July 21, 2014 at 2:51 p.m.
Rhinelander I cruises to Babe Ruth Senior League title
Rhinelander I cruises to Babe Ruth Senior League title
Rhinelander capped off the Triple Crown on Friday with a 17-10 victory over Lakeland in the tournament championship at Stafford Field. Rhinelander I also had the best regular season record in the league (10-2) and defeated Rhinelander II in the regular season championship game.
The Hodags benefited from 16 walks in the championship game and held a 14-run lead at one point before Lakeland tacked on some runs in the final innings to keep the game from ending via the 10-run rule.
A pair of the coaches on the Rhinelander I team - Todd Johnson and Ken Zuiker - have been part of three consecutive league titles, so have a handful of the players - Kurt Zuiker, Brandon Hess and Tyler Blomdahl. Turns out, the biggest threat to the three-peat chances came Wednesday night when the Hodags held off Nokomis 4-3 in extra innings.
Rhinelander I routed Merrill 10-0 Thursday night in the semifinals and the offense kept rolling in Friday's championship game.
The visiting team, via a coin flip, Rhinelander I jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first. Connor Cooper drew a bases-loaded walk, Cody Sedlacek followed with a two-run single and Cooper later scored on a wild pitch.
Zuiker singled and scored on Blomdahl's fielder's choice in the second. Blomdahl would score on Tim Palubicki's double to left center.
Liam Rappley and Zuiker drew back-to-back walks in the third. Hess cleared the bases with a double and later scored on Blomdahl's sacrifice fly to give Rhinelander I a 9-1 lead.
Lakeland got a run back in the bottom of the third, but Rhinelander tacked on one in the fifth. Zuiker walked, stole second and scored on a passed ball.
The floodgates opened for the Hodag offense in the sixth. A Cody Sedlacek single was sandwiched around three walks, including a bases-loaded base on balls drawn by Bryce Schickert. Liam Rappley reached and Sedlacek scored with a throw from second sailed wide of home plate. Zuiker added an RBI groundout and Hess followed with a two-run double to left.
Jon Huempfner drove in Hess with a single to right to make the score 16-2.
Zuiker went six innings on the hill to earn the win, but began to labor in the sixth. The first five batters of the inning reached against the southpaw thanks to a trio of walks and a pair of base hits. All five runners eventually came around to score. Bradley Hilmer scored the game-extending run from second base when Zuiker's pickoff attempt went sailing into deep center field.
Tim Remitz walked and scored on a wild pitch for the Hodags in the seventh. Lakeland tacked on three in the bottom of the inning.
Hess and Huempfner each collected three hits in the win for Rhinelander I. Palubicki and Sedlacek added two hits a piece. Zuiker struck out eight in six innings of work on the hill. Sedlacek struck out two and worked around three hits in the seventh to close out the game.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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