July 8, 2015 at 2:57 p.m.
Rhinelander 10Us open district play with win
Rhinelander 10Us open district play with win
Rhinelander's first eight runs were unearned as a rash of Merrill walks and errors allowed the Hodags to plate two runs in the second and three each in the third and the fourth.
The Hodags, the visiting team by virtue of a coin flip, struck first in the second inning as Ryan Jamison rounded the bases on a pair of Merrill errors. A throw from third on a ground ball sailed into right field and the speedy Jamison raced around the paths to third. When that throw sailed up the line, Jamison trotted home for the first run of the game. Layne Roeser followed with a walk and scored on a two-out single up the middle by A.J. Turek.
After Merrill got a run back in the bottom of the inning, the Hodags rallied again in the third. A dropped pop up, a misplayed grounder and a walk loaded the bases for Rhinelander with one out. Leo Losch plated Sam Schneider and reached base on an error to first. Then Cal Laggis was hit by a pitch to force home Jamison. Turek followed with a bounce out to short that plated Roeser and put the Hodags ahead 5-1.
Rhinelander tacked on three more in the fourth, again aided by the Merrill defense which was charged with nine errors in the contest. Schneider singled to left and got to third as the ball got past the left fielder and rolled all the way to the fence. He scored moments later as Mason Davis reached on an error to short. Another error to short brought Davis in. Ditto for Roeser, who reached on a fielder's choice.
The Hodags plated one more in the fifth as Kolby Ridderbusch was hit by a pitch and scored on a Jamison triple.
Merrill, trailing 9-3 at that point, made things interesting in the bottom of the inning. Schneider, who came on in relief to start in the inning, walked the first two batters he faced before taking a hard line drive by Nathan Bizoznowski off the inside of his left wrist. Schneider left the game after the play, but all three batters he faced eventually came around and scored. Two crossed the plate on a Tyson Glisch single off Evan Sedlacek. Darrin Wiederhoeft singled home another run. Merrill had the bases loaded and the go-ahead run at the plate with one out in the inning, but Sedlacek got back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the jam, and then moved through the Bluejays in order in the sixth to secure the victory.
Schneider, Jamison, Roeser and Turek managed Rhinelander's only hits, but Merrill pitching combined to walk nine batters and hit two others and six Hodag batters reached on errors in the game.
Rhinelander used four pitchers in the contest. Davis started, pitched three innings and struck out five in the win. he allowed a pair of runs on five hits. Merrill got a run off Jamison in the fourth, but he was able to strike out the bottom two of the order to limit the damage. Schneider was charged with three earned runs and Sedlacek pitched a pair of scoreless innings, allowing two hits.
The win moved Rhinelander along in the winner's bracket. The Hodags advanced to face Wausau National Wednesday in a game that concluded after deadline. The Hodags will play either next Monday or Tuesday in Wausau, depending on the outcome of Wednesday's game. Look for a recap of that contest in Saturday's River News.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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