Colfax baseball team splits pair of games
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by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
Playing on back-to-back days on the road, the Colfax baseball team lost a game 19-6 to the Durand Panthers Thursday, April 13, but 24 hours later made a drastic turn around when they bombed the Spring Valley Cardinals 16-1. Both games were played under sunny skies with the temperature in the low 80s.
Weather permitting, the Viking (1-2) had a trio of games scheduled this week including a pair of conference tilts. Elk Mound was slated to be in Colfax Monday with Elmwood/Plum City coming to town on Thursday. Colfax will finish up the week on the road at Osseo-Fairchild. Colfax is slated to play in Glenwood City next Monday, April 24 but the Hilltoppers new field is not yet suitable for action.
Durand
The Panthers are usually one of the top three teams in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference and so far they are playing like a conference contender. Colfax held a 2-0 lead after a half inning of play but the Panthers picked up four runs in the bottom half of the inning. The Vikings pulled even with a pair of second inning tallies for a 4-4 score but the Panthers began smacking the ball and came up with five runs in the bottom of the second and broke the game open with 11 in the third. The Vikings squeezed two more runs across in the fourth but were shut out in the fifth to end the game early.
Mitch Medin batted 2-for-2 with a double and scored three times for the Vikings, Ashton Greenwell was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Mason Yarrington was also 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Drew Buchner collected a hit, a stolen base and came home once and Zach Hiitola picked up a hit and a scored a run.
Four pitchers each pitched one inning for the Vikings including Grant Palewicz, Yarrington, Orion Nichols and Ben Bailey. Palewicz was given the loss after giving up six runs on just three hits with four walks and two strikeouts. The Vikings didn’t help themselves by committing five errors in the contest.
Spring Valley
Much like the Durand team, the Cardinals have been conference contenders for many years, but after losing several all-conference players from a year ago, they seem to be rebuilding.
The Vikings took advantage right out of the gate with three runs in the first and five in the second for an 8-0 lead. Pitcher Medin gave up his only run in the third inning and after two scoreless innings, the Vikings added a single run in the fifth and seven more in the sixth to finish off the win.
Dylyn Hiitola had a pretty impressive game, going 4-for-5 at the plate with a double, three runs scored and five RBIs. Kade Anderson went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and scored two runs, Medin helped his cause with a 3-for-3 plate performance, scoring three times and knocking in a run, Yarrington crossed the plate three times and picked up two RBIs, Zach Hiitola scored three times, Elijah Entzminger came home once and Brian Tuschl picked up one hit, scored once and collected a pair of RBIs. The Vikings were aggressive on the base paths with 14 stolen bases and committed just two errors on the defensive end.
Medin earned the win, allowing just two hits while whiffing eight Cardinal batters and walking six.