June 21, 2017 at 1:23 p.m.
Quade voted RHS baseball MVP
Quade voted RHS baseball MVP
Junior Brad Quade was named the team's most valuable player during a banquet Monday at Hodag Park. He had the numbers to back it up. His .412 batting average and 28 RBIs led the team this spring. Those numbers helped him earn unanimous selection as a first-team all-conference outfielder last month.
"Brad seemed like he was the guy who always came up the clutch situation and he always got the clutch hit," RHS baseball coach Joe Waksmonski said. "By the looks of it, you don't think of him as someone who would hit 3, 4 or 5, but it's all about production in those spots and Brad produced in many games."
Quade was one of several players to receive awards presented by the team during the banquet. Senior catcher Tyler Blomdahl won the Hodag award. Blomdahl and Jacob DeMeyer were honored as the team's captains and German exchange student Oliver Ebrecht was voted the team's most improved player.
A power hitter in the middle of the order, Blomdahl hit. 338 with a team-best three homers. He tied for the team lead with 10 extra-base hits and his 27 RBIs were one behind Quade for the team lead.
"(The Hodag award winner) could be someone who's inspirational, a great teammate, someone who goes the extra mile and puts in the extra effort, is a good communicator, someone the guys look up to. It could be any of those things and I think (Tyler) exemplifies all that with all the hard work he's put in, not only this year, but throughout the years as well," Waksmonski said.
Ebrecht was an off-the-radar choice for most improved, but a deserving candidate. He joined the team this spring having never played baseball previously. Waksmonski recounted how Ebrecht began to comprehend the game as the season progressed.
"They all took him under their wing, showing him how to throw, how to catch, how to be safe in a gym when there's balls flying around," he said. "Oliver picked up on some of the nuances of the game. It was fun watching him run the bases, learning about the tag up rules and all of that ... It was fun watching Oliver learn the game and I think the guys recognized that. By the end of the year he was actually pretty comfortable and pretty confident catching a high fly ball."
Waksmonski reiterated the two goals the Hodags have prior to every season, competing for a conference title and playing their best baseball at the end of May. Rhinelander went 9-3 in the GNC, finishing second in the conference to Antigo. The Hodags swept Mosinee this season, a team that represented the GNC in the WIAA Division 2 state baseball tournament. Rhinelander went 13-3 in the month of May and won a WIAA playoff game for the second straight year before bowing out to De Pere June 1 in the Division 1 regional finals.
"We were in that game the whole way. A couple of calls here or there and you never know what happens," Waksmonski said. "By no stretch of the imagination did De Pere blow us out. They were a good team, but we competed hard and that's what I look for in all of our teams - getting better and competing going into the postseason. I thought we hit those goals this year.
Four Hodags named all-district
During Monday's banquet, Waksmonski recognized four members of the team who were recognized as All-District 2 by the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association. The all-district team was released last Thursday.
Brad Comer was a second-team pitcher, DeMeyer was a second-team outfielder. Quade and Easton Senoraske earned all-district honorable mention.
Comer went 8-1 overall on the mound this year with a 1.48 ERA and 37 strikeouts over 52 innings of work. DeMeyer hit .368 with a pair of home runs, 16 RBIs and a team-best 13 stolen bases while going 4-4 on the mound with a 3.92 ERA against some of Rhinelander's toughest opponents. Senoraske was fifth-best in the GNC with a .450 average in league play. He hit .359 overall and went 3-0 on the mound with a 2.00 ERA.
District 2 covers the north-central portion of the state and includes players from the Wisconsin Valley, Great Northern, Central Wisconsin, Marawood and Northern Lakes conferences, among others.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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