Mounder baseball slips past Mondovi, tops Toppers, derails Railroaders
By Cara L. Dempski
Elk Mound opened its second-to-last full week of regular season play at home before hitting the road for the rest of the week.
The Mounders welcomed Mondovi’s Buffalo baseball team to the Elk Mound Village Park May 8 by handing their conference rival to the south a 5-3 defeat to stay atop the Large Dunn-St. Croix lead.
Elk Mound took its show on the road to Glenwood City Thursday, May 9 as only the second team the Hilltoppers have hosted so far in 2017. The Mounders took care of the Toppers in five, winning the game 11-0.
The next day (Friday, May 12) Elk Mound traveled to Colfax where Ethan Kjellberg and Blake Rosenthal combined to no-hit the Vikings in a 17-0 blowout in which Elk Mound collected 13 hits (see related story).
The Mounders capped the week with a game at Cinder City Park against host Altoona on Saturday, May 13. The Mounders led 8-2 until the end of the fourth inning, when the Railroaders started to find their collective swing. The game ended after six and one-half with Elk Mound on top 8-6.
The 9-1 Mounders, who hold a half-game lead over Durand, headed to Alma to take on the Pepin/Alma Eagles May 15 before taking a few days off and hosting Elmwood May 18. Elk Mound will go to Boyceville for its last conference game this season May 22, and will play Chippewa Falls McDonell to round out the regular season.
Baseball regionals are slated to start May 25.
Mondovi
The elk proved a more hardy animal than the buffalo a second time this season when Elk Mound headed to Mondovi May 8.
The Mounders copped a 5-3 win over the Buffaloes to remain at 7-1 in the Large Dunn-St. Croix.
Mondovi scored a single run in the bottom of the first inning to lead 1-0 until the Mounders found their swings in the fourth inning. Elk Mound scored four times in the fourth to take a 4-1 lead. The Buffaloes cut the Mounders’ lead to 4-2 in the fifth, but Elk Mound tacked up another run in the sixth inning to increase their lead to 5-2.
The Buffaloes tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh, but could manage only one more run before suffering a third out to give the Mounders the win.
Senior Carter Pritchard led the Elk Mound squad with a pair of RBIs, while Ethan Kjellberg batted in one runner and smacked a double. Dylan Curry accounted for Elk Mound’s last RBI.
Trey Mohr pitched seven innings and allowed a trio of hits and runs; he struck out nine batters.
ELK MOUND 5, MONDOVI 3
Elk Mound……………0 0 4 0 0 1 0 — 5
Mondovi………………1 0 0 0 1 0 1 — 3
Glenwood City
Elk Mound’s first run against the Hilltoppers May 9 was earned with style.
Pitcher Ethan Kjellberg stepped up to the plate with two outs against his team and unleashed a deep drive to center field for a home run.
It was only the first inning.
The Mounders continued to rack up the runs across five innings to log an 11-0 win against Glenwood City and stay atop the Dunn-St. Croix.
MOUNDERS’ third baseman Blake Rosenthal prepared to throw to first base to put out a Glenwood City runners in an interdivisional conference contest played May 9 in Glenwood City. Elk Mound won the game 11-0. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Elk Mound’s second inning eclipsed the first when sophomore Brett Lew clocked a single, Dylan Curry logged a double and then Trey Mohr and Dane Lew both hit singles. The chain of hits drove home Hunter Adleman, Logan Bergh, Brett Lew, Curry and Mohr and lifted the Mounders to 7-0.
Bergh made it around to score again in the third, and Mohr, Kjellberg, Bergh and Carter Pritchard scored in the fifth to make the score 11-0 and end the game.
Curry logged a trio of RBIs and a pair of doubles, while Mohr, Brett Lew and Dakota Bedell batted in two runners each. Dane Lew and Kjellberg recorded an RBI each, with Kjellberg taking credit for the game’s only home run.
Ethan Kjellberg threw 65 pitches in five innings, striking out five and allowing five hits.
ELK MOUND 11, GLENWOOD CITY 0
Elk Mound…………………..1 5 1 0 4 — 11
Glenwood City……………..0 0 0 0 0 — 0
Altoona
The Mounders started out playing fairly strong defense against the Railroaders at home May 13 and got through four innings before Altoona started to find ways around the home team to score.
While the Elk Mound squad escaped the non-conference contest with an 8-6 win, it was not without having to make a few adjustments on the field after the Railroaders’ bats started to heat up.
The Mounders held Altoona to just one run to open the game, taking the bottom half of the first inning to score four runs to nab a 4-1 lead as both teams headed to the second. Elk Mound tightened up a couple of loose spots in the field to keep the Rails scoreless in the second before sending in another run in the bottom half of the inning to head to the third leading 5-1.
Altoona turned the tables on the Mounders in the third, scoring a run in the top of the inning before holding the home team scoreless for a score of 5-2.
Elk Mound drilled enough hits in the bottom of the fourth to take a decisive 8-2 lead into the fifth inning, when the Railroaders started to make their move, scoring a pair of runs to narrow the Mounders’ lead to 8-4. They again held Elk Mound scoreless in the top of the sixth before sending home another pair of runners making the score 8-6 as both teams faced the final inning.
The Mounders managed to hold the Altoona team scoreless in the top half of the inning to take the W.
Ethan Kjellberg logged a pair of RBIs, while Dane Lew and Blake Rosenthal each recorded a double and a runner batted in. Logan Bergh and Hunter Adleman also took credit for one RBI each.
Kjellberg allowed eight hits and four runs, and struck out five, in five innings on the mound. Dylan Curry took over for the sixth and part of the seventh innings, allowing two hits and one run, before Blake Rosenthal finished out the game.
ALTOONA 6, ELK MOUND 8
Altoona………………..1 0 1 0 2 2 0 — 6
Elk Mound……………4 1 0 3 0 0 0 — 8