July 13, 2016 at 2:44 p.m.
Regular season champs
Rhinelander White, Gray hold off late rallies to claim Northwoods Babe Ruth titles
Regular season champs
It was a thrilling evening of baseball Tuesday at Stafford Field as Rhinelander White took down Merrill Gray 5-4 for the Prep League regular season championship and Rhinelander Gray held on to defeat Tomahawk 9-8 for the Senior League crown.
Both games, pitting the top two teams in the regular season standings for each league, had drama down to the final out. Rhinelander White made two plays at the plate in the top of the seventh to keep the tying run from scoring. Rhinelander Gray withstood a four-run rally by Tomahawk in the last of the seventh to claim its title.
Prep League: Rhinelander White 5, Merrill Gray 4
Conor Pequet threw out the tying run at the plate in the top of the seventh as the White team (12-2-1) held on for a one-run win. The second baseman made a heads-up play after Merrill's Jayden Sus tried to score from second on an error. With runners at first and second with two out, Ross Skeen knocked down a Logan Mosher ground ball to short, but couldn't find the handle in time to get the force out at second. Once Pequet got the throw, he noticed Sus making a break for the plate and fired a bullet to catcher Jesse Mahner in plenty of time to record the final out.
It was the second time Rhinelander cut down the tying run at the plate that inning. Isaac Sutton tried to scored from third on a grounder hit back to pitcher Quinn Lamers, but the Hodags again made the throw in plenty of time to record the first out of the inning. Still facing runners at first and second with one out, Alex Olson cut down a ground ball to third and tagged the base for the second out.
Rhinelander took the lead for good in a back-and-forth contest with some aggressive base running in the fifth. Harlan Wojtusik reached on a dropped third strike, was singled to second by Ben Sinclair and, with the hit-and-run on, scored from second on a fielder's choice to short by Mahner.
After Merrill Gray (10-4-2) scored a run in the top of the first, Rhinelander took command with two runs each in the first and the second to go ahead 4-1. Lamers singled and scored on a wild pitch in the first. Skeen reached on an error and scored on a Wojtusik grounder.
Chase Redmond hit a double to deep center, plating Alex Olson in the second and crossed himself on Wojtusik's second RBI of the day, a two-out single past short.
Merrill answered with two runs in the top of the third and tied the game in the top of the fifth on a two-out base hit by Mosher.
Rhinelander pounded out nine hits in the contest and nearly half of that production came from the bottom three in the order. Redmond went 2-for-3 from the No. 9 spot. Alex and Tyler Olson, the Nos. 8 and 10 hitters (teams are allowed to bat up to 12 players), each had a hit. Lamers went 2-for-4 from the leadoff spot. Wojtusik, Sinclair and Mahner had the other hits.
Skeen started for the Hodags, allowing three runs on three hits over three innings before giving way to Lamers, who got the win in relief. Lamers allowed a run on five hits with four strikeouts over the final four innings.
Senior League: Rhinelander Gray 9, Tomahawk 8
Liam Stevens dominated on the hill with a 16-strikeout performance, but Tomahawk got to the tiring Hodag righty late, scoring seven of their eight runs over the final three innings to make things interesting for Rhinelander Gray.
Stevens, who threw 142 pitches in the game, withstood a major two-out salvo from the Yankees (9-4) in the seventh as Rhinelander (12-1) held on to win by a run. Staked to a 9-4 lead at 119 pitches with two out in the seventh, Stevens walked Tomahawk's No. 10 hitter, Tony Matti, to face the top of the order again. Luke Olson walked to load the bases and Aaron Evans was hit by a pitch to force in a run before Cole Feest - batting one spot up in the order following an ejection of a Tomahawk player earlier in the contest - belted a bases-clearing double to right, trimming the Gray team's advantage to run. Stevens got Wyatt Kupper to ground out to end the contest.
Rhinelander also got to Tomahawk pitching late in the contest, breaking open what was a 2-1 game after four innings. The Grays scored twice in the fifth, three times after loading the bases with nobody out in the sixth and twice more in the seventh.
Stevens plated Rhinelander's first two runs of the game - hitting a sacrifice fly to plate Danny Zuiker in the first and a single to score Connor Cooper in the fourth. Teagan Guckenberg singled home Jake Wilmot in the fifth and Asher Johnson, who had a hit in the inning, scored on a passed ball.
Zuiker was hit by a pitch, and Cooper and Stevens both walked to load the bases in the sixth. Cogar singled home Zuiker and Wilmot was plunked to force in Cooper. Stevens scored as part of an odd play that followed when Jacob Dreifuerst hit a pop up behind first that was ruled an infield fly. Stevens sprinted home from third when Tomahawk couldn't field the pop up but Wilmot was thrown out trying to take second.
Connor Lund walked and scored on a wild pitch in the seventh and Zuiker put the Hodags up five with an RBI single that plated Seth Stafford. That proved to be the winning run thanks to Tomahawk's late rally.
The Yankees tied the game at four with a three-run rally in the fifth as Stevens walked his first two batters of the game, and allowed only his second hit.
Stevens finished with four walks and four hits over seven innings to go along with his 16 Ks. Guckenberg was the only Hodag to collect multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Zuiker, Stevens, Cogar, Wilmot, Johnson and Stafford had Rhinelander's other hits.
Both Rhinelander White and Rhinelander Gray will be home again Friday to face Crandon in NWBRL tournament quarterfinal contests. Rhinelander White plays at 5 p.m., with Rhinelander Gray's game to follow.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at jeremy @rivernewsonline.com.
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