CLASS AA LEGION STATE: DAYS 1-4 - Three tense wins get Post 147 to title game

CLASS AA LEGION STATE: DAYS 1-4

Medford didn’t do much damage with its bases-loaded chances, but Post 147 got the one run it needed to defeat Onalaska 3-2 in Monday’s semifinal round of the Class AA American Legion State Tournament and earn a spot in Tuesday’s championship round (see page 1).

Tanner Hraby drew a one-out walk with the bags full in the top of the seventh to plate the tie-breaking run. The potential gamebreaking rally died after that however with a strikeout and a pop-up, leaving pitcher Payton Schreiber and the defense with the job of protecting a one-run lead in the bottom half. Schreiber hit two Onalaska batters, one to lead off the inning and another with two outs, but he struck out leadoff hitter Zavier Lawrence and got two ground balls, the last of which went to third baseman Logan Baumgartner, who got Kaden Kokaisal by a step at first base to end the tense elimination matchup.

It was Medford’s third one-run win of the double-elimination tournament and propelled the team to Post 147’s first-ever appearance in the state championship round.

“We knew we had to come ready to play,” Tanner Hraby said. “We knew they were good. That was a big win. It kinda showed that we should’ve been the team to beat.”

A complete game toward the end of the five-day tournament can be huge for a pitching staff and Schreiber gave Post 147 just that while picking up his second win in as many days. He allowed just six hits and two walks while striking six and hitting three batters in 101 pitches.

He outlasted Onalaska’s Caden Pierzina, who pitched into the seventh before fading and reaching his 105-pitch limit. Pierzina allowed seven hits and three walks while striking out four in 6.1 innings.

Pierzina got Max Dietzman to fly out on the first pitch of the seventh, but numbernine hitter Nick Steliga dumped a single into shallow left-center and JV Castillo followed with a sharply-hit ground-ball single to left. Reliever Seth Kowalski walked Parker Lissner. After another pitching change, Griffin Schultz walked Hraby on a full-count pitch to score Steliga.

Medford never trailed, taking a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Baumgartner hit a long triple to deep centerfield and scored on a base hit by Blake Bargender. Bargender later scored on a two-out hit by Dietzman.

Both teams were left wondering what might have been after the fourth inning. Medford loaded the bases with one out in the top half and had a golden opportunity to widen the lead, but Pierzina got two strikeouts to kill the threat. Onalaska then loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half, but Schreiber and the defense limited the damage. Brodie Mickshl drove in a run with a fielder’s choice where Post 147 got a forceout at third. The second out came on a forceout at second on Ian Kowal’s grounder. Hunter Morse drove in a run with a single to left, but a groundout from Landon Hubert kept the game tied.

Medford outhit Post 336 7-6. Bargender led the way going two for four.

Medford 5, West Salem 4

On Sunday, Medford rediscovered the late-inning post-season magic that carried many of its players through the WIAA tournament two months ago, going from being one out away from elimination to celebrating a thrilling 5-4, 11-inning win over West Salem.

Hraby pitched 9.1 strong innings and drove in four of the runs, the two biggest coming on a two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the 10th and Medford trailing 4-2. Steliga had started the rally with a oneout infield single to the right side and Castillo’s walk ended the outing for West Salem Luke Baginski, who also threw 9.1 strong innings. He had retired 16 straight Medford hitters before Steliga’s hit.

“I was just basically trying not to do too much,” Steliga said. “Just keep it simple with a nice, easy swing.”

Reliever Terryn Boland got Lissner to pop out on a nice catch by shortstop Chris Calico on the leftfield line. But a balk during Hraby’s at-bat moved the runners to second and third. Hraby then lined a shot to left that bounced past leftfielder Drew Anderson and extended the game.

“I just wanted to get it in play really,” Hraby said. “Hit something hard. With second and third, that helped a lot just mentally. I felt I didn’t have to crush anything to get them both in. But really I just wanted to hit something hard on a line and that’s kinda what I did.”

Schreiber set West Salem down in order in the top of the 11th, giving Post 147 the chance to win it in the bottom half. Bargender lined a single to left. He was forced out at second base on Jack Wojcik’s grounder for out number one, but Schreiber singled and Carson Carbaugh walked to load the bases for Steliga. Steliga instead got a pitch he could lift to leftfield and he got it plenty deep enough to score Wojcik on a game-ending sacrifice fly.

“They actually brought in another infielder so they had an extra infielder, so I was basically just trying to get something in the air into the outfield and far enough for a sac fly,” Steliga said. “We just believed. Whenever we got down, we knew not to hang our heads, keep our heads up and know that we can come back and that’s exactly what happened. That’s exactly what we did.”

