July 20, 2016 at 2:42 p.m.
Lakeland rolls past Rhinelander for Babe Ruth tourney titles
Lakeland rolls past Rhinelander for Babe Ruth tourney titles
Lakeland's Senior League team, a 5-7 outfit during the regular season, caught fire during the tournament. The T-Birds downed top-seeded Rhinelander Gray Monday and third-seeded Laser Pros Tuesday on its way to the championship. Lakeland Black, a No. 5 seed, upended top-seeded Rhinelander White Monday and finished off the Prep League championship Tuesday.
The two regular season matchups between Lakeland and Laser Pros were both extra-inning affairs won by the road team. The visitors won again Tuesday at Stafford Field, but the game was much more lopsided as the T-Birds plated four in the first and never let off the gas in a 15-4, five-inning rout.
Lakeland added four more in the second and six in the third as a combination of hits, walks and shaky defense helped the T-Birds pile up runs in a hurry. Laser Pros starter Bryce Schickert was chased from the mound after loading the bases with nobody out in the second. He faced 12 batters allowing five hits, the majority of the seeing-eye variety, and five walks. Martin Hoger pitched the rest of the way for Laser Pros and recorded eight strikeouts over the final four innings, but allowed eight runs himself, only two of which were earned.
Lakeland scored six times in the third off Hoger, all with two out in an inning that began with an error.
Laser Pros tried to keep within shouting distance, scoring in each of the first three innings, but they left the bases loaded in both the fourth and the fifth without pushing any runs across to fall victim to the 10-run rule.
Laser Pros collected eight hits on the night by eight different players. Josh Randolph singled to lead off the bottom of the first and scored on a Schickert sacrifice fly. Hoger scored on a double by Max Spaulding to make it 4-2 Lakeland after one inning. Logan Oestreich singled in the second and scored on Eddie Bauer's infield hit. Abe Laggis bunted for a base hit in the third and scored when Hoger reached on an error. Tim Remitz doubled later in the third, Ryan Mullen had a base hit in the fourth and Schickert singled to lead off the fifth.
Laser Pros (10-5) got to the championship game with a 6-3 win over Merrill Blue Monday night in the semifinals at Kahle Field in Tomahawk. They scored with three in the first, cashing in on a double by Schickert and singles by Spaulding and Remitz after Randolph and Laggis started the inning reaching on errors. Hoger made it 5-0 in the third with a two-run single that plated Randolph and Laggis. Hoger singled, stole second and scored on a Spaulding hit in the sixth.
Randolph started on the hill for Laser Pros and Merrill didn't get to him until the fourth. After retiring the first nine batters, the next two reached on Randolph via a walk and an error. Both came around to score to cut Laser Pros' advantage to 5-2. Merrill strung together three more hits for a run in the seventh, but had only five hits against Randolph the entire evening. Randolph recorded 10 strikeouts and walked only one in a complete-game effort.
Lakeland made its way to the Senior League championship game with a 3-2 win over top-seeded Rhinelander Gray in the second semifinal Monday in Tomahawk. Lakeland scored what proved to be the winning run in the top of the seventh when Rhinelander pitcher Liam Stevens hit Connor Higgins on a 1-1 offering with the bases loaded and two out.
Nate Cogar walked with two out to give the Grays a little life in the bottom of the inning, but Jake Wilmot popped out to end the contest.
Rhinelander took a 2-0 lead in the first as Danny Zuiker walked and scored on a Stevens single. After Cogar singled, he and Stevens executed a double-steal of second and home for the inning's second run. Lakeland tied it with two in the third off Rhinelander starter Connor Cooper, who scattered three hits and struck out two in six innings of work.
Rhinelander Gray (13-2), the regular season champions, managed only four hits in the contest. Wilmot doubled in the fourth and David Schramke added a base hit in the sixth.
Prep League
It was a similar story for Rhinelander White in the Prep League as the top seed in the tournament and regular season champions fell to Lakeland Black 3-2 Monday night in a semifinal contest at the 70 West Complex in Minocqua.
Rhinelander White (13-3-1) took a 2-0 lead in the first, but Lakeland Black answered with two in the bottom half of the inning and scored what proved to be the winning run in the fourth. Further details were not provided.
All three of Rhinelander White's losses came at 70 West this summer. The Hodags fell 9-3 there May 27 against Lakeland Silver and dropped a 4-2 regular season decision to Lakeland Black June 29 in Minocqua.
Lakeland Black defeated Merrill Gray 4-2 Tuesday for the Prep League title. Rhinelander Black (5-10), was defeated by Lakeland Silver 12-2 last Friday in the quarterfinals. Merrill Gray downed Lakeland Silver 26-4 in a semifinal contest Monday in Merrill.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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