Boyceville wins 3 of 4 to close out regular baseball season, playoffs begin this week
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BOYCEVILLE’S Braden Roemhild slid safely into home after moving around the bases on a couple of throwing errors by Colfax players during the conference contest played in Colfax May 16.
—photo by Marlys Kruger
Boyceville is playing some of its best baseball of the season, just in time for the WIAA playoffs.
The Bulldogs wrapped up the regular season this past week by winning three of its final four contests including a pair of conference games and came close to pulling off an upset in a third D-SC match-up.
In what head coach Michael Roemhild termed as the Bulldogs’ first complete game of the season, Boyceville demolished Elmwood-Plum City 19-1 at home last Monday, May 13.
The following afternoon, the Bulldogs journeyed to Elk Mound’s Village Park to play the Mounders who had already secured this year’s Dunn-St. Croix baseball championship and were looking to finish their conference slate unbeaten. Boyceville nearly pulled off the upset, but Elk Mound rallied for a 5-4 walk-off win in the bottom of the eighth inning to finish 14-0 in league play.
The Bulldogs bounced back with a pair of wins to cap the regular season as they defeated the Vikings in Colfax 9-3 last Thursday, May 16 and then followed it up this past Monday, May 20 by knocking off Shell Lake 12-1 in a non-conference home contest.
With those results, Boyceville finished in third place in the Dunn-St. Croix with a 10-4 record and are 14-5 overall.
Boyceville drew the number 4 seed in the Division 4 Cumberland sectional and will host #13 Chippewa Falls McDonell this Thursday.
Elmwood-Plum City
It seemed that everything fell into place when Boyceville hosted Elmwood-Plum City on Monday, May 13.
“We pitched great, played very good defense, hit the ball hard and ran the bases fast,” stated Boyceville head coach Michael Roemhild.
The Bulldogs attacked the Wolves early and often as they plated all their runs in the first three innings – eight in the first, six in the second and their final five in the third.
Along the way, Boyceville collected a dozen hits and 16 RBIs and stole a remarkable 19 bases.
Carson Roemhild had a third of the Bulldogs’ hits as he finished the game 3-for-4 which included a home run. He also tallied five RBIs and stole a pair of bases. Nick Olson, Paul Kurschner and Braden Roemhild each had a pair of hits and scored three runs. Olson also had three RBIs and five stolen bases and Braden Roemhild swiped four more bases to add to his school-record tally and had two RBIs.
With three conference games to be played in the week, the Boyceville coaches decided to use their pitching staff wisely and had four players throw off the mound throughout the game. Carson Roemhild started and went just two innings to pick up the win as he scattered three hits and the lone Wolves’ run in the second and had three strike outs. Zach Hellendrung gave up just one hit and no runs and struck out four in an inning and a third. Paul Kurschner tossed a scoreless, hitless inning with three Ks and a walk and Wyatt Sell worked two-thirds of an inning with two strike outs and did not give up a hit or run.
Elk Mound
The first time the Bulldogs played Elk Mound, they felt they should have won.
Boyceville took a late 7-6 lead in that contest played at Evenson field back on April 29 only to see Elk Mound rally with a pair of runs in the sixth and seventh innings to escape with the 10-7 win.
In Elk Mound last Tuesday, the Bulldogs looked like as though they would pull off the upset this time around and halt the Mounders conference win streak when they scored a pair of their own runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to take a 4-3 lead.
But, Elk Mound tied the game with a run in the bottom of the seventh and then walked off with a 5-4 win when they scored in the eighth inning.
Coach Roemhild said that his team had its entire pitching staff prepared and ready.
Boyceville sophomore Landyn Leslie went head-to-head with Mounder senior pitching ace Kaden Russo and held his own. Leslie tossed a full 100 pitches before he had to exit with an out in the sixth having allowed just three runs on three hits with a strikeout but walked seven. Carson Roemhild came on in relief and threw the final two innings and suffered the loss despite giving up just two runs on a pair of hits but issued four walks.
“Unfortunately, we gave Elk Mound too many free bases with 11 walks and four hit batters,” stated Michael Roemhild.
Offensively, senior Devin Halama led the Bulldogs with three of the team’s eight hits and a pair of RBIs, none bigger than in the seventh when he gave his team the lead.
“We just ran out of steam in at the end of the game,” added Roemhild.
“We know we can win these games and this is the third one that we felt like we let slip away (the other Elk Mound contest and a recent 6-5 loss to Mondovi the other),” concluded the coach.
Colfax
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 aggressive base running to pull ahead 3-2.
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 to pick up the 9-3 win.
Halama pitched six innings to earn the win as he scattered five hits for those three Viking runs and struck out seven with just one walk.
The Bulldogs continued to run the bases well. Braden Roemhild gave his team a spark by steal second, third and home on a pair of overthrows. The Zachs, Kersten and Hellendrung, also had a pair of steals. Carson Roemhild and Nick Olson finished with four stolen bags each.
Shell Lake
Returning home this past Monday, May 20, the Bulldogs closed out the regular season with a non-conference contest against Shell Lake.
Senior Devin Halama had a banner game as he slammed a pair of home runs including a grand slam and finished with seven RBIs to help Boyceville claim a 12-1 win over the Lakers in five innings.
Paul Kurschner also had two hits for Boyceville and Zach Kersten doubled.
Boyceville scored three times in the first, added five runs in the third and its final four in the fifth to close out the game.
Landyn Leslie threw all five innings for the Bulldogs to get the win. He allowed just one Shell Lake hit, a home run, while striking out a half dozen and walking one.
Boyceville was also great on the base paths once again as it finished with 18 stolen bases in the game. Braden Roemhild had four while Nick Olson, Carson Roemhild, and Landyn Leslie finished with three each and Paul Kurschner contributed two.