WBCA ALL-STATE AWARDS - Medford’s Hraby earns honorable mention in All-State baseball vote
WBCA ALL-STATE AWARDS
As the North Central District’s Division 2 co-Player of the Year for 2024, Medford senior Tanner Hraby knew there would be some kind of All-State recognition to follow from the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association.
That honor is now known as Hraby earned All-State honorable mention as a utility player for the second straight spring.
Hraby is one of six players to land designated hitter/utility honorable mention for the All-State teams, which were released early this week. He joins seniors Landon Hagenow of Kettle Moraine Lutheran, Kaden Russo of Elk Mound, Abraham Ahlberg of Northwood-Solon Springs and Micah Salisbury of Ithaca as well as sophomore Cal Moreau of Monona Grove as mentionees.
The first-team All-State players in that position are Oak Creek senior Payten Jibben of Oak Creek (.521 batting average, 10-0 with 0.71 ERA) and West Bend East senior Mason Roell (.526, 4-2, 0.66 ERA).
Sun Prairie East senior Drew Kavanaugh and Freedom senior Carson Clausen are the second-team players and Pecatonica senior Jameson Johnson and Kimberly junior Sawyer Deering are the third-team picks. Johnson was named the Division 4 State Player of the Year.
Hraby had an outstanding 2024 season as Medford’s leadoff hitter, top pitcher and its shortstop when he wasn’t pitching.
Overall on the pitching mound, Hraby was 8-1 with a 0.995 earned run average in 63.1 innings pitched. He pitched in 14 games, 13 of them starts. He allowed 43 hits and 22 runs, only nine of which were earned. He struck out 78 batters while walking 25 and hitting three. Opponents hit just .189 against him. In GNC play, Hraby was the league leader with five wins, ranked second in strikeouts with 42 and ranked third in ERA at 0.90 with four earned runs allowed in 31 innings pitched. He walked only 11 batters and gave up 20 hits while going 5-1 in the GNC.
At the plate, Hraby hit .443 (39 for 88), had a .558 on-base percentage and a teamleading .761 slugging percentage. He hit five home runs. He posted an overall .888 fielding percentage.
Hraby, a UW-River Falls recruit, hit 13 doubles, drove in 26 runs, scored 42 runs, walked 21 times and struck out only five times. He will represent Medford one more time at the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association’s Senior All-Star Classic in Oshkosh June 28-29. He is on the West team.
Hraby leaves the program as its career leader in hits (139), runs (127) and runs batted in (93). His 42 runs this year set the single-season school record.
The other co-District Player of the Year, Mosinee’s Keagen Jirschele was named the WBCA’s Division 2 State Player of the Year after leading the Indians to the state championship game, which they lost 12-6 to Madison Edgewood Thursday. Jirschele made the first team as an infielder. Seniors Eddie Rynders of Wisconsin Lutheran, Eddie Peters of La Crosse Aquinas, Eyan Dessellier of Kiel and Tate Schmidt of Waunakee round out the first-team infield.
Seniors Cade Palkowski of Oak Creek, John Hadley of Sun Prairie East and Logan Dunn of Wautoma are the first-team outfielders. Hudson senior Hunter Carlson was named the state’s top catcher and seniors Nolan Buss of Arrowhead, Noah Wech of Manitowoc and Noah Marschke of Stevens Point are the first-team pitchers.
Jibben is the Division 1 Player of the Year, and Dunn got the award for Division 3.
As expected, Hraby and Medford senior Nick Steliga are on the WBCA’s Academic All-State team. To be eligible, players must be a junior or senior with a grade point average of 4.0 or higher who receives first- or second-team all-conference recognition.
