Colfax bats come alive in win over Elmwood, rally falls short at Plum City

by Samuel Ripp

The Vikings saved their best for last.

Colfax enjoyed its best offensive game of the year in the conference and regular season baseball finale in Elmwood last Tuesday, May 24.

The Vikings’ hardballers exploited Raiders’ pitching for 18 hits and seven bases on balls while sophomore hurler Nate Polden held Elmwood to just two hits and a pair of runs as Colfax ran roughshod over it’s host 23-2 in five innings.
Colfax, who led 9-2 heading into the fifth inning, plated 14 runs in the top half of the frame to put an explanation point on just its third win of the season.

The previous day in Plum City, the Vikings’ seventh-inning rally fell just a run short in a 9-8 loss to the Blue Devils. Despite outhitting Plum City 12 to 7, Colfax committed six errors in a mistake-filled contest in which Plum City had four errors of it’s own.

With the split, Colfax finished 3-10 and in fifth (last) place in the large Dunn-St. Croix standings and 3-12 on the regular season. Durand won the outright conference title with a 6-3 win in Alma against Pepin/Alma.

The Vikings’ season came to an end just a few days later when it lost to Eau Claire Regis, 8-2, in the Thursday, May 26 regional opener held at Carson Park (see related story elsewhere in this week’s issue).

Elmwood

The Colfax baseball team unleashed its bats in Elmwood Tuesday, May 24 and enjoyed unparalleled offensive success in a 23-2 five-inning victory in the regular season finale.

The Vikings pounded out 18 hits and took advantage of seven walks to earn its third win of the season against a Raiders team that has won just twice.

Sophomore Nate Polden took the mound for Colfax in the game and pitched a complete-game gem to get the win. Polden allowed the Raiders just two runs, one earned, on two hits. He issued six walks on the afternoon but also struck out six batters.

The Vikings started the game off with a bang as they scored four runs in the top of the first inning. Seniors Brady Simonson and Zach Meyer and sophomores Brett Schindler, and Nate Polden all scored.

The Raiders answered back with a run in the bottom of the frame.

The Vikings put the lead back to four in the second with an RBI-double from senior Jarrod Rudi.

Elmwood scored its second and  final run in the bottom of the second.

Polden shut the Raiders down the rest of the way as the Vikings scored one more in the third and three in the fourth. Colfax exploded for 14 runs in the fifth as it batted around twice and brought a quick end to the game when Elmwood failed to score in its half of the inning.

Eight players were responsible for the Vikings’ 18 hits. Jarrod Rudi and Andrew Harmon led the offensive explosion with three hits each. Rudi had a pair of doubles among his trio of hits and Harmon added another. Polden, Zach Meyer, Brady Simonson, Brett Schindler, Ben Christianson and Taylor Sarauer tallied a pair. Polden and Meyer’s hits included a double.
Seventeen of the Vikings’ runs came from RBIs. Adding to their season totals were: sophomore Mitch Kiekhafer, Meyer, Christianson and Sarauer with two, Polden, Schindler, Harmon and Rudi with four.

Plum City

The Colfax baseball team came up a run short at Plum City Monday, May 23 when it lost 9-8 to the Blue Devils.
The Vikings started the game off strong, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning highlighted by sophomore Nate Polden two-run single.

The Blue Devils got a run back in the first inning and another in the bottom of the second.
In the third inning, Colfax pushed another run across to lead 4-2 when sophomore Mitch Kiekhafer scored on a wild pitch to add to their lead.

Plum City added a single run in the fourth before it took it’s first lead of the game a five-run fifth.
Colfax and Plum City traded single runs in the sixth.

Trailing by four runs as it entered its final at bat, Colfax scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning but were unable to get the tying run across the plate.

Senior Jarrod Rudi suffered the loss for the Vikings. Rudi allowed eight runs, only two were earned, on five hits and issued two walks while striking out four in five innings of work. Brady Simonson pitched the final two innings and gave up a run on two hits in relief.

The Vikings collected 12 hits in the game. Connecting for hits were Mitch Kiekhafer with two, Nate Polden with three, Brady Simonson, sophomore Brett Schindler with two including a double, senior Zach Meyer with two, and senior Ben Christianson with two.

Polden had a pair of RBIs with Schindler, Andrew Harmon and Christianson registering one each.