Colfax baseball team finishes 1-2 in D-SC Conference games

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by Marlys Kruger

Sports Correspondent

It was an up and down week for the Colfax Vikings but it turned out to be a little more down than up as they were pretty much thumped at Glenwood City by the Hilltoppers 16-6 on Monday, May 13, then played an all around solid game resulting in a 6-4 home win against the Spring Valley Cardinals a day later. Two days after, they slid back down with a 9-3 loss at home against the Boyceville Bulldogs.

All three games were Dunn-St. Croix Conference games, ending their conference season with a 5-9 record for fifth place.

The Vikings closed out the regular season at home Tuesday when they hosted Cochrane-Fountain City in a non-conference contest. Colfax will be on the road to open the WIAA tournament as it travels to Neillsville this Thursday, May 23 for a regional quarterfinal game versus the Warriors who finished second in the Cloverbelt East with a 7-3 conference mark and are 11-8 overall. Neillsville/Granton shut out C-FC last Friday by a 9-0 count.  

Glenwood City

The Vikings defeated the Toppers earlier in the year 5-2 so the final score of this game may have baffled a lot of fans and coaches. But when a team at any level of baseball commits nine errors in a game, they probably are not going to come out with the win. After Colfax pulled out to a 1-0 lead, the Toppers used five straight hits, including two doubles to move ahead 5-1 after an inning of play. The Vikings pulled closer with a couple of third inning tallies but it was all Glenwood City after that as they took advantage of several Colfax errors along with timely hits to put up four runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and finished it off with five more in the sixth.

Mason Yarrington started on the hill for Colfax and although he whiffed two Topper batters, he gave up those five runs and was replaced by Zach Hiitola for the next three plus innings. Orion Nichols then completed the final inning.

Drew Buchner continues to be a bright spot for Colfax, batting 2-for-3 in the lead-off spot and scoring twice while Kade Anderson and Grant Palewicz both spanked a two base hit.

Spring Valley

Playing against one of the early season favorites for a conference title, the Vikings avenged a 7-6 loss to the Cardinals last month. After falling behind 3-0, the Vikings used a four-run scoring spree in the bottom of the third to move ahead. Conner Arntson started the streak with a single, stole second and came home on a ground ball out. Buchner banged a single, swiped second, and came around on Yarrington’s base hit. After Hiitola drew a walk, Nichols slammed a double for two RBIs and the 4-3 advantage.

The Cardinals knotted the score on a double and a couple of Viking errors in the top of the fifth but Colfax answered right back as Buchner singled, stole second again and came home on Hiitola’s base hit. Hiitola added another stolen base and Grant Cook brought him in for an insurance run on his single.

Yarrington and Nichols proceeded to shut the Cardinals down to earn the win and  right fielder Arntson and left fielder Austin Coates both flagged down deep fly balls in the sixth to help preserve the win.

Buchner was 3-for-4 while scoring twice, Nichols had the big two run double and Hiitola scored twice with an RBI along with the one from Cook. Yarrington picked up the win, going into the sixth, allowing seven hits, four runs with eight strikeouts and two walks. Nichols was credited with a save, giving up just two hits in the last inning and two thirds.

Boyceville

After the contrasting first two games the Vikings played, Colfax head coach Kirk Secraw wasn’t sure which team was going to show up for him when the Bulldogs came to town. A month earlier the two teams battled to a 24-14 win by the Bulldogs and Secraw was certainly hoping he would have some positive carry over from the Spring Valley game. Things didn’t start well for Colfax as Boyceville scored two quick runs without a hit in the first, taking advantage of two Viking errors, a free pass and a ground ball out. Colfax bounced back however, using their aggressiveness on the base paths to pull ahead 3-2. Buchner got the ball moving again, drawing a walk, stealing second and coming home on Anderson’s double. Hiitola brought Anderson in on a base hit, swiped second, moved up on a passed ball and came home when the Boyceville catcher missed a third strike.

Unfortunately, those were the only runs Colfax scored while the Bulldogs used their own aggressiveness, coming up with 13 stolen bases to consistently put runners in scoring position. They added two runs in the third and fourth, another in the fifth and two final tallies in the sixth while starting hurler Devin Halama settled down and kept Colfax off the base paths. The Vikings had runners on second and third with no outs in the sixth but failed to score.

Anderson finished with two hits for Colfax with an RBI while Hiitola absorbed the loss on the mound, allowing five hits, seven runs and three walks, but he did whiff seven Bulldog batters. Nichols came on to hurl the last two innings, giving up three hits, a pair of walks and strikeouts for two runs.