The Hatchet baseball team dominated Medford in the opener of last Tuesday’s double-header, before falling 3-2 in Game 2.
“It was a nice start to the conference competition,” THS coach Wes Roessler said. “Medford always plays us tough and it was nice to come out with a win.
“All year we have been getting runners on and not coming up with key hits. When we start getting some clutch hits, these guys are going to score a lot of runs.”
Tomahawk held a narrow 2-0 lead in Game 1 after scoring solo runs in the 1st and 4th innings, but put up a five-spot in the 6th. With Jon Nyberg on his game (3 H, 3 W, 7 K, 0 R in 7 I), Medford didn’t stand much chance to winning.
“Jon pitched a great game,” Roessler said. “He never let the Medford hitters get anything going. He was very efficient with his pitches and kept his pitch count low. The guys played a solid game defensively.”
Jared Jarvensivu (3-4), Jordan Roessler (2-3), Trevor Iwen (2-3), Kevin Bolder (1-3, 3 RBI) and Fletcher Schoone (1-3, 2 R) drove the offense.
Raiders’ revenge
The Hatchets kept rolling early, taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning. But Medford cut the lead in half in the 5th, and went up 3-2 with two in the 6th.
“These are the types of games we need to win if we want to contend for the conference title,” Roessler said. “We were able to get guys on but we were a key hit or two away from pulling this game off.”
THS out-hit Medford 6-3 and left 11 on base compared to 4 for the Raiders.
Bolder dominated (3 H, 1 W, 12 K, 3 R, 0 ER in 7 I) but lost.
“Kevin pitched an outstanding game and deserved a win,” Roessler said. “It is unfortunate that all our errors were clustered which cost us dearly. The guys have been playing pretty consistent defense all year. In a conference game, we can’t afford to make mistakes like we did.”
Aaron Leonhard (2 RBI, 2B), Jarvensivu (2B), Bolder (2 W) and Roessler each had a hit.
Tomahawk was 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the GNC. Medford sat at 3-4 and 3-1.