A-C cruises past Tigers, Arcadia
The Abbotsford-Colby baseball team moved on to the third round of the WIAA D2 playoffs after defeating Black River Falls/Fall Creek and Arcadia over the past week. The wins were the first in the co-op’s relatively short playoff history and set them up to face off against firstseeded Mosinee on Wednesday evening.
9-4
The middle of the Abby-Colby’s lineup did damage early and set the tone for their 9-4 second round playoff game victory over fifth-seeded Arcadia on Tuesday evening. Blake Bargender and Mateo Lopez went a combined 5-5 from the plate and reached base in all seven of their plate appearances. Meanwhile, starting pitcher Brandon Diedrich picked up his second win of the playoffs as he and the Abby-Colby defense kept the visiting Raiders at bay most of the evening.
The combination of Bargender and Lopez as the co-op’s fourth and fifth batters proved to be an effective one, consistently setting the table for their teammates to take advantage of.
After the Raiders pushed a run across in the second to take their only lead of the contest, Bargender and Lopez both reached on singles to start the bottom half of the inning. Carlos Lara came through with a clutch hit two at-bats latter, driving in Bargender and tying the game at 1-1. Aggressive base running from Lopez on the play reaped rewards as an overthrow at third went out of play and awarded him home and Lara third base, giving Abby-Colby a lead they would never relinquish.
A sacrifice fly from Jaxon Polivka brought Lara home and Abby-Colby exited the second up 3-1.
It was a similar story in the third, where back to back singles from Bargender and Lopez put the former in scoring position. Abby-Colby was once again able to take advantage. Payton Schreiber’s line drive single to center field drove in Bargender and the co-op’s advantage grew to three runs.
The pair was not done yet, and neither was the rest of the Abby-Colby offense. For a third time, a single and a walk from the co-op’s four and five hitters set up the home team for success in the fifth inning. While they could not find the clutch hit, the heads-up base running from Lopez once again came into play as he was able to advance on a past ball to score Abby- Colby’s fifth run of the game.
Arcadia managed to bring a run in the sixth, but the co-op quickly closed the door on any hope of a comeback from the visitors. Diedrich helped his own cause in a huge way in the bottom half of the frame. With base loaded and no outs, the senior delivered a double to deep right center field, driving in two runs. A sacrifice fly from Lopez drove in a third run and Diedrich was able to score on another overthrow at third one at-bat later, giving Abby-Colby a dominant 9-2 advantage.
The visitors were able to mount a small rally in the top of the seventh, but Lopez, who was summoned to the mound in relief of Diedrich, was able to shut down the Raiders’ effort before it got out of hand.
Both teams had nine hits in the contest, but Abby-Colby came through with the hits in key situations that Arcadia failed to find throughout much of the contest. Four errors on the Raiders also hurt their defensive efforts and allowed Abby-Colby to score three unearned runs.
Diedrich worked six innings for the coop, giving up eight hits and three walks but only surrendering three earned runs. Despite the Raiders having their first batsman of the inning reach safely in six out of the seven innings, Diedrich was able to work himself out of several jams. He stranded runners at second and third in both the second and third innings and was the start of a double play that got the co-op out of the sixth. He struck out four in the game.
Mateo Lopez could not have found a better time to hit his first home run of the season.
The senior third baseman launched a pitch over the left field fence in the third inning of the co-op’s first round playoff game against Black River Falls/Fall Creek last Thursday, a two-run bomb that gave his team a key 6-1 advantage and caused him to be swarmed by his teammates after touching home plate.
One inning later, Lopez lasered another ball out of the Red Arrow Park, picking up his second two-run home run of the game and giving Abby-Colby a 10 run lead. Behind a clean pitching performance from Brandon Diedrich, the co-op held the opposing Tigers scoreless in the top of the fifth to end the game early.
The win was the co-op’s first playoff victory since the Abbotsford and Colby teams merged in 2019.
Abby-Colby scored in every inning of the contest, taking an early 1-0 lead in the first. JV Castillo walked in the team’s first plate appearance and the co-op was able to get him around the bases despite not getting a hit in the inning. Black River Falls/Fall Creek answered in the top of the second to tie the game at one, but it would be all Abby-Colby the rest of the way.
A Jackson Snapp double put himself and Carlos Lara in scoring position for Jaxon Polivka in the bottom of the second. Polivka delivered, driving in Lara and giving the home team the lead once again. He and Snapp scored moments later as a throw down to second on a steal attempt found its way into the outfield.
Lopez’s first home run in the third built on their lead and a five-run fourth, featuring an RBI double from Diedrich and an RBI single from Blake Bargender, put the game out of reach. Lopez’s second home run capped off the co-op’s offensive efforts.
Diedrich pitched all five innings for Abby-Colby, dealing six strikeouts and spreading out three hits. His only run surrendered was unearned. While the co-op did have three errors, they managed to mitigate the damage with some solid defensive play around them.
HOME RUN CELEBRATION -Mateo Lopez was greeted by a flock of teammates following his first home run of the season. The senior third baseman added a second dinger later in the game.STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
DIVING BACK -JV Castillo races the ball back to the bag during the co-op’s first round win over Black River Falls/Fall Creek. The speedy shortstop proved to be the faster of the two on the play, diving in safely back to first.STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
