Elk Mound blanks Colfax in D-SC baseball showdown

TAGGED OUT — Colfax catcher Mitch Harmon tagged out Elk Mound’s Ethan Kjellberg as he tried to slide into home base during a Dunn-St. Croix baseball game in Colfax May 14. The play ended the Mounders’ seventh inning but the visitors scored three runs and left Colfax with a 4-0 win. —photo by Shawn DeWitt

COLFAX — The Vikings’ Nate Polden saved his best pitching performance of the season for rival Elk Mound.

The Colfax senior allowed just five hits and but a single run in six strong innings of throwing  against the visiting Mounders in last Monday’s Dunn-St. Croix baseball showdown.

The problem was, Polden’s Elk Mound counterparts, Ethan Kjellberg and Blaze Todd, were equal to the challenge.

 Kjellberg surrendered just two hits to Vikings’ batters in four and a third innings of shutout pitching. The senior, who scored the win, added eight strike outs against just two walks.

Sophomore reliever Blaze Todd came to the mound in the fifth and delivered two and two-thirds innings of no-hit, no-run ball to help lead Elk Mound to a 4-0 shut-out victory in the May 14 contest played on the Vikings’ home field.

“Nate Polden pitched a great game,” said his head coach Kirk Secraw. “It’s the best he has done all year. (He) only gave up one unearned run in six innings. We played a great game and kept our errors to one but we just could not score runs again.”

Elk Mound scored the game winner off Polden in the second but added three insurance runs in the top of the seventh off reliever Mitch Kiekhafer who walked three which all scored before Caden Erickson came in to the game to get the final two outs and retire the side.

Both teams also played other contests last week.

Elk Mound split a pair of games. It dropped a non-conference tilt in Menomonie, 2-1 to the Mustangs last Tuesday, May 15, and then finished off the conference schedule with a thrilling 8-5 home win against Spring Valley last Thursday, May 17.

COLFAX junior Chris Scharlau took a nice swing and made contact with the ball in the bottom of seventh innings. Unfortunately, the grounder rolled right to Elk Mound second baseman Dylan Black, who threw to first for the final out in a 4-0 Mounders’ win last Monday, May 14 in Colfax. —photo by Shawn DeWitt

Colfax, meanwhile, had to wait until Friday to host Mondovi for a mid-afternoon game on the Vikings’ home field. The Buffaloes came away with a 5-1 win.

With the pair of losses, Colfax is currently 3-4 in the Dunn-St. Croix and 4-5 overall. The Vikings final regular season and conference contest was Monday in Spring Valley against the Cardinals. Colfax will then turn around and head back to Spring Valley this Thursday, May 24 to open the WIAA Division 3 tournament against the Red Birds. Colfax received the fifth seed in the Chippewa Falls sectional while Spring Valley is ranked fourth. The winner will play top-seeded Regis in Eau Claire next Tuesday, May 29.

Elk Mound, currently 6-6 overall, is in a second-place tie in the conference with Mondovi. Both teams are now 5-2. The Mounders finished the regular season with a conference game in Alma versus Pepin/Alma on Monday and visited Black River Falls Tuesday for a non-conference game.

The Mounders, seeded third in the WIAA Division 3 Chippewa Falls sectional, will host the sixth seed Glenwood City this Thursday, May 24 in a regional quarterfinal game. The victor plays the #2-ranked Bulldogs in Boyceville on Tuesday, May 29.

In last Monday’s rivalry game, Elk Mound drew first blood when junior Brett Lew led off the top of the second inning with a single and scored what would turn out to be the game-winning run.

Polden settled in and allowed just three hits and four Mounders batters to reach bases over the next four innings.

Kjellberg was even more stingy to the Vikings batters as he surrendered just a pair of walks through the first four innings.

A Mounders’ error also allowed a Colfax runner to reach base in the fourth inning.

But no Vikings’ runner was able to advance past first base throughout the game.

The Mounders drew three straight one-out walks off Vikings’ reliever Mitchell Kiekhafer. All three runners scored to put Elk Mound in front 4-0.

Elk Mound reliever Blaze Todd then slammed the door on Colfax as he sat down the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.

Dylan Black picked up two hits and a pair of RBIs in four at bats to lead Elk Mound. Drew Gibson and Mitch Harmon had the Vikings two hits in the contest.

Colfax falls to Mondovi

According to Colfax head coach Kirk Secraw, mental errors lead to 5-1 home loss to Mondovi last Friday, May 18.

Nate Polden threw another good game allowing just two hits  in six innings of work but took the loss when the Buffaloes scored three runs in the fifth to break a one-one tie and go on for the win. Polden had five strike outs and issued five walks.

Colfax, who was the visiting team despite playing at home, scored its only run in the top of the first when Brett Schindler doubled and scored.

Mondovi got the equalizer in the second inning and added three in the fifth and a final run in the sixth.

Elk Mound at Menomonie

Elk Mound scored runs in the top of first in last Tuesday’s non-conference game against the Menomonie Mustangs at Wakanda Park.

The run held strong for next five innings as neither team scored.

Menomonie tied it in the bottom of the seventh and won the game with a run in the bottom of the eighth.

Blake Rosenthal started and pitched five scoreless innings allowing the Mustangs just three hits. Logan Bergh delivered two and a third innings of relief pitching and allowed only two hits but surrendered a pair of earned runs to suffer the loss.

Ethan Kjellberg had two of the Mounders’ four hits.

Elk Mound at Spring Valley

After building a six-run lead, the Mounders had to hold off a late Spring Valley rally to win a Dunn-St. Croix match-up 8-5 last Friday at Elk Mound Lions Park.

Tied at two after one inning, Elk Mound scored single runs in the second and fifth and four in the third to take an 8-1 lead.

But the Cardinals tacked on three runs in the top of the sixth to close the margin to three runs.

But Ethan Kjellberg slammed the door in the seventh to take the complete game win. He allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks and had four strike outs with two walks.

Chase Rhude and Nate Lew each had a pair of hits for the Mounders who tallied ten hits in total.