Ellsworth baseball eliminates rival Prescott in D2 regional quarterfinal

By Reagan Hoverman
Posted 6/1/23

Ellsworth baseball eliminates rival Prescott in D2 regional quarterfinal

The Ellsworth Panthers baseball team has not only embraced playing as the underdog, but they’ve relished in knowing …

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Ellsworth baseball eliminates rival Prescott in D2 regional quarterfinal

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Ellsworth baseball eliminates rival Prescott in D2 regional quarterfinal

The Ellsworth Panthers baseball team has not only embraced playing as the underdog, but they’ve relished in knowing that nobody outside the dugout truly believes in them.

For Ellsworth head coach Brandon Voelker and his players, the outside distrust from prognosticators began when the Panthers were seeded ninth out of 14 total teams in their respective portion of the Division 2 postseason bracket.

The Panthers’ low seed meant that they had to go on the road and face the rival eighth-seeded Prescott Cardinals in the first round of the playoffs, a regional quarterfinal game. Ellsworth hadn’t defeated Prescott at Fire Hall Field since the 2018 regional championship game.

That was until Ellsworth’s 5-3 win on the road against Prescott on Thursday, May 25. The Panthers scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning to break open a game that was previously deadlocked 3-3 going into the final frame.

Ellsworth retired three of the first four batters in the bottom of the seventh to secure the 5-3 win and a spot in the regional semifinal against Altoona on Tuesday, May 30. Voelker spoke about knocking a rival out of the playoffs while simultaneously proving some of the doubters wrong.

“I’m very proud of our boys and it was fun to do it against a rival like Prescott,” Voelker said. “The beauty of playoff baseball is that anybody can win on any given night. We’re going to let it fly because we’ve got nothing to lose. I told the boys before the Prescott game that if people believed in you, then you’d be playing at home tonight.”

Whether it was Voelker’s pregame sermon or just the inherent underdog nature that all of Ellsworth’s teams appear to have, the Panthers wasted no time getting on the board.

After a scoreless opening frame, Ellsworth’s first two batters reached base to start the second inning. The Panthers executed a double steal, which moved the runners to second and third and put them in a premium scoring position.

Later in the inning with two outs and runners still in scoring position, Ellsworth junior Griffin Blomberg hit a routine grounder to third base. Prescott made an error on the throw to first, which scored both baserunners and gave Ellsworth a 2-0 lead after as many innings.

Although still early in the contest, the error on that routine grounder proved to be a microcosm of the entire game. Prescott may have outhit Ellsworth, but the Panthers limited defensive miscues and capitalized on Cardinal errors.

“Looking at the game as a whole, the difference was errors,” Voelker said. “They had five errors and we had two. They had seven hits and we had five, but we got ours with runners in scoring position and they got theirs with nobody on base.”

Prescott rallied through the middle innings and managed to tie the game 3-3 going into the top of the seventh. After Ellsworth’s leadoff batter was retired, the Panthers hit back-to-back singles. That’s when sophomore Nolan Kummer broke the game open with a two-RBI double to the wall.

With one swing of the bat, Kummer propelled Ellsworth to a 5-3 win over the rival Cardinals. Ellsworth freshman Jack Stoltenburg pitched four innings before junior teammate Carter Erickson completed the final three frames in relief. Prescott junior Cullen Huppert pitched six and one-third innings for the Cardinals on Thursday night.

Prescott finished the 2023 season 8-14 overall and 7-7 in Middle Border Conference play while Ellsworth improved to 10-10 and booked itself a trip to Altoona for the regional semifinals.

The Panthers’ opportunity to play on the road against a heavily favored opponent in a playoff game is like finding a $500 chip on the floor of the Bellagio in Las Vegas – the rest of the way is playing with house money.

Altoona goes into the regional semifinal 19-4 overall and 13-1 in the Middle Border Conference. The Railroaders are also the No. 13-ranked Division 2 team in the state, according to the latest MaxPreps analysis.

Ellsworth and Altoona played in the first Middle Border Conference series of the season in the second week of April. The Railroaders won both contests, which included scores of 9-0 and 12-4. In Voelker’s eyes, his Panthers have nothing to lose. He spoke about how his team has grown and developed in the nearly two months since that series.

“We haven’t played them when we’re at our best and I think we’re a completely different team than when they beat us,” Voelker said. “It’s going to take timely hitting and clean defense. Somerset beat them 1-0 a couple weeks back, there’s no reason we can’t do it too.”

Ellsworth goes on the road to square off with Altoona on May 30, with the first pitch set for 5 p.m. The winner of that game will play the following night in the regional title game against either fourth-seeded Northwestern or fifth-seeded Saint Croix Central.

D2 regional quarterfinal, Prescott, Ellsworth, baseball