By Craig Marx, Editor (Standings by Vern Cahak)

The Antigo Red Robins baseball team entered Tuesday evening with two games left in the regular season – two Great Northern Conference games to be specific. Downing the Medford Raiders 13-3 at Kretz Field, the Robins’ bats were hot from the get-go allowing Antigo to clinch the GNC title.

“The guys came out ready to go as noted by our offensive start,” Antigo head coach Scott Farmer said. “It was a big win to clinch the conference title. I am really proud of each and every one of these guys for what we have accomplished thus far this season and I hope we can build on that.”

Medford scored in the top of the first as Conrad Bolz reached home on a passed ball after taking a lead-off walk to start the inning. The Raider lead would not last long.

In the bottom of the first, Antigo went off for 10 runs scored. Max Nowinsky led off with a walk, where Brady Tatro in the No. 2 spot smashed a home run to instantly give the Robins the lead. The Robins added six more hits and eight additional runs later in the inning, including base hits from Arin VerHagen and from Tatro that each went for two-RBIs.

Alex Nagel and Ben Jansen shut down the Raiders as Medford went on to score a run in each of the fourth and fifth innings. Nagel, pitching four innings, was responsible for only one hit and one earned run. Jansen, closing the fifth, gave away just two hits and a lowly run to his credit.

Tatro finished 3-3 with three runs scored and four RBIs. Hunter Kirsch went 2-2 with a walk, while Tyler Husnick was also 2-2 with a double and an RBI.

“Brady, Jake and Hunter all had great days at the plate. Brady hit everything hard. Alex and Ben did a great job shutting down their bats,” Farmer said.

Cade Alexander took the loss for Medford with just 0.2 innings pitched, allowing seven hits for seven earned runs. The Robins had 11 total hits against three different Raider pitchers.

The Robins are now 14-5 overall and 9-1 in the Great Northern Conference. Through 19 games played, Antigo has scored an astounding 213 runs on the year.

With one game remaining in the regular season, let’s take a look back at how the Robins reached this point of the year:

April 1                                  at Sun Prairie                                                      L, 20-19

April 12                                Mosinee                                                               W, 10-3

April 14                                Northland Pines                                                 W, 41-1

April 15                                at Merrill                                                              W, 16-2; W, 15-5

April 18                                Tomahawk                                                           W, 7-5

April 21                                at Medford                                                          W, 15-4

April 26                                Rhinelander                                                        W, 5-2

April 28                                at Lakeland                                                         W 7-4; W 16-2

April 29                                at Waupaca                                                         L, 5-4

May 2                                   Stevens Point                                                      L, 9-1

May 6                                   at Tomahawk                                                      W, 7-4

May 9                                   Wausau West                                                      L, 11-3

May 10                                 at Northland Pines                                            W, 17-3

May 13                                Holmen (Marshfield Tournament)                  W, 16-4

May 14                                Menomonie (Marshfield Tournament)          W, 10-1

May 14                                Marshfield (Marshfield Tournament)             W, 7-1

May 17                                Medford                                                               W, 13-3

May 19                                at Rhinelander                                                         – –

“We still have a big game left on Thursday to go up and put it to Rhinelander at their place and get things focused now toward the playoff run,” Farmer added.

The Robins are slotted against Green Bay Southwest in the Division I – Section 2 WIAA Tournament, hosted by Antigo at Kretz Field on Tuesday, May 31 at a time yet to be determined.

Thursday’s matchup against the Hodags is set to begin at 5 p.m. from Rhinelander High School.