April 24, 2017 at 1:44 p.m.
Baseball: Errors erupt as West waxes Rhinelander
Baseball: Errors erupt as West waxes Rhinelander
The Hodags had as many errors as they did hits - five each - and were routed by Wausau West 11-1 in five innings in Wausau.
"Unfortunately, we played very tentative today," Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said. "A lot of the balls that were in the air we just could not catch, could not get to. That obviously cost us. They're a really good hitting team and made us pay for our mistakes."
West jumped on Rhinelander right away with a run in the bottom of the first and never looked back, scoring twice more in the second and five in the third. West scored three more times in the fifth and pushed across the clinching run on a one-out wild pitch.
Jacob DeMeyer was hit hard in three innings of work. The Hodag ace (1-1) lasted only three innings, allowing eight runs, six earned, on nine hits with a walk and a strikeout. Though DeMeyer's final line was less than stellar, Waksmonski said the junior did got get a lot of help behind him.
"I thought J.D. threw well. It wasn't that they jumped on him," he said. "Again, there were a lot of balls hit in the outfield that their scorekeeper credited as hits and we got (those plays as) errors in our book. Those were a lot of balls that should have been caught and would have went in J.D.'s favor today. He didn't walk that many today. I think he threw well. He was in the strike zone but, again, you give credit to them. They're a good hitting team."
Easton Senoraske pitched the final 1 1/3 innings in relief for Rhinelander, allowing three of runs on four hits.
The Hodags' lone run came in the third as Senoraske hit a two-out single up the middle, scoring Tait Spencer.
Grant Hill struck out four over five innings, and added a 3-for-3 day at the plate, in the win for Wausau West. Payton Nelson, Chandler Fochs and Sam Sippel all had two this as West pounded out 13 hits in all.
The loss dropped Rhinelander to 5-2 on the season and Waksmonski said the team has only one option with three games on the docket this week.
"We'll learn from it, flush it and move on," he said. "We've got Tomahawk, Lakeland, Marshfield, so there isn't much time to sulk over this. We've just got to learn from this, come back ready to go Monday. We've got a big week."
The conference games against Tomahawk and Lakeland are both on the road Tuesday and Thursday. Rhinelander will try for the third time to play its home opener Friday against Marshfield. Attempts to play at home against Medford and Antigo each of the last two Tuesdays were either relocated or postponed due to inclement weather.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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