MEDFORD BASEBALL RAIDERS REVIVE ‘NEVER SAY DIE’ - Five-run seventh-inning stuns Antigo, 10-9

MEDFORD BASEBALL

RAIDERS REVIVE ‘NEVER SAY DIE’

While they didn’t all play major roles in last year’s run of three straight comefrom- behind WIAA baseball tournament wins, the Medford Raiders showed Tuesday they haven’t lost that belief they are never out of a game.

Down 8-3 in the sixth inning and 9-5 going into the bottom of the seventh, Medford completed the comeback with five runs, capped by a walk-off RBI single from freshman Will Wojcik in a 10-9 win over Antigo at Raider Field.

After three straight losses, it was a much-needed win for the 2-4 Raiders, who are now entering a busy stretch of Great Northern Conference play.

“We knew we needed this one,” said senior Sam Hierlmeier, who had a big two-run single in the seventh-inning rally and scored the winning run on Wojcik’s hit. “It was a big one heading into these next few conference games. We needed to get this one under our belt. In that bottom of the seventh, we had bases loaded, no outs and we were like, ‘we can really do this.’ We just had to piece together some good at-bats and that’s what we did.”

Medford’s hottest hitter to start the season, catcher Evan Czarnezki, started the seventh inning by pulling a double down the leftfield line off Antigo reliever Preston Knapkavage. Charlie Gierl lined a single the opposite way to leftfield. An errant pickoff throw to first scored Czarnezki and put Gierl at second. Hayden Strebig walked and Restyn Kraschnewski got to a 3-1 count when Antigo head coach Dan Bastle made a move, putting Calen Vandenlangenberg on the mound. He eventually got Kraschnewski to pop out on the infield, but Evan Wilkins walked to load the bases for Hierlmeier, who laced an 0-1 pitch to centerfield, knocking in Gierl and Strebig. Wilkins got to third and Hierlmeier advanced to second on the throw home.

“The whole approach in that seventh inning was to let him throw one strike and then you take it yourself,” Hierlmeier said. “He threw me a first-pitch strike. I said I liked that one, but I wasn’t going to swing. But then he threw me the same pitch on the second one and I ripped that one into the outfield. It felt great.”

Medford got another quality at-bat with number-nine hitter Ryder Kraschnewski hitting a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Wilkins. Wojcik was next up. The left-handed hitter pulled a 2-1 pitch down the rightfield line to easily score Hierlmeier.

“That was very cool,” Wojcik said. “One of the best feelings ever.”

Moved into the leadoff spot in the second game of the season, Wojcik has more than held his own there, carrying a .500 on-base percentage through six games.

“I went into that at-bat thinking I’m going to win the ball game right here,” he said. “It was that simple. I think I just got a fastball inside and low and hooked it right down the line.”

The win put Medford at 2-1 in the Great Northern Conference race, which, at this early stage, appears to be still wide open. The Raiders hold second place, a game behind 4-1 Mosinee, who they beat April 10.

“It feels good,” head coach Chandler Schmidt said. “You get a conference win, now you go 2-1 in conference. I told the guys we just have to keep running the table, keep having fun.

“They had a loaded senior class last year, so we need a lot of guys to step up this year,” Schmidt added. “You can start to see guys stepping up. We played almost everyone on our roster tonight. So everyone is contributing, everyone has a purpose on this team. I was just beyond proud of how they competed.”

Medford took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Gierl was hit by a pitch, went to third on an errant pickoff throw and scored on Restyn Kraschnewski’s well-executed safety squeeze bunt. Wilkins singled to left and Hierlmeier’s groundout scored Kraschnewski.

But after that, Medford’s hard-hit balls seemed to find Antigo gloves and most of what the Red Robins hit found grass and the Raiders did not lead again until the last pitch.

Antigo got a two-run double from Aiden Parker in the third to tie it and RBI singles from Colton Thomae and Luke Bastle in the fourth to go up 4-2. A dropped fly ball gave Medford a gift run in the bottom of the fourth. Antigo loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth and got a two-run single from Kaden Nowak, but Gierl, aided by a picked off runner, limited the damage to just those two runs, which wound up being key, even though Antigo scored twice more in the top of the sixth to go up by five.

