6-3.

Mosinee’s Tanner Unertl singled with one out and Guden retired Lemanski on a fly ball for the second out, but he reached his 100-pitch limit. Mudgett had a rough start, throwing three wild pitches to score Unertl and walk Stoffel, but he was perfect after that, recording seven straight outs, one by strikeout. The last of those outs came on a diving catch by Steve Hraby in centerfield. Earlier in the game, Mudgett made a diving catch in rightfield while heading toward the fence to rob Obremski of extra bases.

Guden walked seven, but he only allowed two hits and struck out three to minimize the damage. Weissmiller had three of Medford’s 10 hits. Guden and Searles were two for four. Shupe took the loss, allowing six hits, five walks and four runs, two of which were earned, while striking out three in four innings.

“Mosinee did a good job of hanging around and getting outs when needed,” Hraby said. “We outhit them 10-2, but left 15 runners on. We need to get that key hit to put good teams away. Caleb and Seth were tough on the mound. They overcame a small strike zone and battled throughout the game.”