By Nick Beversdorf
Reporter
After four straight wins, Hatchet varsity baseball stumbled with two back to back losses. The first loss happened last Thursday (May 5) against Marathon. The final score was 4-3 with Tomahawk posting six hits and committing just one error.
Tomahawk took the lead in the second inning with two runs, but Medford responded with two runs in the third to tie things up. Medford tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, and Tomahawk would only manage another run in the seventh, not enough to tie the game.
Top Hatchet hitters include Brandon Vecchio with two hits, a run and an RBI and Isaac Weber with a hit, a run and a walk. Brett Gerber pitched five innings, striking out one, walking two, allowing two hits and two runs-one earned. Both had doubles. Zach Volz pitched for one inning, striking out one, walking two, allowing two hits and two runs-both earned.
“Our base running in this game was our downfall,” comments head coach Wes Roessler. “We had several opportunities to score runs or had people in scoring position and we ran our way out of it. Marathon is too good of a team to beat when we play the way we did and we out hit them and they had several more errors than us and we did not take advantage of that.”
The next day saw more of the same against Antigo, losing 7-4 with Tomahawk generating 10 hits and committing two errors.
Antigo took an early lead with two runs in the first inning. Tomahawk responded with a run but Antigo added another run in both the second and third innings. Tomahawk made a comeback rally with a run in the fourth and two in the fifth to tie up the game, but Antigo would get three more runs in the sixth. Tomahawk would not recover.
Top hitters for Tomahawk include Nick Baacke with a hit, a run and two RBI; and both Kaleb Kaminski and Isaac Weber with a hit, a run and a RBI each. Kaminski pitched a great game, striking out two, walking none, allowing 10 hits and seven runs-two earned.
“Kaleb pitched a great game. He pitched out of some jams and made some great pitches that should have been outs,” adds Roessler. “We can’t make mistakes against the conference leading team if you want to win. They only scored two earned runs; our defense has to do better than that. We did battle back and tie the game in the 5th and had momentum on our side but we then gave up three unearned runs and gave the game right back.”
Hatchet varsity baseball will have their next game on Thursday at 5 p.m. against Mosinee at home.