Elk Mound baseballers nip Durand and Arcadia; blanked by Regis

By Cara L. Dempski

The Elk Mound baseball team had a big week.

The Mounders won three of the four contests they competed in last week highlighted by conference wins over Durand and rival Colfax.

Elk Mound took sole possession of first place in the Dunn-St. Croix’ large division following a 2-1 win over Durand last Tuesday and a 22-0 shellacking of rival Colfax on Friday.

The Mounders, who welcomed the Panthers to their home field at Village Park April 18, would have gone to extra innings with Durand had it not been for Ethan Kjellberg’s bat and Carter Pritchard’s legs. The duo combined to give the Mounders an 11th-hour, 2-1 win in the bottom of the seventh.

The orange and black then took its show on the road for an April 20 match-up against EC Regis at Bollinger Fields. The Ramblers blanked the Mounders 12-0 in the game.

Returning home the following day, Elk Mound then flipped the table on its rival and closest Dunn-St. Croix neighbor, Colfax, shutting out the Vikings 22-0 in the April 21 contest.

Elk Mound then capped the week with a trip to Arcadia High School on Saturday, April 22 and returned a 6-4 victor.

The Mounders hold a 3-0 mark in the large D-SC and are 5-4 overall.

The team hosted Spring Valley April 24 to kick off a four-game conference road swing that will take it to Plum City on April 27, Boyceville next Monday, May 1 and down to Durand on Thursday, May 4.

Durand

The Panthers very nearly pushed their April 18 game against Elk Mound into extra innings.

But then Ethan Kjellberg and Carter Pritchard came up big in the bottom of the seventh frame while Ethan Kjellberg threw a pitching gem, holding the Panthers to a single run and hit.

Kjellberg stepped up to the plate late in the seventh with the game tied 1-1 and clocked the ball past a small handful of Durand defenders, which gave Pritchard just enough time to get home for the winning run.

The result? A 2-1 win for Elk Mound that gave the squad sole possession of the top spot in the Large Dunn-St. Croix.

Durand got on the board right away in the first, and things looked dire for Elk Mound until the fourth, when Blake Rosenthal made it home to tie up the game. The Mounder defense managed to keep the Panthers in check the remainder of the game, and the offense scored one more time with Pritchard’s run in the seventh.

The Mounders tallied just three hits – a pair by Dane Lew and another off the bat of Ethan Kjellberg – but made the most of them in the win.

Kjellberg and Lew were each credited with a RBI. Trey Mohr pitched all seven innings and allowed only one hit and one run while striking out 11 for the victory.

DURAND 1, ELK MOUND 2
Durand…………………1  0  0  0  0  0  0 — 1
Elk Mound…………….0  0  0  1  0  0  1 — 2

EC Regis

April 20 was not a good night for the Mounders.

The team traveled to Eau Claire’s Bollinger Fields to take on Eau Claire Regis High School’s Ramblers and wound up not scoring.

At all.

In contrast, the Ramblers tacked up 12 runs to cop the win and drop Elk Mound’s overall record to 3-4.

Regis put 10 runs on the scoreboard in the first two frames, scoring four in the first and six more in the second. Eau Claire tallied two more runs in the third to win in five innings.

Trey Mohr and Dylan Curry were the only Mounders credited with hits in this game. Coach Paul Andrea put four different pitchers on the Mound, and it did not seem to make a dent in Regis’ offensive armor.

Blake Rosenthal pitched one inning with two strikeouts and six hits. Curry and Ethan Kjellberg each pitched one and one-third innings with Curry giving up two runs, and Kjellberg getting a 10.50 ERA. Dylan Black pitched one-third inning.

ELK MOUND 0, REGIS 12
Elk Mound………………….0  0  0  0  0 —  0 
Regis…………………………4  6  2  0  0 — 12

Arcadia

Trailing 3-1 after five innings of action, the Mounder baseball team found its bats in the final two innings of play in Arcadia this past Saturday.

Elk Mound plated three runs in the top-half the sixth inning to take a 5-3 lead and never trailed again.

Arcadia added a run in the bottom half but Elk Mound took it back in the top of the seventh and slammed the door on the Raiders with a scoreless final at bat to get the 6-4 win.

Elk Mound collected ten hits led by Mohr, who finished 2-for-3, and 2-for-2 plate performance from Hunter Adleman. Blake Rosenthal, Kole Ploeckelman, Carter Pritchard, Dylan Curry, Logan Bergh and Ethan Kjellberg each had a hit.

Trey Mohr, Rosenthal and Curry combined to hold the Raiders to just three hits.

ELK MOUND 6, ARCADIA 4
Elk Mound……………0  0  1  0  1  3  1 — 6
Arcadia………………..0  0  1  1  1  1  0 — 4