Baumgartner, coach Hraby get top honors; Weissmiller, Hraby also 1st team
ALL-GNC BASEBALL
Back atop the Great Northern Conference after a one-year glitch, the Medford Raiders put nearly their entire baseball starting lineup on the list of 2023 All-GNC award winners and swept the conference’s two major awards.
Logan Baumgartner closed his standout run in Medford athletics by earning his second GNC Player of the Year Award this school year after being a unanimous choice as an All-GNC pitcher and a firstteam pick as an infielder. Justin Hraby was named the Coach of the Year after directing the Raiders to an 11-1 mark in league play, good for a championship tie with Mosinee, and a 23-5 overall mark.
The Raiders won a school-record 15 straight games at one point during the season and set a school record for regular-season wins with 22 and fell one win shy of the 2021 overall record of 24 for wins in a season.
Medford won its third GNC title in four seasons, not counting the canceled 2020 season and Hraby, who completed his 19th season at the helm, has been the GNC’s Coach of the Year in each of those three championship springs. The Raiders’ season ended in the regional final round of the WIAA Division 2 tournament for the second straight year, this time with a 9-1 loss to eventual sectional runner-up West Salem. The Panthers also took out Mosinee 7-3 in a sectional semifinal before falling 3-0 to host Altoona in the June 6 sectional tournament.
Baumgartner, also a two-time winner of the GNC’s boys basketball Player of the Year award, will represent Medford baseball one more time in the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association’s Senior All-Star Classic in Oshkosh June 30 and July 1. He is on the West team that will play the East team at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, the North team at 12:30 p.m. and the South team at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. All games are at E.J. Schneider Field.
This is the fourth straight year a Raider has won the league’s top individual honor. Cade Alexander won in 2019 and Caleb Guden won it in 2021 and 2022.
Also earning spots on the 2023 All-GNC first team were Medford juniors Braxton Weissmiller at catcher and Tanner Hraby at the utility position. Senior Ty Metz took two spots on the second team and Hraby was named a second-team infielder for the third straight spring. Senior Miles Searles, junior Max Dietzman and sophomore Parker Lissner earned honorable mention.
The first team
Baumgartner and Mosinee’s Keagen Jirschele were unanimous picks for the two All-GNC first-team pitching spots and for good reason.
In GNC play, Baumgartner posted an impressive 8-0 record to lead the league in wins and he was first in strikeouts with 59 in 40.2 innings pitched. He allowed just two earned runs for a 0.34 earned run average. Jirschele was just a hint better in that statistic, allowing one earned run in 35.1 GNC innings with 47 strikeouts. His GNC ERA was 0.20. Baumgartner allowed 19 hits and seven walks in league play.
Overall, the tall right-hander was 10-2 with a 0.97 earned run average in 57.2 innings pitched. Baumgartner tied Medford’s single-season record for wins and almost matched BJ Prokopiak’s 2004 single-season record for ERA at 0.94. He struck out 76 batters, walked 13, hit six and allowed 38 hits and 16 runs, only eight of which were earned. He pitched in 12 games, starting 10.
His first GNC start of the spring was probably his most impressive. The Raiders immediately got into GNC championship position on April 10 with a 4-1 win at Mosinee. Baumgartner struck out nine, walked two and allowed just five hits and no earned runs in 6.2 innings. He struck out eight and took a no-hitter into the last inning of a 10-0 win over Rhinelander on April 25, struck out eight and gave up one hit in a 13-0 win over Tomahawk on April 21 and he struck out nine in seven innings, walked none and didn’t allow an earned run in a key 5-1 win at Antigo on May 4.
Baumgartner secured his Player of the Year award by being equally tough at the plate. He led the GNC with a .541 batting average in league games (20 for 37), tied Mosinee’s Davin Stoffel for the GNC lead in hits and led the GNC with 22 runs batted in.
His two GNC home runs tied him for second behind Mosinee’s Taylor Lemanski, who hit three. Both of Baumgartner’s GNC homers came in a 21-1 win at Lakeland on May 12, when he was the winning pitcher and drove in seven runs. One of the homers was a grand slam. Overall, he hit .489 with a school-record 46 hits in 94 official at-bats, including 13 doubles, two triples and four homers. His 38 RBIs also was a single-season school record. He had a second grand slam during a 14-7 non-conference win over Auburndale on April 28. He drew 12 walks, struck out only nine times.
Defensively at the shortstop and pitching positions, Baumgartner had a .930 fielding percentage with six errors in 86 total chances and was involved in 12 double plays.
Weissmiller and Mosinee’s Gavin Obremski earned the two first-team spots for catchers. Weissmiller made a successful transition after playing the outfield last year and posted a .985 fielding percentage with three errors in 195 total chances. He threw out 11 would-be base stealers in 34 attempts and picked off a runner.
Offensively, after a slow start, he got hot in the second half of the season and wound up third in GNC batting average at .486 (17 for 35), third in hits and second in RBIs with 16. Overall, Weissmiller hit .386 (32 for 83) with six doubles and two homers, both of which came in the Lakeland rout, one of which was a grand slam. He ranked second on the team with 28 runs batted in.
Weissmiller had five three-hit games during the season, including GNC wins over Northland Pines, Antigo and Lakeland. He drove in six runs in his twohomer game at Lakeland and had three hits in a 9-2 win over Rhinelander in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal on May 30.
Tanner Hraby, who played second base and shortstop and pitched on occasion, tied for fourth in the conference with 16 hits and ranked third in runs scored with 18, two behind Jirschele and Lemanski. He stole eight bases to tie for fifth in league play. He hit .364 in GNC games (16 for 44) with four doubles, a triple, a homer in a 10-0 win over Pines and 13 runs batted in. Overall, he hit .391 (35 for 114) with two homers, adding one in a 7-2 non-conference win over Pittsville on May 23, and 21 RBIs. He was, by far, the team’s leader in runs scored with 37, one short of Jeff Johnas’ 2006 school record.
Hraby took over the leadoff spot early in the season and posted a .496 on-base percentage boosted by 15 walks and being hit by five pitches. He struck out just 11 times in 114 plate appearances. He was four for four with three doubles in an 18-2 win over Northland Pines and three for three with two runs scored in a titleclinching 6-2 win over Antigo on May 17. He was charged with four errors in 77 total chances in the field for a .948 fielding percentage and went 1-1 in 15 pitching appearances with three saves, 33 strikeouts and a 2.86 earned run average in 36.2 innings pitched.
Jirschele was a unanimous choice as a first-team infielder along with Stoffel. Lemanski and James McCormick of Northland Pines were unanimous outfield selections. Antigo senior infielder Mason Gray and Antigo outfielder Preston Knapkavage filled out the All-GNC first team.
Second team, mention
Metz’s emergence in his senior year was a big reason for Medford’s success. He filled All-GNC second-team spots at pitcher and outfielder.
He more than capably filled the number- two spot in the pitching rotation by going 3-1 with a 1.96 earned run average in GNC play, which covered 25 innings. Metz ranked third in the GNC in ERA. He struck out 39 to rank third in the GNC and walked just eight in those innings. He held GNC foes to 16 hits and 11 runs, seven of which were earned.
Overall, Metz was 7-1 with a 2.69 earned run average in 12 appearances and 11 starts covering 52 innings. He had a save, getting the last out in the early win over Mosinee. He struck out 67 batters, walked 32, hit five and gave up just 34 hits and 26 runs, 20 of which were earned.
Metz ranked fourth in the GNC with a .444 batting average (16 for 36) and tied for fourth in hits. Overall, he hit .325 (25 for 77) with five doubles and a home run in the regional win over Rhinelander. He drove in 15 runs and scored 15 runs. He was five for five with a double at Lakeland and had multi-hit GNC games against Rhinelander and against Lakeland in an 11-1 May 9 win. He struck out 11 Tomahawk Hatchets, walked two and allowed two hits in five innings of a 9-1 win on April 21. Metz struck out 10, walked one and gave up three hits and two earned runs in 5.2 innings in a 10-6 win over Rhinelander on April 25. He was also the winning pitcher in the regional victory over the Hodags.
Searles gave Medford excellent defense in his first year as the starter in centerfield with just two errors in 42 total chances (.952). He had two assists.
Searles also worked his way into the number-two spot in the batting order for a good chunk of the year and finished with a .296 batting average with 17 runs batted in and 17 runs scored. he hit two doubles and a triple among his 24 hits. In GNC play, Searles hit .278 (10 for 36), drove in eight runs and scored eight.
He had six multi-hit games including three hits in a 10-9 season-opening win over Spooner. He had a season-high three RBIs in the 9-1 win over Tomahawk.
Dietzman, Medford’s first baseman, hit .343 in GNC play (12 for 35) with a grand slam homer in the 10-0 win over Rhinelander and 10 RBIs. He had two doubles and drew seven walks. Overall, the lefthanded hitter posted a .350 batting average and his 25 RBIs ranked third on the team. He hit six doubles and a triple and drew 18 walks compared to 14 strikeouts.
Defensively, Dietzman was charged with just three errors in 173 total chances for a .983 fielding percentage.
He was another hitter who picked up momentum at the plate as the season progressed. He was three for four with a double in the game he hit his grand slam and was three for four with three RBIs in an early-season 9-7 non-conference win over Northwood-Solon Springs on April 15. He had eight multi-hit games with one of them being the GNC title clincher against Antigo, which included a key double.
Lissner was Medford’s primary third baseman and hit .333 (11 for 33), drew 11 walks, scored 11 runs and drove in seven runs in GNC play. Overall, he hit .306 (25 for 85) with two doubles, 21 runs scored and 15 driven in. He drew 14 walks only struck out seven times. He had a .429 onbase percentage while hitting out of the number-one, number-two and numbersix spots at various times during the season.
Lissner had two hits in seven games this season, including GNC wins over Pines and Lakeland and seemingly led the Raiders in hard-hit outs, especially early in the year. He had two doubles and two RBIs in the win over Spooner.
Justin Hraby Coach of Year
Ty Metz Second Team Pitcher/IF
Miles Searles Hon. Mention
Tanner Hraby First Team Utility Second Team Infield
Braxton Weissmiller First Team
Max Dietzman Hon. Mention
Parker Lissner Hon. Mention
