April 10, 2017 at 1:53 p.m.
Hodag baseball splits in Shawano
Hodag baseball splits in Shawano
The Hodags committed three costly errors as Shawano rallied from behind to win Game 1 by a score of 8-4. Rhinelander feasted on 12 Hawk walks and rolled to a 10-4 victory in the nightcap.
Rhinelander (3-1, 0-0 Great Northern) lost the lead in the first game on a bang-bang play at home in the fifth inning and could not recover, but coach Joe Waksmonski said he was pleased with the way his team bounced back.
"Obviously, you want to win both games, but we had a negative, obviously, losing Game 1, and we came back and made it a positive today," he said.
Game 1
The momentum of the first game changed with the teams tied 3-3 in the fifth inning. Jacob DeMeyer threw home on a single by Shawano's Alex Hoppman in what appeared to be plenty of time to retire courtesy runner Connor Klish, but Klish was deemed to have slid around Tyler Blomdahl and beat the rap of the Hodag catcher.
Shawano tacked on another run in the fifth on a wild pitch by reliever Brad Quade and added three more insurance runs in the sixth.
"They score a run there, obviously, and take away an out from us. That takes a lot of momentum away for us, because it was a good play on our part," said Waksmonski, who left the dugout to challenge the close play in the fifth. "I thought J.D. made a nice throw, got it there to the plate in plenty of time and I thought Tyler had the plate blocked well enough but the umpire didn't see it that way."
Rhinelander jumped out to a quick start in the first inning, plating three runs on three hits, but only had one run on one hit the rest of the way.
"Their pitcher kind of buttoned down a little bit and was throwing sharper inside the zone and kept our hitters off-balance," Waksmonski said. "Really Game 1, defensively, their defense made a couple of nice plays. Game 1, for me I think that was the biggest difference. Their defense was better than our defense."
Bryce Gagnow allowed four runs on four hits over six innings for Shawano but could not come back for the seventh after reaching the WIAA-mandated daily 100-pitch limit during the final batter he faced in the sixth.
The Hodags jumped on him in the first. Blomdahl, who was was not retired in either game of the doubleheader, doubled home DeMeyer. Quade added an RBI groundout and Tait Spencer added a two-out RBI single.
But Shawano began to zone in on Rhinelander starter Matt Rudolph in the third, stringing together three straight two-out hits to plate two runs in the third. The Hawks tied the game in the fourth when Rhinelander's Tyler Olson could not make a running catch on a Dylan Summicht two-out fly to left.
Kien Moorman, Jacob Lacy and Hoppman each had two hits for the Hawks, who collected 10 hits in all in Game 1.
Quade (0-1) collected a pair of RBIs for the Hodags, but took the loss in relief of Rudolph, allowing the go-ahead runs in the fifth.
Game 2
It was deja vu for the Hodags in the second game, scoring three runs again in the first inning. This time, though, the offense did not slow down.
Rhinelander scored in each of the first five innings and cruised to a six-run win to salvage the split.
The Hodags led 9-1 through four innings, thanks to an offense that was patient when Shawano's platoon of three pitchers could not find the plate, and opportunistic when they did.
"We knew their pitching staff was going to be down to the end of their depth chart and when it gets to that situation, you just have to be patient as a hitter and just trust that a pitcher like that isn't going to throw the ball past you and you've got to be able to maybe take a close strike if it's not your pitch," Waksmonski said. "Our hitters were patient and we were able to tally those walks into quite a few runs there in Game 2."
That was more than enough run support for Comer (1-0) who struck out eight batters over four innings. After allowing a run in the top of the first, Comer buckled down and got out of a bases-loaded one out jam in the fourth thanks to a couple of strikeouts.
"Brad threw well," Waksmonski said. "We had a tight zone today and he threw within the confines of that zone and threw well. They're a pretty good hitting team. Obviously they scored eight runs in the first game and it was nice for him to kind of come in and hold of their offense down in the early part of the game so our offense could get going."
Shawano's lead was short-lived as Quade singled home two with the bases loaded in the first and Cole Spaulding followed with an RBI infield hit that deflected off pitcher Cole Nelson.
Senoraske singled home Alec Modrow in the second. Blomdahl walked and scored from second on a Quade grounder in the third and the Hodags busted the game open with a four-run fourth.
Senoraske was the only Hodag to collect multiple hits in the contest as Rhinelander pounded out eight hits from seven different players.
"We got contributions up and down our lineup today. It was a good team win there in Game 2," Waksmonski said.
Modrow allowed three runs in relief in the fifth for Rhinelander, but shut down the Hawks on four pitches in the sixth. Spencer worked a 1-2-3 seventh to close out the game for the Hodags.
Heading home
The Hodags will open Stafford Field for the season Tuesday when they host Medford. It will be the conference opener for Rhinelander.
After playing in sunny conditions and near 70-degree temperatures Saturday in Shawano, Tuesday's high temperature is forecasted to be 43 degrees with winds whipping from the west-northwest off Boom Lake.
"That's Hodag baseball weather," Waksmonski quipped.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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