Schmidt’s pitching plan was to use multiple arms in hopes of keeping everyone available for Friday’s game at Northland Pines. It took four pitchers, but it worked out.

“I have confidence in all of our arms. I really do,” Schmidt said. “They all threw strikes. They all filled up the zone. They all had their off-speed pitches working. Kudos to Antigo. They were barreling up baseballs. We were throwing strikes and hitting spots, they were just putting barrels on them. I give a lot of credit to our pitching staff. They just keep going to the grindstone. I don’t know how many walks we had tonight (three). That’s when you know you’re throwing well.”

Hayden Strebig’s one-out double brought some life in the bottom of the sixth. Restyn Kraschnewski reached on an error. That ended the day for Antigo starter Tate Unsinn. Knapkavage walked Wilkins. Hierlmeier, who finished with four runs batted in, got one with a fielder’s choice. A throwing error on Broden Schilling’s grounder drove in a run. Wojcik walked, loading the bases for Medford’s most experienced senior, Parker Lissner. He grounded a rocket down the third-base line that was stabbed by Vandenlangenberg, who got the forceout at the bag to end the inning.

Knapkavage put Antigo up by four with an RBI single in the top of the seventh, but Ryder Kraschnewski ended the rally there and wound up with the win, allowing one hit in an inning of work. Conor Anderson covered two-thirds on an inning before him and got a strikeout while allowing two runs, one earned. Strebig started and went 3.1 innings, allowing three runs and five hits while walking two and striking out two. Gierl covered two innings after that.

Strebig had several long at-bats while going two for three with three runs scored.

“That was our emphasis (Monday in practice),” Schmidt said. “We hit and hit and hit until we couldn’t hit no more and you could see it. We preach going the opposite way and the guys are starting to believe in it. You’re starting to see us put barrels on the ball.”

Medford’s run of conference games continues at Northland Pines Friday. The Raiders go to Rhinelander, who appears to be much improved over last year, on Tuesday. They’ll make up a postponed game at Tomahawk May 1 before hosting Mosinee in a key rematch May 2.

“We needed this one,” Wojcik said. “It’s just going to be build our momentum from here as we go into some tough conference games.”

DCE 3, Medford 2

On a bright and sunny but cold and windy Saturday, Medford scored two firstinning runs but the bats were silenced after that in a 3-2 loss at D.C. Everest.

Medford managed to get just three hits off three Evergreen pitchers, the most effective of which was the middle man Jack Dvorak, who threw four scoreless innings, striking out four and and allowing just one hit.

Three Raider pitchers did well too. Anderson was charged with the loss but got some key outs while working 2.2 innings. He struck out one, walked one and allowed four hits and two earned runs.

Ryder Kraschnewski went 2.1 innings, allowing a hit and three walks while striking out one. Gierl struck out two in a scoreless sixth. The Evergreens had just five hits.

Wojcik started Medford’s two-run first against D.C. Everest starter Caden Allen by dropping a single just in front of centerfielder Brennan Hochberger for a hit. He stole second. After Lissner walked, they completed a double steal. Czarnezki bounced a single to leftfield to score Wojcik and he took second on an errant throw back to the infield. With one out, Gierl’s sacrifice fly scored Lissner.

Anderson pitched a one-two-three first but ran into some trouble in the second. A run scored in the middle of three straight singles to start the inning. Aiden Haupt’s groundout later scored the tying run. Carter Miller singled, advanced two bases on a stolen base and error and scored the go-ahead run on Cade Felch’s sacrifice fly in the third.

Ryder Kraschnewski beat out an infield hit in the fourth and courtesy runner Sawyer Elsner got to third and was stranded there. Czarnezki reached on a sixth-inning error, stole second and went no further. Restyn Kraschnewski drew a one-out walk from reliever Nevin Poppy in the seventh, but catcher Cole VanSlyke caught him trying to steal second. Everest stranded two runners in the fifth.

Medford second baseman Broden Schilling awaits a throw from catcher Evan Czarnezki that arrives a split-second too late to stop a stolen base attempt by Antigo’s Kaden Novak during the seventh inning of Tuesday’s 10-9 win. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Sam Hierlmeier rounds third base and heads for home as he scores the winning run on Will Wojcik’s seventh-inning single Tuesday. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS