Boyceville baseball season ends with regional home loss to Chippewa Falls McDonell Central
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BOYCEVILLE — Records and seeds can sometimes be deceiving especially when tournament time rolls around.
As the Bulldogs discovered much to their chagrin.
The fourth-seeded Boyceville Bulldogs hosted the Chippewa Falls McDonell Central Macks, the 13th seed, in an opening-round WIAA Division 3 regional baseball match-up at Evenson Field last Thursday, May 23.
A contest that certainly seemed to favor Boyceville who was not only playing on its home diamond but had entered the playoffs having won six of its last eight games with the only setbacks a pair of one-run losses to the Dunn-St. Croix’s top two squads – Mondovi and Elk Mound. McDonell, meanwhile, had just five wins on the season and had finished seventh in a strong Cloverbelt West Conference.
After trailing 4-2 with three innings in the scorebook, the Macks’ offense came to life posting ten runs over the final four innings to upset the host Bulldogs, who committed a season-high six errors, 12-8.
“We knew that we had one of the tougher draws in division 3 despite their record,” stated Boyceville head coach Michael Roemhild. “Last year they had the same record and went on a run to State.”
“For some reason it just didn’t feel like everyone was on the same page or had the same enthusiasm for the game,” he added.
After Chippewa Falls McDonell plated a run in the top of the first inning, Boyceville responded with four runs in the bottom half to take the early lead.
Defensively, however, the Bulldogs struggled to support their staring pitcher, sophomore Carson Roemhild.
“We didn’t help Carson out in the first four innings,” noted Coach Roemhild. “We made him get higher in the pitch count and made him get 4-6 outs an inning due to mental and physical errors.”
Despite those factors, Boyceville still held a 7-5 lead when Roemhild left the mound after the fourth inning having given up five runs on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
Both teams had scored a trio of runs in the fourth frame.
The Bulldogs, however, were unable to hold on to the advantage.
The Macks tagged sophomore reliever Landyn Leslie for seven more hits including a home run and seven runs in all as he suffered the season-ending loss.
Chippewa Falls McDonell pulled to within a single run with a score in the sixth and then went in front 10-7 with four scores in the sixth inning highlighted by a big home run that put the Bulldogs in full panic mode. The Macks padded that lead with two more runs in the top of the seventh.
Boyceville tried to rally as it scored a run in its final at bat, but the Macks eventually got the final out and ended the Bulldogs’ season with the 12-8 victory.
Roemhild felt his team hit the ball well despite a 12 to nine disadvantage in that department and continued to run the bases well turning in eight stolen bases in the game. They just did not translate into enough runs.
“I will give our team credit, they did not give up. Not even in the seventh when we were down five,” said Roemhild.
“We had bases loaded with no outs and the top of the order up, it just wasn’t meant to be for this team!”, he added.
Wyatt Sell and Leslie topped the hitting charts with a pair which included a double for Leslie while Sell lead the squad in RBIs with two. Seniors Nick Olson, Devin Halama, Zach Kersten, Paul Kurschner and Braden Roemhild each finished with a hit.
Roemhild added three final stolen bases to record book while Owen Rydel and Olson each came up with two.
While McDonell advanced to face top-seed Elk Mound in yesterday’s regional semifinal, Boyceville finished the 2024 campaign with a 14-6 mark.
It was the final high school athletic event for seven Bulldogs – Braden Roemhild, Nick Olson, Devin Halama, Wyatt Sell, Paul Kurschner, Reid Fenton, Zach Kersten and Treylin Thorson.
“I have known this group of seniors since they were in Kindergarten. Winning is in their blood. Losing like this is going to sting for a while. But, I know these guys will use this out in the real world and thrive from it,” concluded Roemhild.