Elk Mound baseball team wins regional title with wins over Mondovi, Boyceville

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by Marlys Kruger

Sports Correspondent

ELK MOUND — In a pair of close, nail-biting games, the Elk Mound baseball team had to come from behind for an 8-7 win over the Mondovi Buffaloes in a WIAA Division 3 regional semifinal game played May 31 in Elk Mound. And just 24 hours later, the Mounders, playing on their home field again, took advantage of some unsteady pitching by the Boyceville Bulldogs’ staff and pulled out a 4-3 regional championship win, moving them on to the sectionals for the eighth time since 2009.

Elk Mound took on La Crosse Aquinas in a sectional semifinal played yesterday, Tuesday, June 7 at Copeland Park in La Crosse. The winner of the game was set to play against the victor from the other semifinal contest, which featured St. Croix Falls and Chequamegon, in the sectional championship later that afternoon for a berth to the state tournament. 

Mondovi

After receiving a bye as a number one seed in the first round of the regional tournament, Elk Mound faced a Dunn-St. Croix Conference opponent who they knew would not be a pushover. The two teams had played each other a week earlier and it took 12 innings before the Mounders pulled out a 7-3 win.

The Buffaloes showed they were again a force to be reckoned with  when they took an early 2-0 lead after a half inning of play.

The Mounders cut the lead in half with a run in the bottom of the inning, and after two scoreless innings by both teams, the Mounders put up a four spot in the bottom of the fourth. With another run in the fifth, the Mounders were up 6-2 until the top of the sixth when the Buffaloes came up with a pair of runs, and exploded in the top of the seventh for three more scores and a 7-6 lead.

It was do or die for the D-SC champions and they managed to come up with a tying run, then Ryan Bartig scored the winning run when a ground ball went through the Mondovi infield.

Carter Vieth led the Elk Mound hitting brigade with a 3-for-4 performance including two doubles with an RBI, Lucas Johnson and Avery Kaanta both had a double and Kaanta came home once, Kamron Diermeier was 2-for-4 with an RBI and scored twice and Joseph Javanovich smacked a double and crossed home plate three times. Bartig was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.

Kaden Russo hurled six innings for the Mounders allowing four runs on four hits while striking out ten Buffalo batters and walking one. Kaanta was credited with the win however, as he threw the final inning, giving up three runs on two hits.

Boyceville

The Bulldogs were the defending Division 4 state champions, but, due to a slight increase in enrollment, were moved back up to Division 3 this year.

They finished second in the D-SC conference, two games behind the Mounders and were a number two seed in the regional. After winning a 1-0 game over Cadott, they defeated Spring Valley the previous day in another one-run game, 4-3.

Boyceville started things off with a huge bang when lead-off hitter Braden Roemhild slammed a double off Mounder hurler Diermeier. A wild pitch followed and when the catcher couldn’t locate the ball, Roemhild came all the way around for a 1-0 lead. Diermeier settled down and fielded a grounder for the first out, and after giving up another base hit, retired the side with a fly out and a ground out.

Hits were hard to come by for the Mounders all game, but they showed hits aren’t always necessary to score runs. They took advantage of Bulldog pitcher Chase Hollister’s control problems and came up with three runs with just one hit. Diermeier drew a walk as did Kaanta, and after a fly ball out, Jerome Delikowski was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Two passed balls brought in two runs and Ethan Johnson sent a slow roller to third and was safe at first, bringing the third run home. A ground out and a fly out ended the inning.

Diermeier whiffed three batters in the second, giving up a harmless single in between, and in their half of the second, Kaanta looked like he had parked one but Roemhild, out in left field, snagged the ball at the fence for the third out.

The third inning didn’t start off pretty for the Mounder defense when they misplayed the ball twice in the infield. Jacob Granley then laced a ball to left field and Russo came up throwing as he gunned down Roemhild at home plate. But Dawson McRoberts smacked a single, bringing in two runs to knot the game at 3-3. A pop up followed and a deep fly to left was snared by Russo at the fence for the third out.

The Mounders left two runners on base in the third then had to dodge a bullet in the Bulldog fourth when a bunt was misplayed. A hard smash past second base was played by right fielder Lucas Johnson and once again a perfect throw cut down the Bulldog runner on his way to third. Diermeier again forced a pair of outs to get out of the jam.

Both teams were scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when Ethan Johnson smacked a ground ball to deep short and beat it out. He swiped second base and Russo drew a walk. Lucas Johnson sent another grounder to the Bulldog shortstop who threw to third and the ball was dropped. With bases loaded, Hollister bore down and struck out two Mounders, and with the WIAA pitch count rule, Hollister was done for the day with 100 pitches. 

The Bulldog reliever, Simon Evenson, promptly hit Diermeier to bring in Johnson with what proved to be the winning run. 

Diermeier finished the game off from the mound in the seventh, forcing a ground out, a pop up and after another Mounder error put the tying run on base, a deep pop up to second baseman Bartig was snagged for the final out.

Diermeier earned the win, allowing six hits with four Ks and did not issue any free passes. He also scored a run and picked up an RBI with a stolen base. According to Elk Mound stats, Ethan Johnson had the only hit for the team and scored a run with an RBI and Kaanta and Delikowski both came home once. The Mounders committed four errors on the defensive side of the ball.