Mounders share D-SC title with Durand after wins against Boyceville, Plum City
By Cara L. Dempski
The Elk Mound baseball team has not won a Dunn-St. Croix conference championship since this year’s group of seniors were in the eighth grade.
Head coach Paul Andrea verbalized his hopes for a share of the title prior to the team’s May 18 non-conference contest against Menomonie, but seemed to downplay his anticipation in the face of helping his team maintain its focus for the final two conference games.
The Mounders hosted Boyceville Monday, May 22 and made short work of the Bulldogs after shutting them out 11-0 at home.
The team rounded out its D-SC and regular season with a match-up at Plum City the following day that sealed the deal for Elk Mound when it beat the Blue Devils 12-1 to become conference co-champions with Durand.
Andrea agreed to a May 25 “tune-up” contest to keep his team sharp for its upcoming regional game, and hosted Independence/Gilmanton. The Indees bested the Mounders 2-1 in the game.
The Elk Mound squad is seeded second in its regional in the Division 3 Cumberland sectional and earned a first-round bye. Elk Mound hosted Small D-SC Champ Spring Valley, a 13-3 winner over Glenwood City in the May 25 regional opener, yesterday (May 30) at Village Park. Elk Mound blanked Spring Valley 13-0 back on April 24. The winner will advance to play either top-seeded Eau Claire Regis or Boyceville in today’s (May 31) regional championship.
The sectional tournament is slated for next Tuesday, June 6 in Cumberland.
Boyceville
The Bulldogs let their May 22 game at Elk Mound get away from them early and could not recover.
The result was an 11-0 loss that put the Mounders one step closer to sharing the conference championship with Durand.
Elk Mound wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Dylan Curry and Carter Pritchard had already earned a pair of outs in the bottom half of the first when Ethan Kjellberg and Dane Lew were pushed home by a two-RBI double off the bat of Logan Bergh to give the home team a 2-0 edge.
Trey Mohr’s single sent Hunter Adleman home, and Blake Rosenthal sent in Bergh before Dylan Black pushed Mohr around for the inning’s fifth run before Curry grounded out to third.
Bergh worked his magic again in the second inning after he popped a single into the outfield to send in Kjellberg a second time. Rosenthal’s line drive to left set up a fielder’s choice that allowed Lew ample time to get from third to the plate for a second run, giving Elk Mound a 7-0 lead as it moved to the third.
Pritchard took credit for the Mounders’ lone third-inning run after taking his base on balls and then moving to second when Boyceville pitcher Cooper Boesl walked Kjellberg. A fielding error allowed Pritchard to get safely to third base, where his quickness worked in his favor when a passed ball gave him just enough leeway to score Elk Mound’s eighth run.
Mohr, Black and Curry all scored in the fourth to give the Mounders an 11-0 advantage as the Bulldogs stepped up to bat in the top of the fifth. The home team held on to its lead to end the game in four and one-half innings and move to 11-1 in the conference.
Bergh led the offense with three RBIs and a double, while Rosenthal also picked a trio of runs batted in. Pritchard accounted for two runners sent home and a double, Mohr recorded an RBI and a double, and Dylan Curry clocked a double.
Mohr, Black, Adleman, Pritchard, Bergh and Kjellberg each finished with a pair of hits for the Mounders.
Mohr allowed just four hits in the five-inning win and struck out ten in 73 pitches.
BOYCEVILLE 0, ELK MOUND 11
Boyceville………………….0 0 0 0 0 — 0
Elk Mound…………………5 2 1 3 0 — 11
Plum City
Elk Mound sealed its conference finish May 23 with a substantial win over the Blue Devils.
The Mounders traveled and outhit the Plum City 9 to 2 to secure a 12-1 win for a 12-1 in the Large D-SC and tie for the conference title with the Durand Panthers, who also finished the conference season at 12-1.
Elk Mound put up 11 runs in the first inning before picking up another in the second to take a 12-0 lead over the Devils. Plum City kept the Mounders from scoring again in the third and fourth, but could only tack up a single run in the fourth before the game ended after five.
Senior Hunter Adleman drove in four runners and slugged a pair of doubles on offense and finished 3-for-3 at the plate. Carter Pritchard earned a pair of RBIs, Ethan Kjellberg accounted for a runner batted in and a double, and Dylan Curry, Dylan Black and Blake Rosenthal all logged RBIs in the game.
Kjellberg threw 76 pitches in the game surrendering just two hits and one run while striking out five to get the victory in five innings.
ELK MOUND 12, PLUM CITY 1
Elk Mound……………….11 1 0 0 0 — 12
Plum City…………………..0 0 0 1 0 — 1
Independence/Gilmanton
There were just three runs scored in the Mounders’ final game before taking on tournament play.
Elk Mound could not score until the sixth inning against the Indees in their May 25 match-up, and dropped the game 2-1.
The Independence/Gilmanton team earned one run in the top of the fourth and another in the sixth before the home team could get on the board.
The Mounders put up their only run after Dylan Curry crossed the plate in the bottom of the sixth.
The Mounders tallied six hits – singles by Mohr, Black, Adleman, Pritchard, Curry and Kjellberg.
Pitcher Trey Mohr had a 1.00 ERA in the game after allowing three hits and two runs while striking out 14 in a losing effort.
INDEPENDENCE/GILMANTON 2, ELK MOUND 1
Independence/Gil. …0 0 0 1 0 1 0 — 2
Elk Mound……………..0 0 0 0 0 1 0 — 1