Legion team earns a split at Marathon, sweeps Chequamegon

POST 147 LEGION BASEBALL

Medford’s Post 147 American Legion baseball team pulled away in the later innings for a solid 9-3 win at Marathon Monday night, but a four-run rally in the bottom of the fourth by the home team in game two kept Medford from sweeping the doubleheader.

Marathon won game two 6-3 to drop Medford to 4-2 to start the summer season. Medford is back at it Monday when it heads to Tomahawk for a pair of fiveinning games. A June 29 doubleheader at Rib Lake follows. Both twinbills start at 6 p.m.

Medford broke open a tight first game Monday by scoring three runs in the top of the fifth to go up 6-1 and then answering a two-run rally by Marathon with a three-run seventh.

Medford outhit Marathon 11-5, getting 3.1 strong relief innings in the middle of the game from Hayden Strebig. He got credit for the win, allowing three hits, two runs and two walks while striking out one. Tanner Hraby got the last two outs of the sixth to end Marathon’s rally and struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh to get the save.

Medford took the lead with a two-out rally in the second. With Post 147 down 1-0, Nick Steliga singled, followed by a hit-and-run single and a stolen base by Charlie Gierl. Carson Carbaugh singled to knock them both in. Braxton Weissmiller doubled in a run in the third.

The three-run fifth started with Carbaugh reaching on an error and Strebig hitting an infield single. Carbaugh scored on an infield hit by Evan Wilkins, then Hraby and Parker Lissner drove in runs with sacrifice flies. Marathon loaded the bases with one out in the sixth and got an RBI single from Tyler Underwood, who was the last batter Strebig faced, and a sacrifice fly from True Thurs.

Wilkins hit an RBI single, Hraby got an RBI on a groundout and the final run scored on an error on a ball hit by Lissner in the seventh.

Weissmiller, Gierl, Strebig and Wilkins had two hits apiece to lead Post 147’s offense. Steliga pitched the first two innings, allowing a run on two hits. He struck out three and worked around four walks.

After falling behind 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning in the five-inning second game, Medford took the lead with a three-run third. Wilkins singled and scored when Marathon misplayed Hraby’s single to right. Lissner walked, while Weissmiller’s groundout to first moved runners to second and third. Hraby scored on a passed ball and Lissner scored on a two-out infield hit by Jack Wojcik.

Medford’s defense turned a double play to get out of the third, but wasn’t as fortunate in the fourth when Marathon took the lead on three hits, two walks and two Medford errors.

Weissmiller and Wojcik both had two of Medford’s eight hits. Wojcik pitched 3.1 innings and settled in after a rocky first inning. Only one of the six runs were earned. He gave up just two hits, struck out four and walked five. Carbaugh allowed two hits, walked and struck out one while getting the last two outs.

Chequamegon swept

On an unseasonably cool Thursday night in Medford, Post 147 swept Chequamegon in two five-inning games by scores of 6-5 and 9-3.

The home team built a 6-2 lead but had to hang on in the top of the fifth when Chequamegon loaded the bases with one out. A two-run double to deep right by Corbyn Phelps and a sacrifice fly by Nolan Niehoff pushed three runs across and put the tying run on third, but Carbaugh induced a ground ball to Lissner at shortstop to get out the jam with the lead and the win.

Down 1-0, Medford took the lead with a five-run rally in the bottom of the second inning. Steliga singled and then, with one out, consecutive errors on balls hit by Gierl, Carbaugh and Strebig scored three runs. Hraby’s bad-hop single past shortstop Isaiah Bourgard drove in the fourth run and Lissner doubled in Hraby.

Medford went up 6-2 in the fourth with Carbaugh scoring on a wild pitch.

Hraby pitched the first three innings for Medford. He allowed just one hit and one one. The run came after he walked three batters in the second. Hraby struck out six. Carbaugh allowed four runs, three of which were earned. He struck out two, walked three and allowed a hit. Weissmiller, Medford’s catcher, picked a runner off third to end Chequamegon’s top of the fourth after a run had already scored.

Hraby and Lissner had two hits apiece atop Medford’s batting order. Max Dietzman tripled in the third but wound up being left at third.

Medford scored in each of its four atbats to build a 9-1 lead in game two.

Wilkins bunted for a hit to start the bottom of the first, Lissner walked and, after a wild pitch, both runners scored on a Hraby single. Weissmiller crushed an RBI double off the fence in left and he scored on Ben Doriot’s sacrifice fly.

Logan Kawa drove in a run with a second-inning fielder’s choice. Lissner singled and Hraby and Weissmiller hit back-to-back doubles to make it 7-0 in the third. Strebig and Wilkins hit RBI singles in the fourth.

Strebig got the win. In three hitless and scoreless innings, the lefty struck out three and walked one. Steliga finished up, allowing two runs and two hits while striking out two and walking two.

Weissmiller was two for two with his doubles and three RBIs. Hraby was two for three with a double and three RBIs. Wilkins was two for three and Lissner, Wojcik and Kawa had a hit apiece.

Dan Kraschnewski of the Whittlesey Reds accepts a $1,000 donation from Bill Retterath on behalf of Jim Schaff’s family following the Reds’ 12-3 win over Everest on Sunday. Jim Schaff passed away on March 21 and one of his fondest memories was playing for the Whittlesey Reds in the early 1960s. He had many stories of playing for Mike Roiger at Whittlesey.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Rightfielder Jack Wojcik makes the catch during game two Thursday.