Medford meltdown: Pitching woes doom Tigers at U.S. Bank Stadium

Minneapolis – Just a day removed from its season opener that ended in the game being suspended due to darkness, the Medford High School baseball team was taking its talents to U.S. Bank Stadium for a Section 2-AA matchup against Kenyon-Wanamingo.
The Tigers were in striking distance through four innings.
Then came the pitching woes.
Walking five batters, the Tigers surrendered nine runs in the top of the fifth inning to fall 14-1, activating the 10-run mercy rule Tuesday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium. The game was ended after five innings. 
“It’s early in the season. We’re still trying to find ourselves, we have different guys playing different positions,” commented Medford’s skipper Jon Chappuis. “One thing we need to do when we face adversity is stay positive. It’s the same thing in life as baseball.”
The Tigers were the final game of the day inside the home of the Minnesota Vikings as two prep games were played prior to the slated 7:15 p.m. start. Chappuis noted that despite the way the game was played, for his team to have a memory like playing inside a stadium of this magnitude is something they’ll remember forever.
“We try to pick one thing out every year, give these kids and experience and this was it,” he added.
In his first three innings of work, Medford’ Cole Volkman allowed just two runs on just two hits. While Volkman was strong from the mound through three innings, Medford’s bats suffered through the first three innings as Javis VonRuden delivered hard single for the only hit.
“He was scheduled to go only pitch three (innings) and he went out there in the fourth, faced adversity and battled through it,” the Tigers’ skipper added. “That’s an example.”
After getting into a jam midway through the fourth inning, Chappuis opted to send Alex Gengler to the mound to relieve Volkman. He needed just four pitches to get out of the inning. Volkman would pitch 4 1/3 innings with a pitch count of 68.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Tigers appeared to show some signs of a rally after Jon O'Daffer managed cross homeplate on Willie VonRuden’s long single in left-center field. The rally ultimately was shut down as Willie’s brother Javis, hit a hard ground ball to the third baseman for the final out of the inning, leaving the bases loaded.  
As Gengler took the mound for the fifth inning, the Knights’ offense woke up, extending a 5-1 lead to a commanding 14-1 lead. In their final at-bat, Kenyon-Wanamingo managed to bat through the order and register five hits. The two-sport star for the Tigers registered just 29 pitches in 1 1/3 innings of work before Ben Borash was called in relief.
The Tigers fall to 0-1 on the year.