Raiders flip score, come back to beat Red Hawks

After conceding an early lead to G-E-T and trailing with two innings to play in last Monday’s Trempealeau County baseball face-off, Arcadia flipped the score to leave Gale-Ettrick-Trempeaeau Middle School with a win.

Facing a 4-1 deficit, Arcadia (3-7 overall, 1-5 Coulee Conference) loaded the bases in the top of the sixth inning and scored four runs to claim a 5-4 lead. They added three more scores in the seventh inning to secure a comeback victory.

Coach Nate Pronschinske thinks his team needs to improve on offense the most, and the Raiders hope Monday was the start of a turnaround at the plate.

“I think we’ve got to ride that and hopefully start a bit of a hot streak. We’ve been in a bit of a slide as of late playing some close games against some good teams,” Pronschinske said. “The pitching has been there the whole time so if we can start getting those bats together one through nine and challenge defenses, we’re gonna put ourselves in good position to win more ball games.”

Max Sobotta gave Arcadia a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Monday, reaching home on a single from teammate Prestin Scow.

Wyatt Hanson tied the game in the bottom of the third inning for G-E-T, who extended their lead to 3-1 behind a Nathan Holthaus single. The Red Hawks added another run in the fifth inning before Arcadia ended the game with seven straight scores.

Sobotta scored his second run of the game on a Ryan Gardow single in the top of the sixth inning, and senior Maverick Drazkowski continued Arcadia’s pushback with an RBI single in the next at-bat.

Max Blaschko gave Arcadia its first lead since the first inning with another single, this one scoring Drazkowski and Gardow to give the Raiders a 5-4 advantage.

Sobotta scored for a third time in the seventh inning — the first of three seventh-inning scores for Arcadia — on a night the visitors out-hit the hosts eight to four.

Gardow and Scow each hit 2-for-4 on Monday, one of Gardow’s being a double.

Caiden Brady pitched the first 5 2/3 innings for G-E-T (1-9, 1-5 Coulee), giving up four hits. Brady threw four walks and six strikeouts. Holthaus closed the game, allowing four hits to go with two walks and a pair of strikeouts in just over two innings of work.

Login and Prestin Scow pitched for Arcadia. The Scow pair struck out six G-E-T batters while walking two others, restricting the Red Hawks to one earned run.

Unearned runs and errors have skewed some final scores this season, Pronschinske said, but he likes his team’s pitching staff. More offensive performances like Thursday would help the Raiders.

“Can we compete? Absolutely. But if we’re going to do so we have to play error-free baseball. If we can do that and the bats come around, we’re going to be in games.”

Arcadia was scheduled to visit defending conference champion Viroqua (9-2, 5-0 Coulee) this Tuesday and is set to host Logan this Friday.

Luther 8 Arcadia 5

Hits were harder to find for the Raiders against the Knights (7-5, 3-2 Coulee) last Tuesday.

Arcadia scored three times in the bottom of the seventh inning after Luther had built an 8-2 advantage. Luther out-hit the host Raiders 11-2.

Owen Haas led Luther with a 3-for-4 day at the plate, and three other Knights recorded at least two hits. Two Luther pitchers shared 11 strikeouts against Arcadia, which saw Sobotta pitch all seven innings.

Sobotta finished with five earned runs allowed, six strikeouts and one walk.

West Salem 6 Arcadia 0

The Panthers (4-7, 3-3 Coulee) outhit the Raiders 10-2 to claim victory at West Salem High School on Thursday.

Luke Baginski finished with three hits — including a home run — and Terryn Boland had two for the Panthers.

Ethan Lehmon earned the win for West Salem, allowing two hits through five innings. Scow started for the Raiders, striking out seven batters and walking one while giving up five earned runs.