AMERICAN LEGION CLASS AA REGION 2 CHAMPIONS - Experienced team is in it to win it

AMERICAN LEGION CLASS AA REGION 2 CHAMPIONS

Regional championships have become common at the Senior level in Medford's American Legion Post 147 baseball program, but this year's team was built to do more than just get to state and now it will get its chance.

With a three-game sweep of its competition at this past weekend's Class AA Region 2 tournament in Merrill, Medford is headed back to state for the third time in four seasons as a Class AA program and fifth time in six seasons, dating back to the program's days in the smaller Class A.

This team is different than past Medford state teams, which often consisted primarily of players preparing for their high school seasons the following spring and was typically one of the youngest in the eight-team state field.

This year's group, which takes an 11-5 record into state play, is filled with high school graduates determined to make the most of what could be their last shot at some kind of a state title in the sport. There are still some underclassmen sprinkled in. The addition of three of the top players from Abbotsford-Colby's successful high school program has made this year's Post 147 squad quite deep in pitching, offensive and defensive aspects.

"We're all going back to win it this year," Braxton Weissmiller said after Medford's 11-1 win over Merrill in Sunday's regional championship round. "That's our goal. That's what we want to do, every single one of us. We all want to go win it. We know that we can. We have the team to do it." "We have a really good team to do it this year," Parker Lissner said.

"When we put this team together, a lot of the Medford guys were there last year and when we added some of those Abbotsford guys, who are good guys and good ball players, they jelled immediately," head coach Justin Hraby said. "When you come to the tournament after winning it the year before, you expect to contend. Merrill's good. They had a lot of the same guys from last year that probably should have won

See LEGION TO STATE on page 7 our regional.

“But it was nice to see the reactions at the end of the game. When we won they were happy, but they weren’t like jumping around. They expected it and now they’re looking forward to going to state.” Medford made some noise in last year’s state tournament at Ashwaubenon, beating New London 4-2 in extra innings in a game that took two days to play due to weather and then knocking off River Falls 3-1 before running out of steam in losses to eventual champion Ashwaubenon and New London. Had Medford beaten New London, it would’ve gotten to the championship round for the first time in program history.

Hraby feels that weekend was a key spark for Medford’s success in the 2024 high school season where the Raiders went 25-4 and advanced to a WIAA Division 2 sectional final.

“I think that was the beginning of the magic,” Hraby said. “That carried into our spring season. New London had us beat and then it rained and we came back the next morning and beat them. Then we somehow beat River Falls that night too. It gave them a lot of confidence is what it did. I know we had Logan (Baumgartner) and Ty (Metz), but still there were a lot of guys who were coming back to this year’s team. It gave us a lot of confidence going into the spring season and then obviously having a great spring season spilled right into this. It’d to be nice to get over the hump and get it done in this season.”

The American Legion’s five-day, doubleelimination state tournament becomes a tournament of attrition and adding JV Castillo, an All-Marawood Conference pitcher and infielder; Blake Bargender, an All-Marawood catcher, and Payton Schreiber, an All-Marawood first baseman and pitcher gives Post 147 more ammunition. Still of eligible age, Baumgartner hopped back on board late this summer and gave Medford another big gun in its lineup.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Bargender said Sunday, speaking for the Abbotsford crew. “It’s a great group of guys to play with. I’ve played with quite a few of these guys before in the past through multiple different teams. It’s just a lot of fun. It all just clicks.”

Medford opens state tournament play at 4 p.m. Friday by facing New Richmond, a team it has not seen before. New Richmond went 3-0 in the Region 1 tournament, beating last year’s champion River Falls 5-4, Menomonie 17-8 and then River Falls again 8-3.

The winner advances to a 4 p.m. game Saturday against either New London or Seymour, while the loser will play at 11 a.m. Saturday against one of those teams. New London is back after demolishing the competition in its regional. The Clippers beat Antigo 24-6, Waupaca 17-2 and Shawano 8-1 to get back to state. New London opens the tournament against Seymour at 11 a.m. Seymour knocked off Ashwaubenon 3-1 and then beat Kewaunee County twice, 7-1 and 11-2 to advance.

Onalaska meets Fort Atkinson at 1:30 p.m. Friday. Onalaska went 3-0 in the Region 7 tournament, beating the La Crosse A’s 7-5 and West Salem twice, 3-0 and then 16-2 in Monday’s championship round. Fort Atkinson is a repeat regional champion, sweeping a three-team bracket with two 7-0 wins over Cedarburg and another 7-0 win over Grafton. Beaver Dam went 3-0 in its four-team regional, beating last year’s regional champion Waupun twice, 3-2 and 13-5 as well as Kewaskum 16-2. At 7 p.m. Friday, it will face host West Salem, who got an automatic state berth as the home team.

“This is their last chance to play together,” coach Hraby said. “There are some guys who could come back next year, but for most of them this is their last chance to play ball with their friends. They accomplished something pretty cool and got back to state. Three out of four years now. We’re looking forward to it. Obviously we want to go there and win it. We know we’ll have our hands full with whoever we play there but we’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be a good time.”