MEDFORD BASEBALL - Raiders take care of business while earning three more wins

MEDFORD BASEBALL

MATT FREY

SPORTS EDITOR

For the fourth straight game, Medford’s pitching and defense held the opposition to one run or less, giving the offense all the time it needed Tuesday to finally deliver the knockout punch in a 7-1 win over visiting Rhinelander.

The Raiders led 3-0 early but it wasn’t until a four-run sixth before they could breathe easy against a struggling Great Northern Conference rival. The win put Medford at 3-2 in the GNC and 9-2 overall heading into a Friday rematch at Rhinelander.

“It wasn’t our best night offensively, but we found a way to grind and still put up seven runs,” Medford head coach Justin Hraby said.

Tanner Hraby got the pitching win, going 5.2 innings before hitting his 100-pitch limit. He allowed only four hits, one earned run and three walks while striking out seven. Hayden Strebig got the last four outs with two strikeouts.

“Tanner battled all night and held them in check,” coach Hraby said. “He had a few problems with his curveball, but he found a way to wiggle out of some jams. Hayden was tough coming in the game in a difficult spot. He calmly got out of the sixth with the tying run at the plate and then shut the door in the seventh. Those were big outs for us.”

The Hodags (1-4, 1-8) stranded two runners in the top of the first, then their starter, James Heck, threw 12 straight balls to start the bottom of the first, loading the bases. Max Dietzman drove in a run with a groundout. Nick Steliga and Carson Carbaugh were hit by pitches to force in the second run.

Hraby singled and scored on Braxton Weissmiller’s grounder in the second, but Heck settled down and got through 4.2 innings with no further damage. Rhinelander got its run in the third on Adrian Patrone’s RBI single.

Facing reliever Kaden Vanney in the sixth, Evan Wilkins led off with an infield hit, stole second and moved to third on Hraby’s fly ball to right. Parker Lissner beat out a tapper toward third base and Weissmiller followed with a line drive single to left to score Wilkins. Dietzman’s grounder was misplayed by the Hodags allowing Lissner to score, another error on Steliga’s grounder brought in courtesy runner Sawyer Elsner and Carbaugh lined a single to left to drive in Dietzman.

“Evan Wilkins got things going in that big sixth inning,” coach Hraby said. “Tanner then moved him to third, Parker had a great AB and then Braxton hitting it hard. That was all followed by some competitive at-bats by Max, Nick and Carson that got us some more big insurance runs.”

Seven Raiders finished with one hit apiece.

After Friday’s trip to Rhinelander, Medford heads to Antigo Monday and hosts the Red Robins May 2 in a couple of key GNC games. Antigo is 3-0 in league play after beating Northland Pines 7-1 on Tuesday.

Raiders 14, Eagles 0

using three big innings to rout winless Chequamegon 14-0 in non-conference play at Park Falls.

Medford outhit the Screaming Eagles 11-1 and drew nine walks to apply constant pressure on Chequamegon’s defense. That pressure resulted in five second-inning runs and four runs in each of the next two innings.

Hraby was two for two with three runs driven in and two scored. Lissner drove in three runs while going one for three. Steliga was two for two and scored three runs, while Weissmiller and Strebig scored two runs apiece.

Three Raider pitchers combined on the five-inning one-hitter. Strebig struck out three in the first two innings. Carbaugh struck out three, walked two and allowed a hit in the next two frames. The defense backed him by turning a double play in the third. Charlie Gierl struck out the side in the fifth.

“We got on them early and then rode the arms of Hayden, Carson and Charlie,” Justin Hraby said. “It was good to get those guys on the mound and get them some work.”

Tanner Hraby led off the game with a double and scored on Weissmiller’s groundout.

The big second inning started with a Steliga single. Carbaugh walked and both runners moved up on Strebig’s tapper back to pitcher Antonio Poetzl. With two outs, Wilkins walked to load the bases. Hraby’s double to centerfield scored all three runners. Lissner drove in Hraby with a hit and Weissmiller’s double to right scored Lissner for a 6-0 lead.

Steliga led off the third with a double and scored on Strebig’s one-out single. Jack Wojcik doubled to left. Courtesy runner Sam Hierlmeier scored on a wild pitch. Walks to Wilkins and Hraby loaded the bases. Wojcik scored on a wild pitch and Lissner drove in a run with a groundout.

Dietzman pulled a double to rightfield to start the fourth. Walks to Steliga and Carbaugh loaded the bases for Strebig, who walked in another run, as did Wojcik. Wilkins singled in a run and Lissner added a sacrifice fly.

Poetzl was roughed up for 10 earned runs on eight hits and four walks in three innings. Reliever Aiden Bushman walked four and allowed a hit and four earned runs while not recording an out in the fourth.

Raiders 6, Hatchets 1

Tanner Hraby hit two solo home runs, finishing with three hits, three runs scored and three RBIs, while Steliga did not allow an earned run while striking out eight in six innings in Medford’s 6-1 Parents’ Night win over Tomahawk Thursday.

Hraby’s homers gave Medford a 2-1 lead through three innings, then the Raiders finally broke the game open in the fifth, scoring three times.

Tomahawk got its run in the top of the first. Walter Horabik’s line drive to left was nearly caught by a diving Carbaugh, but the ball fell to the ground for a single. Horabik stole second and scored on a twoout error on a grounder hit by Brayden Larson.

Hraby erased that deficit two pitches into the bottom of the inning, launching a no-doubt homer over the leftfield fence off Tomahawk starter Brody Rigney.

Steliga got into one major jam in his six innings and that was in the third when a walk and an error with one out and walk with two outs loaded the bases for Cooper Hetzel, who hit one hard but right at Wilkins in centerfield.

Hraby led off the bottom half and, this time, drilled a 2-0 pitch into the jet stream blowing out toward left and watched it sail over the fence.

“Tanner did a nice job of attacking some pitches and setting the tone for us with those two homers,” coach Hraby said. “One he did a nice job of staying back on a curveball and the other he hunted a fastball early.”

That home run gave Hraby his second spot on Medford’s career record board with 112 hits, passing the record set last year by Logan Baumgartner.

The Raiders appeared to have a big inning brewing when Lissner and Weissmiller singled, but the Hatchets got out of the inning with a rare triple play. Hetzel, playing third, snagged a low liner hit by Dietzman. There was confusion among Lissner and Elsner as to whether the ball was caught and throws by the Hatchets to second base and first base got the last two outs on the play.

The Raiders, though, did cash in on their opportunity in the fifth. Wilkins hit a one-out double over the head of centerfielder Montgomery Franke and Hraby walked. Both scored on Lissner’s double to the gap in left-center. Weissmiller lined a single to left to score Hraby.

“Parker made them pay,” Justin Hraby said. “They pitched around Tanner and Parker did what Parker does. He put together a great at-bat and drove in some big runs for us.”

Wilkins walked and stole second with two outs in the sixth and scored the final run on Hraby’s base hit.

Hraby and Weissmiller both finished three for three, accounting for six of Medford’s 10 hits. Lissner had two more.

Steliga allowed just four hits and two walks. Hraby struck out three and walked one in the seventh.

“Nick was tough on the mound for us,” Justin Hraby said. “He should have gotten through with no earned runs. He mixed and matched well and kept them guessing.”

Rigney took the loss for Tomahawk, going five innings and allowing nine hits, five earned runs and three walks while striking out three.

Carson Carbaugh scampers to third base and easily beats the incoming throw from Tomahawk centerfielder Montgomery Framke during the second inning of Thursday’s 6-1 win over the Hatchets. Carbaugh advanced on an errant pickoff throw past second base by Tomahawk’s Brody Rigney. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS