POST 147 LEGION BASEBALL - Medford starts run to state Friday

POST 147 LEGION BASEBALL

Medford’s Post 147 Senior Legion baseball team got out to a 6-0 lead and held off a late rally by host Rhinelander in a 6-4 win on July 17.

Nick Steliga went the distance on the pitching mound, striking out one, walking one and allowing three earned runs while limiting the damage produced by 11 hits by the Rebels. Medford had just four hits but drew eight walks. Two of those hits were doubles by Blake Bargender. Carson Carbaugh added two singles.

Short-handed for the night, Medford added Eagle River’s Landyn and Brody Hoeft to fill its lineup.

Post 147 took a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Carbaugh singled and Landyn Hoeft drew a oneout walk. After a wild pitch, Jack Wojcik drove in Carbaugh with a sacrifice fly to right. Three straight walks drove in the second run of the inning and Michael Borchardt scored the third on a wild pitch.

The lead doubled in the top of the sixth with all of the damage coming with two outs. Brody Hoeft and Tanner Hraby were hit by pitches and Steliga walked to load the bases. Hoeft scored on a wild pitch and Bargender doubled in the last two runs.

The Rebels, who stranded two runners in the second and had a third-inning threat ended by a double play, got on the board in the bottom of the sixth with a run-scoring groundout. With one on and two outs in the seventh, Rhinelander made one last push, loading the bases with a hit and a walk and then getting a three-run triple from Owen Kurtz. But Steliga ended it there, getting Tyler Chariton to ground out.

Medford (8-5) hoped to close out its regular season with a home doubleheader Monday against neighboring Rib Lake, but Mother Nature had other ideas, bringing a downpour to Jaycee Field in the top of the fourth inning in game one, which was tied 1-1 at the time.

Rib Lake got its run in the first inning on an Ethan Cook fielder’s choice, as he beat out what could have been an inning-ending double play. His courtesy runner, Ty Niemi, was then thrown out at home plate while trying to score on Brady Heiser’s double to deep center. Medford got its run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Parker Lissner.

Seth Borchardt pitched for Rib Lake and Carbaugh threw for Post 147.

Medford starts post-season play Friday at the Class AA regional tournament in Merrill. Post 147 will play the host squad Friday at 7:30 p.m. after Minocqua and Rhinelander meet at 5 p.m. The double-elimination tournament will continue through Sunday with the winner earning a spot in the Aug. 2-6 state tournament at West Salem.

Medford Post 147 sent a Junior Legion team to the 17U Region 1 tournament in River Falls, where it went 1-2 last weekend. Medford lost 11-0 to eventual tournament champion Chippewa Falls on Friday morning, eliminated the host team with a 12-2 win Friday evening and then got eliminated with a 12-1 loss to eventual tournament runner-up Eau Claire Saturday. Chippewa Falls went 4-0 and beat Eau Claire 6-4 in the final game Sunday.