Baginski had the big hit for West Salem in the top of the 10th, drilling a two-out triple that one-hopped the fence in rightfield that scored Brendon Ghelfi, Post 51’s numbernine hitter who walked as the last batter Hraby faced when he reached his pitch limit, and the speedy Calico, who had singled with one out in the inning. Schreiber struck out Mekebo Anderson for the second out ahead of Baginski’s big hit.

Schreiber got the win in relief, staying under 30 pitches to get five outs, which allowed him to pitch again Monday.

Hraby struck out five, allowed six hits and only allowed the one walk. His double in the first inning scored Castillo, who reached on a wild-pitch third strike and stole second. In the second inning, Medford foiled a delayed double-steal attempt by West Salem with runners on the corners as Hraby picked Boland off third. West Salem stranded two runners in the third and Bargender threw out Drew Anderson on an attempted steal in the fourth to keep it 1-0.

West Salem took the lead, however, in the fifth on a leadoff single by Parker Demorest, a two-out RBI single by Calico and another RBI single by Mekebo Anderson after Calico stole two bases, beating a rundown on the second one after it appeared Hraby had picked him off second base.

Post 147 came up with what wound up being a big response in the bottom of the fifth. Steliga singled, Castillo walked, Lissner bunted them over and Hraby’s sacrifice fly to centerfield tied it.

From there, the pitchers and defenses locked in with no threats by either team until the 10th. Calico was hit by a pitch to start the eighth, but Hraby picked him off and, this time, Medford got the out on the rundown.

“He’s so fast,” Hraby said. “I was hoping I could just get him a little jumpy there and I did. That was big because he’s probably standing on second on the next at-bat.”

“That was a huge thing with momentum on that play,” Steliga said. “It made everybody just calm down a little.”

Medford outhit Post 51 9-8 and overcame three errors. Hraby was three for four, Schreiber was two for five and Steliga was two for four with two runs scored out of the ninespot. Calico was three for four for West Salem, who was eliminated with the loss.

Seymour 11, Medford 5

On Saturday, both Medford and Seymour Post 106 had 11 hits, but Seymour made more plays defensively and got more mileage out of its hits in an 11-5 win over Post 147.

Seymour’s four-run rally, all with two outs, in the bottom of the first, set the tone and a four-run rally in the fourth answered a tworun homer by Castillo in the top half and opened up an 8-2 lead.

Post 147 made it interesting for a moment, getting three runs in the top of the fifth. Castillo beat out an infield hit and took an extra base on a throwing error. He scored on Hraby’s one-out single. Reliever Colten Nieland walked Baumgartner. Bargender singled in Hraby and, after a Braxton Weissmiller single loaded the bases, Steliga hit into a forceout at home, but the throw to first was wide on the attempted double play, allowing Bargender to score and make it 8-5.

The momentum was short-lived as Medford allowed two infield grounders to become hits to start the bottom of the fifth. Three errors and a walk later, the deficit was six again.

Hraby went three for four, while Castillo and Bargender both went two for four. Castillo took the loss, allowing six hits and eight runs, six of which were earned, in 3.1 innings. Brandon Bates wasn’t overpowering, but he let the Seymour defense do the work behind him while pitching 4.1 innings. He allowed eight hits and four runs. Ethan Volz chased down several well-hit balls in centerfield, including a deep drive hit by Bargender in the second. Shortstop Braden DeBruin made a highlight-reel diving catch to rob Baumgartner of a line-drive hit and a likely RBI in the sixth.

Brandon Poch was three for four with a double to lead Seymour offensively.

Medford 1, New Richmond 0

Baumgartner put Medford ahead with an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning and then made it stand in an impressive fourhit shutout Friday in Post 147’s 1-0 win over New Richmond.

Baumgartner struck out eight and walked two, both in the third inning. That was the only inning New Richmond had multiple runners on base until the seventh as Baumgartner closed in on his 105-pitch limit. He hit Trevor Solland to start the inning and pinch hitter Nick Stellrecht followed with a base hit. Bargender made a sprawling catch of Bennett Scribner’s popped-up bunt for a big first out, but then Baumgartner threw a wild pitch to put both runners in scoring position.

However, the big right-hander got himself out of the jam by striking out Jordan Rice and then Max Kretovics on pitch 104 to end it.

He was nearly matched pitch for pitch by New Richmond left-hander Aiden Eckert, who struck out nine batters, walking just one and allowed only four hits. Three of those hits came in the first inning. Lissner singled with one out, stole second and scored on Baumgartner’s two-out hit. Bargender followed with a single, but that’s where the rally ended. Baumgartner added another single in the fourth.