March 31, 2017 at 4:45 p.m.
Experienced squad to lead Hodags in '17
Experienced squad to lead Hodags in '17
Rhinelander returns an experienced squad that went 15-11 last spring and finished third in the GNC with an 8-4 league mark. Six starters from that team return and the Hodags will look to round out the lineup with a number of players who saw varsity action during Legion play last summer.
"There's a lot coming back, but we've talked about that we just can't rest on our laurels," coach Joe Waksmonski said. "We've got to have some other guys step up and the guys that are coming back, there's more expectations on them, too. It looks good on paper, but it's all about performing when we have to perform."
Offensively, the top half of Rhinelander's lineup is pretty much set. Senior Easton Senoraske (.304, 0 HR, 17 RBI, 13 steals between high school and Legion play in 2016) and junior Jacob DeMeyer (.340, 1, 15, 11 steals) will set the plate for the heart of the order, which includes junior Brad Comer (.418, 2, 57), senior Tyler Blomdahl (.331, 7, 33) and junior Brad Quade (.314, 1, 26).
"We do have a lot of experience coming back and they've played a lot of varsity baseball, not only in the spring but throughout the summer as well," Waksmonski said. "They've all had success and that's good for us, obviously, to come back and have that experience in the lineup. Now we've got to have some our younger guys come up to be more of a complete lineup."
Others returning who saw varsity experience last spring or summer include seniors Matt Rudolph, Tait Spencer and Alec Modrow, junior Cole Spaulding and sophomores Josh Randolph and Liam Stevens.
There will be some holes to fill, however, with the graduation of seniors Brandon Reinthaler, Kurt Zuiker and Brandon Hess. All three hit .260 or better last season, and they were also three of the team's most experienced pitchers. Hess (8-1, 2.67 ERA) had the staff's best record last year and got the start in Rhinelander's 5-3 win over D.C. Everest in the WIAA regional semifinals - the Hodags first playoff win in six years.
DeMeyer (8-5, 4.52, 1 sv) appears to be the staff's ace entering the season. He emerged as one of Rhinelander's top pitchers last spring before injuring his ankle shortly before the WIAA tournament. He returned later in the summer and outdueled Mosinee's Bryce Graveen in a contest that eventually helped Rhinelander win the inaugural Great Northern Legion Conference title.
"I think right now it looks like he's got some of the best stuff on the staff and is one of our harder throwers," Waksmonski said. "It's going to be his role to start out, to be our ace and be our shutdown guy."
But the Hodags are relatively green on the mound behind DeMeyer. Comer (2-1, 3.13) and Senoraske (3-1, 4.36, 1 sv) began to see more extensive action last summer and Rudolph (2-1, 6.11) is back after an eye injury cut short his 2016 campaign. A deep pitching staff was once considered a luxury. Now, it's imperative, given new WIAA regulations this season that set both daily pitch-count limits and mandate up to three days of rest for pitchers, depending on the number of pitches they throw in a game.
"We need at least six for sure," Waksmonski said of his pitching staff. "We could go anywhere from six to eight and that's depending on the week, how many games we are playing and what the results are with some of our first pitchers.
"How deep it is right now? We just need to get more varsity experience. We have guys that threw a lot last summer and that was one way of getting experience. Not a lot of guys got experience last spring, but last summer we had Comer and Easton and those guys who got plenty of starts in. It's just all about getting them ready for the competition here. We can't count on JD to pitch a full seven innings right now. He might only be able to throw five or six, depending on where his pitch count is."
Rhinelander had six pitchers throw Tuesday in a scrimmage at Marathon, the four with varsity pitching experience plus Quade and Spencer, the only lefty of the group.
Waksmonski said he expects defense to be a strength after the team recorded a serviceable .946 fielding percentage last spring while allowing 30 unearned runs. The Hodags did not commit an error in Tuesday's scrimmage. Most of the infield returns with Comer sliding from second to third to take Reinthaler's spot and Spaulding and Randolph battling for the start at second. Blomdahl returns after logging the majority of the innings last year behind the plate. Spencer saw the majority of time at first and Senoraske played almost exclusively at shortstop last spring.
DeMeyer, Quade and Modrow lead an outfield that took a bit of a hit with the graduation of Zuiker and Hess, but Waksmonski said he's confident in his current personnel.
"We have team speed that we haven't had in the past," he said. "We've got some guys that have shown that they have the speed to cover a lot of ground out there. I think we'll have plenty of options. It's going to be all about who's going to hit, though, and those guys will be the ones who play in those spots."
According to Waksmonski, the goal for his team is always the same - to compete for a conference title and to play its best baseball entering the tournament. Antigo has enjoyed a four-year run atop the Great Northern Conference and was the only GNC-affiliated Legion team not to take part in the GNLC last summer. Waksmonski said the Red Robins are still the team to beat until somebody knocks them off.
"They've got their No. 1 pitcher coming back and they've got some young pitchers too," he said. "They never seem to run out of any Kirschs or Tatros, those are just tough kids and good ball players. They're very smart, very well-coached and they really don't ever make mistakes. When you play a team like that, you've just got to be on your best and bring your A-game.
"It's always fun in the spring to see which teams got better and which teams stayed stagnant. My hope is we got better and we'll be able to compete with the top."
The Hodags open the conference season April 11 against Medford at Stafford Field but are scheduled to play plenty of baseball between now and then. The season opens Monday at Green Bay Southwest, and the first week includes road trips to Wittenberg-Birnamwood, Merrill and Shawano later in the week.
"In years past, we have not had a good chance to get non-conference games in before where our first game is a conference game," Waksmonski said. "It's going to be imperative that we get as many reps as we can and get as many games as we can because it just seems like it's a race at the beginning of the year. The teams that get the most games in are the ones that are most prepared going into May."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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