NO STATE TRIP FOR POST 147

CLASS AA LEGION REGIONAL

After three regional titles, Medford is denied this time

Medford Post 147’s streak of appearances in Wisconsin American Legion state baseball tournaments ended at three after two one-run losses over the weekend at the Class AA regional tournament in Merrill. Post 147 did win one game, knocking out Merrill’s Post 46 squad 6-2 in an elimination game Saturday morning. But a tough-luck 2-1 loss to eventual champion Rhinelander in an outstanding pitcher’s duel Friday afternoon and a 5-4 walk-off loss to the Antigo Typhoon Saturday afternoon ended Medford’s summer season at 11-5 overall.

Rhinelander’s Post 7 team went 3-0 and allowed just four runs total to win the tournament and a berth in this weekend’s Class AA state tournament in Fort Atkinson. The Rebels beat Antigo 5-3 on Saturday and again 2-0 in Sunday’s championship round.

“This regional could’ve went in any direction,” Medford head coach Justin Hraby said. “All four teams could’ve moved on. It was just a matter of catching a few breaks and making a few more plays. It was great to see our young team compete. This will go a long ways toward next spring.”

Rhinelander 2, Medford 1

As expected, Medford’s Logan Baumgartner and Rhinelander’s Isaac Bixby were pegged as the starting pitchers in Friday’s opener where the winner was likely to have a much cleaner path to Sunday’s final.

The pitchers didn’t disappoint. Baumgartner recorded five of his first six outs by strikeout and Bixby, a 2021 Rhinelander graduate who pitches at UW-Platteville, worked around two first-inning walks before setting Medford down in the order in the second.

The Rebels struck first in the top of the third. Jacksen Smith, their numbernine hitter but also one of their better athletes, hit a leadoff single, Bixby followed with a hit and Ryan Jamison laced a double to right-center that drove in both for a 2-0 Rhinelander lead. Baumgartner got out of the inning with no further damage.

Bixby stranded two Medford runners in the third and one in the fifth before Post 147 put together its biggest threat in the bottom of the sixth.

Baumgartner started it with a double to deep right-center and Braxton Weissmiller dumped a single into shallow right. Max Dietzman hit a bad-hop single past shortstop Joe Schneider to score Baumgartner and put runners on first and second with no outs.

Brigham Kelley tried to put down a sacrifice bunt to move Weissmiller and pinch runner Tucker Kraemer, but catcher Sam Schneider caught his foul ball for the inning’s first out. Parker Lissner bounced a single to center, but Weissmiller was held up at third, keeping the bases loaded.

Bixby got a big strikeout of Ty Metz for the second out and centerfielder Kolby Ridderbusch finished Rhinelander’s escape from the jam by making a diving catch of a looping liner by Miles Searles.

“The more our young guys saw Bixby, the better they got against him,” coach Hraby said. “He’s a Division III college level pitcher. He was tough. The third time through the order we got to him and his defense saved him in the sixth.”

Baumgartner finished off his complete game in the top of the seventh, finishing with eight strikeouts, eight hits allowed and no walks.

“Logan pitched well,” Hraby said. “He made a few mistakes, but for the most part, he was dominant.”

After 98 pitches through six innings, Bixby was relieved by Jamison for the seventh and got into immediate trouble when Seth Mudgett reached on an error and Tanner Hraby hit an infield single. Baumgartner hit one well, but flied out to center, which moved Mudgett to third.

“Logan just missed a walk-off homer,” coach Hraby said. “When it left his bat, I thought maybe he got it.”

The game abruptly ended on Weissmiller’s sharply-hit grounder. Schneider made a nice play to snag a high hop just as the ball seemed headed to centerfield and flipped the ball to Bixby, now playing second base, for the force on Hraby. Bixby then rifled a relay throw to first baseman Devyn Orth that just beat Weissmiller for a double play.

Hraby was two for four to lead Medford’s seven-hit attack. Bixby struck out six and walked three while collecting the win.

“This game lived up to the hype,” Justin Hraby said. “Bixby vs. Bummy, two good teams getting after each other. Two defensive plays Rhinelander made really made the difference. The diving catch with the bases loaded and the double play to end the game cost us at least three runs.”

Medford 6, Merrill 2

Medford held off elimination for a few hours Saturday with a 6-2 win over Merrill in the morning game. The contest was close until Post 147 broke it open with a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Baumgartner put Medford in front with a three-run homer to left-center in the bottom of the third. Metz was outstanding on the mound, going the distance with four strikeouts, one walk and just four hits allowed.

