Baseball tops Prescott in finale

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The Raider baseball capped its regular season with a 7-2 nonconference victory at Prescott last Thursday, two days after dropping its Big Rivers Conference finals, 8-6, at Eau Claire North.

The Raiders, 9-9 overall, 7-5 in the BRC, drew the No. 6 seed in the WIAA regional bracket and hosted No. 11 Merrill this past Tuesday at Grandview Park. A win Tuesday would send Hudson to No. 3 Stevens Point for a regional final on Friday. (Note: After this print edition went to press, it was learned that the Raiders were defeated by Merrill by a score of 4-3.)

Last Thursday at Prescott, Jon Stoffer, Kellen Pearson and Brett Steinwagner teamed up to allow four hits without walking a batter, and all nine Raider starters had at least one hit in a 7-2 victory over the Cardinals.

“Stoff, Kellen and Brett pitched well for us today,” head coach Ryan Huppert said. “Seven innings not allowing a walk between them was great. They kept us in the game and won it for us.”

Stoffer worked the first two innings and was tagged for two unearned runs on three hits with two strikeouts. Pearson faced just ten batters in three innings of work, allowing just a two-out double in the fifth, while striking out two, while Steinwagner struck out five of the six batters he faced in the final two innings, including mowing down the side in the seventh.

Steinwagner put the first Raider run on the board in the opening inning with a bases-loaded single to drive in Derek Krumrei. Austin Evenson hit into a fielder’s choice to score Austin Lenzen that gave Hudson an early 2-0 lead.

Two Raider errors led to a pair of unearned runs for Prescott in the second, but Hudson’s defense played errorless ball the rest of the way while the offense continued to put runs on the board.

Mike Hommes singled, stole second and scored on a single by Ben Christensen for the go-ahead run in the third before Hudson scored two more runs in the fourth on a base hit by Matt Strachota and a throwing error after Evenson was caught in a rundown between third and home.

Hudson’s final two runs came in the seventh on a bases-loaded single by Steinwagner to score Krumrei and a sacrifice fly by Evenson to drive in Austin Lenzen.

Steinwagner was 3-for-4 with two RBI and Lenzen had three hits and scored twice to lead the Raider offense.

“This was a nice team win going into the playoffs,” Huppert said.

Last Tuesday at Eau Claire North, the Huskies jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings of play and held off the Raiders for an 8-6 victory.

Trailing 7-2 in the fifth, the Raiders scored four times to pull to within a run. Steinwagner drew a walk to force in a run and Evenson had an RBI single while Strachota added an RBI sac fly in the inning.

Hudson had the leadoff hitter on base in both the sixth and seventh innings but couldn’t produce another run.

Christensen had three hits while Steinwagner was 2-for-4 with a double and RBI. Evenson also had a pair of hits and two runs batted in while Strachota added an RBI single in the fourth.

Lenzen started on the mound and allowed seven runs, six earned, on five hits with one strikeout and four walks before Parker McNamee went the final four innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with two strikeouts and two walks to give Hudson a chance to get back in the game.

Tags: sports, baseball, raiders, prep