Stratford baseball blows out Assumption, wraps up first Marawood South title since 2004

STRATFORD – The Stratford baseball team wrapped up its first Marawood Conference South Division title since 2004 in style, routing Wisconsin Rapids Assumption 18-0 on Thursday at the Tiger Stadium Baseball Field.

Ty Pankratz and Chandler Schmidt combined on a five-inning no-hitter for the Tigers, who improve to 13-2 overall and earned the Marawood South crown with a 9-1 record.

Pankratz struck out five and walked one in three innings, and Schmidt threw two perfect innings, also striking out five.

The Tigers scored all 18 of their runs in the first inning.

Mavrick Liccardi had two hits and three RBIs, Lance Heidmann had two hits and two RBIs, and Eli Drexler hit a home run and drove in four runs for the Tigers.

Stratford had 12 hits in all and took advantage of nine Assumption walks and eight errors.

Colten Schillinger also had two hits for the Tigers.

Despite winning the conference title and splitting a season series with Marathon, Stratford ended up the No. 2 seed in the top half of the Division 3 Sectional 2 bracket for the upcoming WIAA playoffs. Marathon is the top seed. Stratford will host No. 7 Nekoosa in a regional quarterfinal on Thursday, May 23, at 4:45 p.m. at the Tiger Stadium Baseball Field.

Stratford will finish its regular-season schedule at Rhinelander on Monday.

Tigers 18, Royals 0
Assumption 000 00 – 0 0 8
Stratford (18)00 0x – 18 12 0
WP: Ty Pankratz. LP: Smits.
SO: Smits (0 inn.) 0, Elsen (3 inn.) 3, No. 16 (no name reported) 0; Pankratz (3 inn.) 5, Chandler Schmidt (2 inn.) 5. BB: Smits 3, Elsen 4, No. 16 2; Pankratz 1, Schmidt 0
Top hitters: S, Eli Drexler 1×2, HR, 2 runs, 4 RBIs; Schmidt 2 runs; Colten Schillinger 2×2, 2 runs, RBI; Dawson Moen 2 runs; Kade Ehrike 2 runs; Riley Bauman 2 runs; Devyn Palmer 2 runs; Mavrick Liccardi 2×3, 2 runs, 3 RBIs; Lance Heidmann 2×3, 2 runs, 2 RBIs.
Records: Assumption 1-12, 1-9 Marawood Conference South Division; Stratford 13-2, 9-1 Marawood South.