This story is sponsored by: Trudeau Construction and The Tile Guys
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – With the Wisconsin Valley Conference baseball title on the line and both Marshfield and Stevens Point Area Senior High throwing its top pitchers, it was imperative that each team played spotless defense.
For one inning, Marshfield did not, and it proved costly.
The Tigers committed three errors in a two-run second inning and SPASH rode the arms of pitchers Logan Mallek and Austin Schulfer to beat Marshfield 4-1 on Tuesday at Jack Hackman Field.
Stevens Point improves to 17-6 and finishes its WVC schedule with a 10-2 record, securing its ninth conference championship since 2000. The Tigers lost their fifth straight game and drop to 13-12 overall and 8-3 in the Valley with a game against Wausau West on Thursday remaining.
The Panthers manufactured a run in the top of the first against Marshfield ace Elliot Ashbeck. Jacob Barnes led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Cale Pieczynski and scored on a groundout by Seth Merrill to put Point up 1-0.
Scott Soik and Jacob Tepp reached on back-to-back errors to lead off the second, Ryan Roman followed with an RBI single and Marshfield committed another error on the next play. Eric Zelhofer then had an infield single to score another run and put SPASH up 3-0.
“They hit the ball hard and put a lot of pressure on us early on,” Marshfield coach Mark Zee said. “Give them credit. They came out and were on the attack. Overall defensively, I know we made some errors, but we made some good plays (double plays to end the second and third innings) to keep up in the ball game and give us a chance at the end.”
Zelhofer’s second RBI infield single in the fourth gave the Panthers a 4-0 lead and that score held as Mallek cruised along.
Mallek escaped trouble in the third when Merrill threw out Luke Wirtz at the plate from left field on a single by Austin Littmann in the third.
After Jeron Hiller led off the fourth with a single and went to second on a throwing error, Mallek struck out the next six batters and held the Tigers scoreless until the seventh.
Mallek lost his control and walked the first three batters before Schulfer took over. Wirtz plated Ashbeck with a fielder’s choice grounder before SPASH turned a double play to end the game.
Ashbeck scattered eight hits, struck out three and walked just one in the complete-game loss for Marshfield.
“Both pitchers threw very well,” Zee said. “(Mallek’s) off-speed pitches were pretty sharp, especially in the middle innings. He came out and threw a really nice ball game.”
Following Thursday’s game, the Tigers turn their attention to the postseason. Marshfield grabbed a first-round bye and will host either Eau Claire North or Menomonie in a WIAA Division 1 regional final on May 31.
“We met our goal for postseason with a first-round bye,” Zee said. “We played tough ball games in the last week and hopefully we can get things going Thursday. We need to get some guys to get out of some slumps. If that comes and we start putting up some offensive numbers like we had been, I think we’ll be OK.
“It’s disappointing to lose the conference, but we were in it right to the end and that’s a tribute to these guys. Those were two good teams playing tonight.”
Panthers 4, Tigers 1
Stevens Point 120 100 0 – 4 8 1
Marshfield 000 000 1 – 1 2 3
WP: Logan Mallek. LP: Elliot Ashbeck.
SO: Mallek 9, Austin Schulfer 0; Ashbeck 3. BB: Mallek 5, Schulfer 0; Ashbeck 1.
Top hitters: SP, Jacob Barnes 2B, run; Jacob Tepp 2 runs; Eric Zelhofer 2×2, 2 RBIs.
Records: Stevens Point 17-6, 10-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference; Marshfield 13-12, 8-3 WVC.