Boyceville baseball goes 2-1; beats EPC and Spring Valley, loses to Colfax
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The Boyceville baseball team won two of its three conference games this past week.
The Bulldogs roasted the Wolves of Elmwood-Plum City 11-1 in six innings in a contest that was played Monday, April 24 at Boyceville’s Evenson Field. But three days later, Boyceville was nipped 4-3 in Colfax by a much improved Vikings’ team in a April 27 contest that went down to the final play in the bottom of the seventh. The Bulldogs returned home Monday, May 1 to host Spring Valley and bombed the Cardinals 14-4. A home non-conference game against Somerset slated for last Friday, April 28 was canceled due to rain and cold.
The Bulldogs are currently 4-3 in the Dunn-St. Croix and 6-3 overall. They travel to Elk Mound this Thursday and return to host Turtle Lake/Clayton on Friday. Mondovi will play at Evenson Field next Monday, May 8.
Elmwood-Plum City
Boyceville scored four runs in the opening inning and two more in the second to take a 6-0 lead when they hosted the Wolves of Elmwood-Plum City Monday, April 24.
That was more than enough for the Bulldogs’ freshman hurler Carson Roemhild, who started and threw five strong innings, allowing just two hits and a run with eight strikeouts and no walks to pick up the pitching victory as the Bulldogs went on to win 11-1 in six innings. Fellow freshman Landyn Leslie relieved Roemhild in the sixth and struck a pair of Wolves and did not allow a run or hit.
The Bulldogs added two runs in the bottom of the fourth and them plated three in the sixth frame to bring the game to an end.
“Tonight felt like the way we should play baseball. We cut down on our errors and we didn’t give very many free bases to EPC runners,” noted head coach Michael Roemhild. “In fact, we only allowed two hits the whole game, didn’t walk anybody, and only gave one free base due to hitting the batter.”
“Carson Roemhild has been out of sports since his injury at the beginning of basketball. He worked his butt off to get ready for baseball and tonight was the confidence booster he needed on his first night cleared to play. I thought he worked quick and was pounding the strike zone,” continued Roemhild.
“Not only did he strike out eight guys but his defense supported him as well. After going five innings, Landyn Leslie came in and took care of EPC by himself; striking out 2 and fielding a ground ball for the third out,” added the coach.
Chase Hollister, Devin Halama, and Braden Roemhild had the hot bats against EPC with each picking up a pair hits which include doubles by Hollister and Halama.
In addition, the Bulldogs were aggressive on the base paths, stealing 16 bags, with Braden Roemhild snagging a game-leading four.
Colfax
Colfax hadn’t beaten Boyceville since the 2016 season so when the Bulldogs scored three runs in the top of the first inning in their April 27 meeting in Colfax it appeared as though Boyceville’s dominance would continue.
“We came out in the first inning aggressive and playing loose baseball. I was really happy with our approach,” state Coach Roemhild.
Braden Roemhild walked, was able to steal second and third before he scored on a passed ball. Nick Olson was able to beat out a single and scored on a Chase Hollister double. Chase then stole third and scored on a passed ball for the Bulldogs 3-0 lead.
“After that we did absolutely nothing offensively, with the exception of Chase who is really hitting the ball well,” noted Roemhild. “Colfax’s pitcher (Mitch Medin) kept us on our toes. He had a good mix of fastballs and offspeed.”
Colfax picked up a run in the bottom of the first and added another run in the second.
Vikings’ pitcher Mitch Medin took control on the mound and shut the Bulldogs down through the fifth inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Colfax knotted the score at three.
Zach Hiitola took over the mound duties for Colfax in the sixth inning and gave up just one hit and one free pass in the final two innings, setting the stage for a seventh inning walk-off win by the Vikings.
A Vikings base runner came home on a passed ball and slid under the tag of Bulldog pitcher Devin Halama with the winning run.
Halama, who relieved Chase Hollister in the fifth, suffered the mound loss. He gave up the winning run, one hit, struck out two and walk one in two and a third innings. Hollister, who started and went four and a third innings, surrendered three runs on seven hits, struck out three and walked a pair to finish with no decision.
Boyceville was held to just four hits with Chase Hollister picking up three of them which included a pair of doubles. The Bulldogs also committed two errors.
Spring Valley
Licking their wounds, the Bulldogs returned to the friendly confines of Evenson Field Monday, May 1 to face a Spring Valley squad that appears to be in rebuilding mode this season after competing for the championships in recent years.
Boyceville got well quickly as it feasted on Cardinal pitching banging out 13 hits in a 14-4, six-inning drubbing of Spring Valley.
Although the Bulldogs put up three runs in the bottom of the first inning and four more in the second, it was a bit of an apprehensive beginning as Spring Valley plated two runs in each of the opening two innings to trail just 7-4.
But the Bulldogs would settle in behind starter Carson Roemhild, adding a trio of runs in the third and fifth innings and another score in the sixth to invoke the ten-run rule.
“Tonight started the first of another week of three games, and I thought we did what we were supposed to do. The first two innings were a little shaky, but that was more Carson trying to find his rhythm,” said head coach Michael Roemhild.
“After getting himself out of a couple jams Carson was able to pound the strike zone more in the 3rd-5th innings and really started to get a good tempo on the mound,” he added.
Carson Roemhild threw the first five inning, giving up four runs to the Cardinal on six hits while striking out eight and walking a pair for the win. Landyn Leslie allowed just two hits in an inning of relief work in the sixth.
“Offensively, Spring Valley’s pitchers were a little wild and ended up giving us 11 free bases with four being by walks and seven resulting in hitting our batters,” added Roemhild.
Landyn Leslie, Chase Hollister, Nick Olson and Zach Hellendrung each collected a pair of hits with Leslie and Olson each registering a double. Leslie finished with four RBIs while Olson had three and crossed home plate three times.
Boyceville also stole eight bases with Braden Roemhild and Owen Rydel, who got his first start behind the plate, each finishing with three stolen bags.