May 3, 2017 at 2:56 p.m.
Hodag baseball runs past Northland Pines 9-3
Hodag baseball runs past Northland Pines 9-3
The Hodags ran early and often in the contest, stealing 10 bases in the victory. Northland Pines nearly had an error total to match, committing nine in the contest. The Hodags scored in every inning except the sixth.
"We didn't hit the ball like we usually do, but we were aggressive on the bases," RHS baseball coach Joe Waksmonski said. "Our base running was our offense today and that's one of the firsts for us. It was good to see us be aggressive, stealing bases and, obviously, we took advantage of some of their mistakes. That's what we had to do tonight."
The Hodags jumped on Northland Pines right away with three runs in the first. They tacked one in the second and two more in the third to jump out to a commanding 6-0 lead.
That was plenty of run support for Jacob DeMeyer, who allowed an unearned run on four hits and struck out nine batters over five innings to earn the win.
"JD (DeMeyer) threw pretty well," Waksmonski said. "The zone was kind of going around, I guess. It wasn't a traditional zone, but he pitched the best he could and did a pretty good job and kept their hitters off balance."
Rhinelander had only six hits on the night, including two from second baseman Cole Spaulding, but got plenty of free bases from the Eagles.
DeMeyer reached on a dropped third strike to leadoff the Hodags' half of the first and came around on a Brad Quade single. Quade and Blomdahl executed a double-steal of second and home, and Quade scored on a groundout by Spaulding to stake the Hodags to an early 3-0 lead.
DeMeyer reached on an error and scored on a Blomdahl single in the second. Alec Modrow singled home Spaulding as part of a two-run third while Tait Spencer scored on a double steal with Tyler Olson.
Brad Comer reached and scored on errors in the fourth. DeMeyer and Comer scored in the fifth in similar fashion. Both stole third and trotted home following overthrows on separate plays.
The Hodags put pressure on the Northland Pines defense all night and, time after time, the strategy paid off.
"It's something we've been working on not only this year but in years past," Waksmonski said. "We're just trying to work on our base running game. We had an opportunity to use it tonight, so we took advantage."
Northland Pines loaded the bases in the top of the fourth on an error, a walk and an infield hit. That led to an RBI single by Hunter Kaehler on a ball hit just over Brad Quade's leaping attempt at a catch in the right-center gap.
Zach Ciran hit a two-run single off reliever Matt Rudolph in the seventh.
It was a chilly afternoon for baseball at Stafford Field with the wind blowing in off Boom Lake, but the Hodags were merely happy to be home after having four attempts at a home opener called off due to inclement weather.
"Our first practice was March 20 and there was no snow on this field. I'm kind of shocked that we could not get a game in until May, but we got one in and - as traditionally is the case - April's on the road and May's going to be at home," Waksmonski said.
Rhinelander's home opener was originally scheduled to be against Medford on April 11, but that game got moved to Medford following a snowstorm in Rhinelander the night before. Medford travels to Rhinelander on Thursday before the Hodags play a home-and-home series with Lakeland on Saturday and Monday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.