May 5, 2017 at 1:41 p.m.
Baseball: McMurry, Raiders shut down Hodags
Baseball: McMurry, Raiders shut down Hodags
John McMurry, in his first varsity start, scattered four hits and outdueled Rhinelander's Brad Comer in a 1-0 victory for the Raiders at Stafford Field.
Taylor Shaw scored for the Raiders on a Kolten Hanson ground out in the fourth. That proved to be the only scoring in a briskly-played game that took only 1 hour, 29 minutes to complete.
"Both pitchers, I thought, threw really well. Both defenses, I thought, played exceptionally well," RHS baseball coach Joe Waksmonski said.
"It was just a little thing where I believe Shaw stole two bases and they were able to get him in on a fielder's choice. It's just the little things like that, that play big in a one-run ball game."
McMurry faced one batter over the minimum in a 72-pitch effort. He did not walk a batter, struck out four and Rhinelander helped his cause by committing three outs on the base paths.
"I thought he threw harder than any freshman that we've seen," Waksmonski said of McMurry. "I wouldn't say he was a soft thrower by any stretch of the imagination. He mixed his speeds well. His curveball wasn't a tight curveball like we're used to but, again, it just kept our hitters off balance and gave our hitters something to think about in the back of our head."
Rhinelander's best chance to get back in the game in the sixth inning on a one-out double by Alec Modrow.
Modrow advanced to third on a Matt Rudolph groundout but was stranded there when leadoff man Easton Senoraske got caught looking at an 0-2 curveball that barely dropped into the top edge of the strike zone.
Comer allowed eight hits over six innings in a tough-luck loss for Rhinelander. He struck out four, walked three and wiggled out of a couple of early jams to keep Medford off the board. The Raiders loaded the bases with one out in the first, but Comer fanned Ben Lindgren and got Shaw to ground out back to the mound to end the inning.
Medford had four hits in the second, but could not manage a run. Brady Loertscher was thrown out trying to go from first to third on a bunt single by Hanson. Hanson was thrown to end the inning trying to score from second on a base hit by Trenton Woebbeking.
The Raiders finally dented the scoreboard in the fourth as Shaw singled to right, stole second and third, and scored on a fielder's choice by Hanson.
Comer struggled to keep his pitch count in check most of the way after needing 30 pitches to get out of the first. Of the first 18 batters he faced, he threw only six first-pitch strikes - and four of those were on balls that were put in play.
"That's a recipe for disaster. Fortunately, for us, it didn't really affect us," Waksmonski said of Comer's struggles to get ahead in the count early in the game. "We got out of some innings where there could have been some more damage early on. Then Brad found his groove and, in the last three innings, threw about as well as any pitcher we've had."
Comer settled in late but was pulled prior to the seventh sitting on 93 pitches, seven shy of the daily 100-pitch limit. Senoraske worked a scoreless seventh for Rhinelander.
Senoraske, Brad Quade and Cole Spaulding also had hits for the Hodags, but were erased on the base paths. Quade was caught stealing following a single in the second and the Hodags were victimized by right fielder Cameron Wenzel, who recorded three outfield assists on the night. Wenzel doubled off Senoraske on a fly out by Jacob DeMeyer in the first, threw out Spaulding who was trying to stretch a single into a double in the fifth and gunned out Tait Spencer in the sixth, playing shallow on a ground ball hit through the hole between first and second.
"Their outfield made some fabulous plays, especially in right field," Waksmonski said. "(Wenzel) threw a couple of our guys out. I think he had three assists tonight. They made some nice plays defensively."
Neither team committed an error in the contest.
Rhinelander (7-3, 4-1 Great Northern) now prepares for a home-and-home series with Lakeland. The Hodags will host the Thunderbirds today at 11 a.m. at Stafford Field and then travel to Minocqua Monday afternoon to make up a contest that was postponed April 27 and 28 due to snow.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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