Medford drops game one Monday, holds on in game two at Tomahawk
MEDFORD POST 147 LEGION BASEBALL
Medford’s American Legion Post 147 baseball team got clutch relief pitching from Carson Carbaugh as it hung on for a 10-9 win in game two of a Monday doubleheader at Tomahawk.
An early 2-0 lead did not hold up in game one as the host Cubs rallied for a 3-2 win. The split of the five-inning games left Medford at 5-3 in its summer season, heading into a 6 p.m. doubleheader tonight, Thursday, at Rib Lake.
Carbaugh was Medford’s closing pitcher in both games Monday. In game two, he entered with two outs in the bottom of the third inning with Post 147 clinching to a 9-8 lead with two runners still aboard. He got Tomahawk’s leadoff hitter Tyler Jablonsky to fly out to left to end that inning.
Braxton Weissmiller got an RBI single for Medford in the top of the fourth, while Tomahawk countered with two singles that led to a run on a dropped third strike but that was all the Cubs got from that potential rally in the bottom half. After Medford stranded two runners in the top of the fifth, Carbaugh stranded two more Cubs in scoring position to end it by again retiring Jablonsky, this time on a strikeout.
A five-run top of the second broke a 1-1 tie and put Medford in the lead for good, though the Cubs kept cutting into that lead. The inning featured two-run singles by Evan Wilkins and Parker Lissner and a run-scoring hit from Weissmiller. Tomahawk got four back in the bottom half, including a two-run single by Brayden Larson.
Run-scoring singles by Hayden Strebig and Ryder Kraschnewski keyed a three-run top of the third that pushed Medford’s lead to 9-5, but Tomahawk used a single, four walks and some wild pitches to get the lead down to one.
In game one, Medford took a quick 2-0 lead, but then was shut down by pitcher Brody Rigney and the Tomahawk defense. Wilkins led off the game with an infield single, went to second on a passed ball, took third on an errant pickoff throw and scored on Lissner’s single. Lissner stole second and scored on Weissmiller’s single.
Tomahawk did its damage in the third against Medford and starting pitcher Nick Steliga, getting two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs. A walk to Jablonsky scored the first run. Medford let an out at home plate get away with an error on a fielder’s choice by Larson. That tied it. Medford turned a double play on a ground ball hit by Jacob Towle but the go-ahead run scored. Medford’s hitters went down in order, however, in the fourth and fifth preventing a comeback. Steliga had Medford’s only other hit in the second, but Tomahawk turned a double play to get out of that inning.
Medford had two defensive gems in the early going. Lissner, playing shortstop, made a diving stop on a ground ball hit up the middle by Cooper Hetzel and flipped to Kraschnewski for a forceout at second that ended the bottom of the first.
Carbaugh, playing leftfield, made a tough catch on a liner hit by Montgomery Framke and doubled a runner off third to end the second.
Medford hosts Auburndale at 6 p.m. Monday in a pre-fireworks doubleheader at Jaycee Field.
