Colfax opens baseball season with three consecutive losses

by Samuel Ripp

Looking to get off to a quick start, the Colfax baseball team found itself going in the opposite direction when it opened the 2016 season last week with three straight losses including a pair of home conference contests.

Dunn-St. Croix newcomer Durand bombed the Viking nine 27-0 in the season, conference and home opener last Monday, April 11.

Things improved a few days later when the squad welcomed Boyceville to its home field but were still unable to get the win, falling to the Bulldogs 9-2.

A Saturday trip out of the conference to Shell Lake yielded yet another setback as the Lakers best the Vikings 7-2.

The Vikings will be looking to bounce back in the second week of play with three straight conference games starting with Spring Valley at home this past Monday, April 18. The Vikings them strike out on the road to face Mondovi Thursday before returning home to host rival Elk Mound on Monday, April 25.

Shell Lake

The Colfax Vikings traveled to Shell Lake on Saturday, April 16 still looking for their first win, but dropped another one by a score of 7-2.

This was the third time the Vikings have taken the field in a week and still can’t find enough offense for a victory.

Colfax would start the scoring off in the third inning by plating a couple, but Shell Lake would answer right back and tie it up at two. Shell Lake would then take the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning by tacking on two more. In the sixth inning they added some insurance runs by scoring three more runners.

The Vikings would have eight hits in the ball game and only gave up five hits, but allowing four walks on the afternoon.

Collecting hits for the Vikings were sophomore third baseman, Mitch Kiekhafer, sophomore second baseman Nate Polden, senior shortstop Jarrod Rudi, who had two, catcher Simonson, the left fielder  Harmon, sophomore first baseman Taylor Sarauer and freshman Devin Lamm.

Collecting the two RBIs for the Vikings were Polden with a groundout and Harman with a single.

Starting on the mound for the Vikings was sophomore Brett Schindler. Schindler went four innings giving up three hits and four runs on the afternoon. He also struck out six over that time.

Coming in after four innings was Mitch Kiekhafer who pitched the final two innings giving up two hits and three runs. He struck out two over that time.

Boyceville

The Colfax baseball team hosted the Boyceville Bulldogs on Thursday, April 14 but for a second straight game could not produce enough offense as it lost 9-2.

Colfax started the scoring off by pushing across both of their runs in the second inning of the game. Unfortunately, the Vikings could not get anymore offense going the rest of the game.

Boyceville would get one run back in the top half of the third inning and then take the lead for good in the fifth inning as it put two more runs on the board.

Things really went downhill for for the Vikings in the sixth inning when they gave up six runs in the top half of the inning.

Colfax put the ball in play a lot during the game, only having three strikeouts on the afternoon, but only having five hits during the game. Collecting the five hits for the Vikings were senior Jarrod Rudi, who finished with three, senior center fielder Zach Meyer, and right fielder Ben Christianson.

On the mound for the Vikings was sophomore Nate Polden. Polden pitched a pretty good game, but the offense was just not there for him.

Despite the loss, head coach Kirk Secraw found some positives from the game.

“We were a lot better on our fielding, a lot better on our hitting and we are just going to keep working towards getting better each game,” said Secraw after the game.

Durand

The Durand Panthers leaped into Colfax on Monday, April 11 to take on the Colfax baseball team. It would be a game to forget for the Vikings as they fell by a score of 27-0.

The first game of the year did not go as planned for the Colfax baseball team, who struggled mightily in their first home game.

The Durand Panthers started off hot scoring five runs in the first inning and they never looked back. They cruised to a five-inning victory in Colfax.

The Vikings could never get their bats going and struggled at the plate and on the mound. As a team they struck out eight times on the afternoon.

When the Vikings did reach base, they were stranded there with not a lot of hitting to start the year off.