Elk Mound baseball loses regional semifinal in extra innings to Stratford
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STRATFORD — In a WIAA Division 3 regional baseball semifinal game between two evenly matched squads, the fifth seed Elk Mound Mounders playing at fourth seed Stratford overcame a five-run deficit to force an extra inning in their Tuesday, May 30 playoff tussle.
The Tigers had taken an 8-3 advantage after four innings of action. The Mounders then scored a single run in the fifth frame, four in the sixth and capped the comeback with a pair of seventh-inning scores to knot the contest at 10 all and force extended play.
Unfortunately, after having scored runs in its previous four innings at the plate, Elk Mound come up empty in the top of the eight. Stratford then scored a run in the bottom half of the frame for the walk-off 11-10 victory.
With the loss, Elk Mound finished its 2023 baseball campaign with a 15-7 record which included a 12-2 mark in the Dunn-St. Croix, good for second place.
Stratford (16-6), who finished second in the Marawood South Conference played top seed and Marawood South champ Marathon in the next day’s regional title game. The Red Raiders (9-1, 18-7), who split a pair of regular season games with the Tigers, moved on to sectional semifinal competition with a 2-0 victory where they will play Dunn-St. Croix champion Mondovi who defeated Durand-Arkansaw 3-2.
The Mounders jumped to an early 2-0 lead in last Tuesday’s playoff match-up against the Tigers with a pair of scores in their first at bat.
Stratford, however, responded with a five runs in the bottom half of the first inning.
The score remained unchanged until the top of the fourth inning when Elk Mound scored a run to close the gap to 5-3. But, Stratford plated a trio of runs in its half of the inning to push its advantage to 8-3.
The Mounders added another run in the fifth and four in the sixth to tie the game at eight runs apiece. But, once again, the Tigers were able to pull back in front, 10-8, with two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Unfazed, Elk Mound responded with two runs in its final at bat of regulation play in the top of the seventh and then held Stratford scoreless to force extra innings with the game knotted at ten all.
The Mounders were unable to push a run home in the top of the eighth. In its at bat, the host Tigers were able to bring the game to a conclusion with a run for the 11-10 win.
Elk Mound outhit Stratford 11 to nine but were undone by four costly errors in the game.
Seven of those Mounder hits went to three players – Ryan Bartig, Carter Garnett and Kaden Russo. Bartig finished 3-for-5 at the plate including a double, scored two runs and had a pair of RBIs to lead his team. Garnett and Russo each banged a double as well and finished with a pair of hits. Garnett also scored twice while Russo tallied a trio of RBIs. Carter Vieth also smacked a double for Elk Mound. Kamron Diermeier was credited with a hit and two RBIs.
The Mounders used three pitchers during the game.
Kamron Diermeier pitched five and a third innings for Elk Mound and gave up six runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks for a no decision. Lucas Johnson tossed two thirds of an inning and was tagged for four runs on a pair of hits and two free passes. Victor Noller threw just an inning and a third, surrendering one hit and a run with a pair of strikeouts and three walks and suffered the season-ending loss.