MEDFORD BASEBALL PREVIEW - Raiders build around good senior group, expect success

MEDFORD BASEBALL PREVIEW

The Medford Raiders start the 2024 baseball season knowing the return of 10 letter winners makes them pretty strong in certain areas. The loss of nine graduates from a year ago and the loss of a senior this year due to injury also leaves some question marks in key areas.

Success, however, has been a trademark of Medford baseball the past handful of seasons and this year’s Raiders expect to continue to find ways to win. Most of the veterans were key parts of the 2023 team that shared the Great Northern Conference title with Mosinee and took Medford’s Post 147 American Legion team to the Class AA state tournament in August, where it won two games.

“I’m excited,” head coach Justin Hraby said Tuesday. It seems hard to believe Hraby is starting his 20th season in that position. “I think our experience definitely is a strength. We have a lot of guys coming back, pretty much all the guys back from that state Legion team. We’ve seen that in the past how that’s led into the next seasons. Let’s hope that that’s the case again.”

The Raiders are hopeful they’ll start their season on time Monday, when they’re scheduled to play a 4 p.m. doubleheader with Columbus Catholic on the turf at Wisconsin Rapids. Three more games at the Woodside High School Baseball Challenge April 5-6 against Hayward, Marquette, Mich. and New Richmond will hopefully have the Raiders as ready as they can be for their first GNC games April 8 and 11 against unanimous league favorite Mosinee.

Medford expects to get a lot out of its senior class, led by Tanner Hraby, an honorable mention All-State pick last spring by the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association as a utility player. Braxton Weissmiller was a first-team All-GNC catcher and first baseman Max Dietzman got honorable mention. Nick Steliga, Jack Wojcik and Carson Carbaugh are back and Logan Kawa would’ve been, but a knee injury suffered in the state wrestling tournament has knocked Medford’s would-be back-up catcher out for the season. Alex Cypher is also on this year’s roster.

Tanner Hraby opens as Medford’s leadoff hitter and will play shortstop and pitch. He hit .391 last spring, led the team with 37 runs scored, had a .496 on-base percentage and a .948 fielding percentage. He pitched 36.2 innings, but will likely log more innings this year as Medford tries to fill the pitching void left by the graduated Logan Baumgartner and Ty Metz.

Weissmiller had just three errors in his first varsity season as the full-time catcher, threw out 11 would-be base stealers and hit .386 with 28 runs batted in. He hit .486 in GNC play. Dietzman had a .983 fielding percentage at first base, hit .350 and drove in 25 runs.

They figure to hit in the third and fourth spots in the batting order behind junior Parker Lissner, who will see the majority of his time at third base and shortstop in his third varsity season.

“Braxton hopefully will have plenty of opportunities to drive runs in,” Justin Hraby said. “He had a great year last year. We’re hoping he picks up where he left off. Big Max is back. Obviously we’re going to look for him to do a little bit more offensively now that Bummy is gone. He and Braxton will have to step up. I think he’ll answer the call and obviously play a good first base too. Parker’s going to be a big part of our offense. He needs to be on base a lot. He needs to drive runs in when we have runners on in front of him.”

Steliga was a key role player and should have an even bigger role this season. He’ll start at second base and will get his share of pitching innings. He was 4-0 last year in 17.1 innings pitched and hit .273. Hraby said he’s going to try Steliga in the fifth spot in the batting order this year, getting a contact hitter right behind the big boppers.

Carbaugh might see the biggest jump in his role as he his penciled in to start in leftfield and be in the pitching rotation as well. Wojcik has pitching ability too and is firmly in the mix for playing time in the outfield.

“Carbs has looked really good in preseason so far,” Hraby said. “I think he’s ready to take that jump like he did in all of his other sports. Football he made a big leap, getting a lot of touches and in basketball he was starting at the end of the year. It’s been a great senior year for him. He had a good finish to the Legion season. Jack Wojcik has been good. He’s had a good first couple weeks of practice. We’re looking forward to Jack pitching a little bit and playing outfield. He’ll be one of those three or four guys that rotate out there.”

