Arcadia outlasts Luther in 12-inning thriller

Three days after suffering a one-run loss at the hands of Onalaska Luther, the Arcadia baseball team got their revenge by outlasting the Knights in a 12-inning marathon.

That split with Luther (4-14, 2-9) wrapped up conference play for the Raiders (10-14, 4-8), who with their win on Thursday snapped a four-game losing streak in Coulee play.

Arcadia is a No. 12 seed in the upcoming WIAA Division 2 playoffs and will hit the road to take on the fifth-seeded Somerset Spartans Thursday at 5 p.m. in the opening round. The winner moves on to face either No. 4 seed Saint Croix Central or No. 13 seed Ellsworth in Tuesday’s regional semifinals.

Luther 3 Arcadia 2

The Raiders drew first blood with two early runs but were kept off the board after that point in a loss last Monday in Onalaska.

Following a leadoff single from Deklyn Grzadzielewski in the top of the first, Arcadia’s Ben Lightfoot blasted a two-run home run to left to hand his team the early 2-0 advantage.

However, the Knights eventually took the lead by scoring a run in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings while the Raiders only got three more runners into scoring position and were held scoreless by Luther’s Jackson Kendall after the first inning.

Austin Fernholz went 2 for 3 with a double. Login Scow took the loss despite allowing only one earned run (three runs total) and striking out 10 in six innings of work.

Arcadia 5 Luther 4

Arcadia got off to another hot start in its rematch with Luther last Thursday at home. Even though the lead once again slipped away, this time the Raiders still found a way to pull out the victory.

Deklyn Grzadzielewski smacked a leadoff double in the bottom of the first and later scored on an error, followed by Max Blaschko and Jonah Slaby each drawing bases-loaded walks later in the inning to hand the Raiders the 3-0 lead.

Trailing 4-2, the Knights tallied a pair of runs in the top of the sixth on Gabe Shepard’s two-run single to even the score. 

After letting a bases loaded opportunity slip away in the 10th and stranding a runner at third in the 11th, the Raiders finally cashed in when Caleb Pronschinske scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 12th to give Arcadia the walk-off win.

Grzadzielewski finished the evening 2 for 5 with a double, a walk and a run scored.