This story is sponsored by Norm E Lane Farm
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Marshfield senior pitcher Elliot Ashbeck picked up where he left off a week ago in Floriday.
Ashbeck, who struck out nine in a victory last week during the Tigers’ four-game trip to Disney World, took the mound in Marshfield’s Wisconsin Valley Conference opener Tuesday against Wisconsin Rapids and continued his dominance.
Ashbeck struck out eight of the first nine batters he face and finished with 13 Ks and a three-hit shuout as the Tigers roughed up Rapids 9-0 at Jack Hackman Field.
Luke Holnbach broke up Ashbeck’s perfect game with a one-out single in the fourth and Rapids got two singles against the Tigers’ right-hander before he finished off the shutout and sealed Marshfield’s fourth-straight victory.
“It was nice to have one start under my belt against a good team down in Florida, so I was confident in what I was going to do,” Ashbeck said. “I have command of all my pitches right now. I was able to locate them all pretty good and get ahead of hitters. Throwing strikes was key, and the defense made some really outstanding plays behind me, which was huge.”
Ashbeck used a speedy fastball, a curveball and a devastating change-up in racking up the 13 strikeouts, six of which were called third strikes as the Raiders were left shaking their heads.
“He’s not only throwing the ball hard, but he’s got a good change-up that’s getting guys out and he’s got a good hook,” Marshfield coach Mark Zee said. “He’s working his spots. You’re seeing a guy that’s put in a lot of hard work in January, February and March to be ready to pitch in the beginning of April.
“I was really pleased with our defense. We had a 5-4-3 double play, left fielder (Seth Karl) made a great catch in left field – I was really happy with the way we played defense.”
Offensively, Marshfield got things rolling right away as Austin Littmann led off the first with a single, stole second, moved to third after a pair of walks and scored on a groundout by Nick Treankler.
A leadoff triple by Luke Wirtz in the second was followed by an RBI single by Cole Irish to put Marshfield up 2-0.
The score remained the same until the fifth as the Tigers left eight runners on base through the first four innings. Finally, Marshfield was able to cash in, scoring seven times in the fifth.
Seth Karl, Littmann and Jaren Hiller had RBI singles and Treankler knocked in a pair with a base hit. Another run scored on a wild pitch and Bo Howard walked with the bases loaded to score another.
Marshfield had eight hits in all, two each from Hiller and Littmann.
“So far, with the games we’ve played, we’ve left some runners on base, but I told the guys you leave on base when you’re walking a lot, working the count, getting hits,” Zee said. “Hopefully we can come up with some clutch hits as we progress and really get some big innings.”
The Tigers, who won their final two games in Florida and Monday in a nonconference game against Tomah, take their four-game winning streak into Friday’s WVC tilt with Merrill.
“Always to get that first conference win under the belt,” Ashbeck said. “With a lot of guys coming back, a lot of teams know what we have. It’s always good to come out and play to your ability, which I think we did today.”
Tigers 9, Raiders 0
Wisconsin Rapids 000 000 0 – 0 3 2
Marshfield 110 070 x – 9 8 0
WP: Elliot Ashbeck. LP: Brennen Bauer.
SO: Bauer 1, Tyler Sneen 2, Brett Weinfurter 3, Kraig Arndt 1; Ashbeck 13. BB: Bauer 2, Sneen 3, Weinfurter 3, Arndt 1; Ashbeck 1.
Top hitters: WR, Luke Holnbach 2×3. M, Austin Littmann 2×4, 2 runs; Jaren Hiller 2×4; Luke Wirtz 3B, 2 runs; Nick Treankler 1×4, 3 RBIs.
Records: Wisconsin Rapids 3-1, 0-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference; Marshfield 4-2, 1-0 WVC.