Junior Evan Wilkins returns and will get the first shot at the centerfield job. His speed will be a weapon both offensively and defensively and Hraby said his swing has come a long way after getting extensive playing time in Legion ball. The Raiders are hopeful Charlie Gierl can fill a key role as well as a returning letter winner. Working his way back into form after missing most of the basketball season, Gierl could see time at third base, in the outfield and could even pitch a bit. “Chuck will be the guy that we can bring in for a couple of innings to throw hard between or after our soft throwers to really make it look fast,” Hraby said. “He’s going to kind of be that utility guy.” Hayden Strebig is Medford’s top sophomore to watch. The lefty pitched a lot for the Legion team in the summer and will be in the outfield rotation as well. Hayden is a guy who’s made a tremendous leap in the off-season, both with baseball stuff and just getting in the weight room and getting stronger,” Hraby said. “He looks a lot different this year. We’re looking forward to seeing how that transfers to the field.”

Junior Sam Hierlmeier is looking to break into the infield/pitching mix, along with sophomore Nick Krause. Sophomore Sawyer Elsner is an outfielder that could bring an added dimension as a base runner. Freshman Ryder Kraschnewski will get a look as infielder and sophomore Evan Czarnezki is learning as Weissmiller’s new catching back-up.

“He came to us after Logan got hurt and offered his services to try catching,” Hraby said. “He has the physical tools to do it. He’s a strong kid, he has a good arm, he’s tough and he wants to learn. He also can play third base and outfield. He’ll pitch a lot. He’ll bounce back and forth between JV and varsity.”

While Medford’s pitching will look different without the power of Baumgartner and Metz, coach Hraby believes it will still be effective.

“I think we have some guys who are going to throw strikes that know how to pitch,” he said. “When they’re on they’re going to get some weak contact. We’re not going to strike a lot of guys out, but I think we can get some weak contact.”

Offense was a strength a year ago and Hraby doesn’t see that changing.

“We’re going to be able to score runs and we’re going to be able to do it in a variety of ways,” Hraby said. “You look at those top four guys, we’re going to have to get three, four runs out of those guys every game. That’s gap shots, that’s situational hitting and just hitting the ball hard. The bottom five guys, depending on what type of pitching we’re facing, that’s going to be a lot more situational, but I think we have the guys who can do it.”

Defensively the infield looks set, save for finding the player who will step in when Hraby or Steliga is pitching. The outfield is a bit inexperienced, but the only way to fix that is for those guys to play.

“I think our outfield athleticism is a strength,” Hraby said. “Evan Wilkins, Hayden, Carbaugh, Jack, those four guys can get some baseballs for sure. It’s just a matter of getting outside, getting them reps and for them, it’s more about trusting their instincts, judging the ball and making good reads on balls.”

While Mosinee enters the season with a long list of standouts, Hraby said the Raiders and teams like Rhinelander and Antigo will do their best to make GNC play challenging for the Indians and you never know what teams like Lakeland, Northland Pines and Tomahawk will bring.

Medford again has some challenging n non-conference opponents on the schedule. Columbus Catholic, Hayward and Eleva-Strum all carry pre-season rankings in their respective divisions and Denmark, now coached by Medford alum Lucas Kraschnewski, is the three-time defending WIAA Division 2 state champion. The Raiders will play Wausau West and Marshfield from the Wisconsin Valley Conference and play Waunakee May 6 at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

In the WIAA Division 2 sectional halfbracket, there will be no Mosinee or Antigo to worry about as they were shifted to the eastern sectional. But there still are good teams like Abbotsford-Colby, Hayward, Rhinelander and Merrill.

“I’m pretty excited,” Hraby said. “I think we have a good chance in our conference and in our regional and half-sectional to maybe make some noise. The guys have the experience from last year with the Legion tournament run, which was a little unexpected. Just having the success there and at the state tournament helps. We’re looking forward to it.”