“Ty Metz was tough for us,” coach Hraby said. “That is good to see as he will push for that number-two spot next year. Offensively it took awhile to get going, but once we got on them, we grinded some good at-bats and put up six runs against a really good pitcher in Sam Reimann.”

Outside of the Baumgartner homer, Reimann held Medford in check through five innings and allowed him and his teammates a chance to get back in it, which they did in the top of the sixth, loading the bases with one out. A wild pitch scored Merrill’s first run of the game but two groundouts to Hraby at second base, both on nice backhand stops, limited Post 46 to just one more run.

Medford then loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half. Two of the runners wound up scoring on wild pitches by Reimann. Mudgett drove in the final run on a groundout.

Out of the number-nine spot in the order, Kraemer had two of Medford’s seven hits in the win, plus he drew a walk. Reimann went five-plus innings for Merrill, allowing all seven hits, six runs, four of which were earned, and four walks. He struck out three.

“They made it close in the sixth,” coach Hraby said. “Tanner Hraby had two nice backhands on back-to-back hitters that saved us another run or two to help us preserve the lead going into the bottom of the sixth. It was good to see the boys put them away in the sixth, tacking on some huge insurance runs.”

Antigo 5, Medford 4

On Saturday afternoon, just before heavy rain hit, Antigo’s Post 3 Typhoon scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to cut a three-run deficit to one and they got a game-tying single from Mason Gray and a game-winning sacrifice fly from Will Kubeny in the seventh to eliminate Medford 5-4.

Post 147 had chances to break the game open, but couldn’t put that knockout rally together and it cost Medford late.

“A classic game of balls hit right at guys and not capitalizing on opportunities to blow the game open early,” Justin Hraby said. “To Antigo’s credit, they kept grinding.”

Medford had leads of 3-0 and 4-1 before Antigo’s comeback. Mudgett led off the game with a double and scored on Baumgartner’s sacrifice fly. In the second, two errors and a Searles single loaded the bases with one out. Kraemer drove in a run with an infield single and Kelley scored on a wild pitch.

After Antigo got a run on Hunter Aiuppy’s groundout in the bottom of the second, Medford left two runners on in the third when Gray, Antigo’s leftfielder, threw out Dietzman at the plate on Kelley’s two-out base hit. A double play ended the top of the fourth, but Medford scored once in two-out rally in the fifth when Weissmiller walked and Dietzman and Lissner singled.

The Typhoon crept within 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth on a Caden Kautza sacrifice fly and back-to-back, two-out doubles by Conner Kolz and Gray. A sliding catch by Kubeny in right robbed Mudgett and short-circuited a potential Medford rally in the top of the sixth. Post 147 got out of a dicey situation in the bottom half thanks to a double play and a two-out fly ball induced by Kelley, who took over for Mudgett with two runners on.

But Medford couldn’t escape the seventh as Kautz drew a leadoff walk –– the only walk Medford issued in the game –– Kolz singled and Gray followed with the game-tying hit. Kolz and Gray advanced on an errant throw to the plate, putting the go-ahead run 90 feet away with no outs. Kubeny drove in that run with a fly ball to right.

Dietzman, Searles and Kraemer had two hits apiece for Medford, who had 10 hits total. Mudgett pitched 5.2 innings and worked around nine hits. He struck out one. He allowed three runs, two of which were earned. Kelley allowed two hits and two runs in two-thirds of an inning.

“Seth Mudgett was tough on the mound,” Hraby said. “Our defense turned a handful of double plays and tracked down balls in the outfield. They were solid all tourney long.”

Reed Kuenzli threw the first six innings for Antigo, allowing nine hits and two walks. One of the four runs charged to him was earned. Connor Cornelius got the win, pitching a scoreless seventh while allowing a hit and a walk. Medford did not strike out in the loss but the balls put in play didn’t find enough holes.

Gray had three hits, while Kolz, Lukas Pecore and Kuenzli had two apiece.

Ty Metz delivers a pitch during his winning outing against Merrill Saturday morningduring the Class AA regional tournament.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Left: Medford Post 147 third baseman Parker Lissner makes a tough catch against Merrill’s dugout fence to retire Sam Reimann during the team’s 6-2 win over the host team Saturday. Above: Miles Searles drops down a successful sacrifice bunt during the fifth inning of Friday’s 2-1 loss to Rhinelander.PHOTOS BY MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS