Tigers off to a blazing start this spring

By Casey Krautkramer

Stratford’s varsity baseball team is off to a 6-1 start this season, following Tuesday’s 4-3 home win against Marathon, despite the Tigers losing their top two pitchers and entire starting outfield from last year’s squad.

The Tigers lost five starting players to graduation last spring including pitchers and first basemen Brady Schmidt and Henry Zaleski and outfielders Landon Zawislan, Riley Kroening and Braden Bloom. Schmidt is now a freshman college pitcher for Division 3 Bethel University in Minnesota.

Stratford also lost head coach Marshall Lehman who resigned to become the school’s new head varsity football coach this fall. Drew Spaeth was a Stratford varsity baseball assistant coach for six years before becoming the team’s new head varsity coach this spring. His first season as varsity assistant coach was in 2019 when the Tigers baseball team won its first state championship in school history.

The Tigers’ top returning baseball players this season are senior centerfielder and second baseman Jack Tubbs who has committed to play college baseball for Division 3 St. Mary’s University of Minnesota next year, senior third baseman and pitcher Vance Kielman, junior catcher and pitcher Brady Berg, junior shortstop Riley Spindler, junior pitcher Drew Gage and junior utility player Jaegar Ormond.

Stratford’s top newcomers to this spring’s varsity team are junior outfielder Jack Remus, sophomore second baseman Kolton Haupt, freshman pitcher Christian Rehm and freshman outfielder Matthew Schoenfuss.

Speath describes his pitching staff this spring season.

“Losing Brady and Henry is definitely tough for us because they threw a lot of innings for us the past two years,” he said. “We return Brady Berg and Drew Gage who had really good sophomore years for us. We will be looking for those two to take the next steps to be the leaders of our pitching staff. Incoming freshman Christian Rehm will be our next top arm. He had a great Legion summer for us and will have a big impact for our team right away. Next will be Vance Kielman and Kolton Haupt to round out our top five teams. Pitching has been the backbone of our team for the past couple of years. For us to have a successful season, we will rely on these guys to have a big presence on the mound attacking hitters and limiting walks.”

Many of Stratford’s returning baseball players helped the summer Legion team to the Class A state tournament runners-up trophy.

“Last year’s state tournament Legion run last summer brought some good energy into our spring baseball season,” Spaeth said. “The fire the guys had during the playoffs last summer is exactly what we are looking for this spring. Hopefully the experience of some high level games will help us get in the right direction this spring to be a good quality baseball team.”

So far so good. Stratford began this season with a 13-1 five-inning road win against Neillsville/Granton. Rehm earned the pitching win by only giving up one hit and one run over three innings on the mound, striking out five and walking two. Leadoff hitter Tubbs led Stratford with two hits in two at-bats. Kielman, Tubbs and Ormond each drove in two runs for the Tigers. Spindler and Berg led the team with two walks each. Tubbs and Berg stole multiple bases.

Stratford then suffered its only loss thus far this season, 6-4, against Wausau East in Wisconsin Rapids.

The Tigers played their first home game in Stratford this season on April 11. Stratford beat Athens, 3-1. Rehm was dominant on the mound with 12 strikeouts to earn the pitching win. Rehm only surrendered two hits and one run over six innings while walking two. Berg earned the save. Spindler, Berg, Tubbs and Schoenfuss collected one hit each for the Tigers. Spindler, Tubbs and Ormond each drove in one run.

Stratford outscored Newman Catholic, 42-3, in its two games. Stratford downed Newman Catholic, 25-0, in three innings on April 14 at home. Ormond drove in four runs on three hits. Gage struck out 12 batters while only allowing one hit and one walk to earn the pitching win.

Stratford then beat Newman Catholic, 16-3, in five innings on April 15 in Wausau. Berg drove in five runs on two hits. Berg hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning, a two-RBI double in the fourth inning and his walk in the first inning scored a run. Rehm struck out 11 batters to earn the pitching win. Rehm only allowed three hits, three walks and three runs.

The Tigers shut out the Gilman Pirates, 10-0, in five innings on April 17 at home. Stratford got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning when Ormond hit a home run, Schoenfuss singled down the left field line and he later stole home plate. Berg earned the pitching win by only allowing two hits and no runs over five innings while striking out five and walking none.

Stratford edged Marathon, 4-3, on Tuesday at home after taking the lead late in the game. The game was tied at three runs for each team in the bottom of the fifth inning when Spindler hit a solo home run. Gage earned the pitching win. Gage surrendered three hits and an unearned run over four innings while striking out two and walking one.

The Tigers shared the Marawood Conference South championship with Marathon last season. Spaeth expects it to be a challenge again this season to win another Marawood South title.

“The conference is going to be loaded with great teams this year,” he said. “Anybody can beat anyone on any given night. In order for us to win an outright title, we are going to have to play clean baseball games. This means limiting walks when pitching, limiting errors when we are in the field and putting together timely hitting and being the toughest possible outs when we are up to bat. We have the potential to be a really good team in our conference, but like I said I believe our conference is loaded with talent this year so it should be a fun battle to see who comes out on top.”

Spaeth never won a state championship during his Stratford High School baseball See STRATFORD BASEBALL / page 18

STRATFORD VARSITY BASEBALL- Introducing the 2025 Stratford varsity baseball team. Team members pictured, from left to right, front row: JV coach Dakota Singer, Garret Smazal, Dylan Lewerenz, manager Cooper Rueth, Blake Roeper, Michael Stein, Timothy Cavadini, Brayden Schwantes, Trygve Aschenbrenner and Jack Tubbs; back row: Head coach Drew Spaeth, assistant coach Ron Haupt, Kolton Haupt, Matthew Schoenfuss, Jamis Sweeney, Vance Kielman, Brady Berg, Drew Gage, Christian Rehm, Jack Remus, Riley Spindler, Jaeger Ormond and varsity assistant coaches Curt Schmidt and Scott Bauman.

PHOTO BY AMY SCHWANTES Stratford baseball

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career but he was proud to be an assistant coach when the Tigers won their first state title in school history in 2019. Chandler Schmidt, who was head coach of Stratford’s Legion baseball team the past few summers, pitched the complete-game win in Stratford’s 2019 state baseball championship. Spaeth said the Tigers need to have another special team to win a state title again in the future.

“For us to build a state championship title team, it would mostly be playing complete baseball,” Spaeth said. “Just like it takes to win a conference title you need to pitch well, limit defensive errors and get some timely hitting. A little bit of luck helps too. Certain balls need to get through or drop rather than getting caught.”

“What makes it tough is that a lot of our regional team are teams we play in conference or non-conference regular season games, which means there are no surprises. We know what other teams have and they know exactly what we can do as well. Once you get to the playoffs whoever can play the best defensive game seems to be the team that comes out on top. We have a team that has the potential to be a really good baseball team, but our main goal is to have fun and enjoy the journey. Many teams always talk about the end goals of the season, but they forget how fun the majority of the season is. If we can continue to work hard, get better each day and have fun while playing the game of baseball then I truly believe we can be a real special team this season.”

Former Stratford and Athens head varsity baseball coach Bill Coker returns to Stratford’s baseball program this spring.

“Bill is coaching for us and I have him as our middle school coach,” Spaeth said. “That was a home run hire for me. Bill was my varsity baseball coach for my first three years in high school. Having him on staff helps us out a ton and gives me someone to learn from with head coaching experience.”

“My varsity assistant coach is Curt Schmidt as our hitting and third base coach. He is also a home run hire in my opinion. Curt is another one with head coaching experience in baseball and basketball. Having him on our varsity staff helps me out in so many ways and I can’t say enough how important of a coach he is to me and our team. Scott Bauman is our other varsity assistant coach who is coaching first base. Ryan Bloom is doing the stats. Dakota Singer is our JV head coach while Ron Haupt and Josh Schwantes are high school volunteer coaches.”

Spaeth is seeking a new Stratford Legion baseball head coach this summer because Chandler Schmidt is now the Medford varsity baseball team’s head coach this spring.

FRESHMAN HURLER- Stratford starting pitcher Christian Rehm throws a gem in the team’s 3-1 home win against Athens on April 11.

STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER