May 31, 2017 at 1:13 p.m.
Hodags pound Green Bay Southwest in regional semis
De Pere up next
Hodags pound Green Bay Southwest in regional semis
Alec Modrow had a four-RBI day, Brad Comer was effective on the mound and the Hodags scored 12 times in the first three innings to rout the Trojans 12-1 in five innings in a Division 1 regional semifinal at Stafford Field.
The win advanced Rhinelander (17-5, 9-3 Great Northern) to the regional finals at De Pere Thursday.
Rhinelander sat back and let Green Bay Southwest's pitchers make mistakes. Three Trojan pitchers combined to walk 11 batters, including two with the bases loaded. Two runs scored on wild pitches and another crossed on a passed ball.
"We talked about opportunities presenting themselves and being ready for them," Waksmonski said. "Today their pitchers, they threw kind of hard. They were effectively wild at points, but our hitters were patient. We worked a lot of counts into our favor and, eventually, worked into a lot of balls. We scored on a lot of wild pitches, took a lot of bases today in that regard."
Marcus Rauschenbach won a long battle at the plate against Comer to give Southwest an early 1-0 lead, but it was all Hodags from there.
Rhinelander racked up four hits off Rauschenbach in the bottom of the first, including a single by Easton Senoraske and a double by Jacob DeMeyer to start the inning. Senoraske scored on a Brad Quade groundout. Cole Spaulding and Modrow added RBI hits later in the inning.
DeMeyer reached on a fielder's choice in the second, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Comer's two-out single to left. Comer scored after Tyler Blomdahl reached on an inning-extending error. Rauschenbach was done two batters later following his fourth walk of the inning as Modrow drew a bases loaded base on balls to force in Quade. Blomdahl later scored on a passed ball to make it 7-1.
While Rhinelander was patient at the plate, the Hodags were also clutch when they had to be. Five of their seven hits in the contest came with two out.
"The hits that we got, it seemed like it was with runners in scoring position, with two outs. We generated a lot of offense that way," Waksmonski said.
That was true for Modrow in the third as he singled home a pair with two gone to cap off a five-run third and cap off an impressive performance in his last high school game at Stafford Field.
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"He's starting to get zoned in right now," Waksmonski said. "I know he was working beforehand with his brother and it's starting to pay off. You know a lot of guys, especially seniors, see that it's starting to get to the end and it's go time right now. Alec is trying to take advantage of the opportunity that he has."
Rauschenbach singled on the 10th pitch of his at bat against Comer in the first inning to plate Southwest's lone run. He scored J.T. Bolssen, who reached on a swinging bunt earlier in the inning.
Comer allowed only one more hit the rest of the way - a one-out double to Masonn Frausto in the third. The Hodag junior struck out two and walked three in the contest.
"That first inning, he had that great battle with the No. 4 hitter there. Unfortunately, he got the hit, but Brad's not afraid of a battle like that," Waksmonski said. "He's not afraid to give in, in those situations. He went after their hitters today and threw really well I thought."
Rhinelander will face another Fox River Classic Conference team Thursday as it travels to De Pere. The Redbirds figure to be a much more difficult opponent, however, after finishing second in the conference (13-9,12-6 FRCC).
"We know they're a really good hitting team," Waksmonski said. "They're one of the top hitting teams in their conference and that's kind of been their calling card for the year, hitting the ball. They've got numerous players in the lineup ranked throughout the top of their conference. They've got one pitcher in the top one or two over there in their conference. I imagine we'll see him as well."
Lucas Reynolds led the FRCC with a .459 batting average, and had 13 RBIs, as of the conference's last statistical update May 21. Jacob Enli (.393, 0 HR, 18 RBI), Jordan Zimmerman (.388, 0, 12) and Jake Fiets (.377, 1, 16) were also in the top eight in batting in the FRCC.
Jackson Wright (4-3, 2.72 ERA) and Matt Freeman (3-2, 2.21 ERA) pitched the bulk of the conference innings for the Redbirds.
"They're a complete team and it's going to take an A game by us, basically a flawless game, to compete and play with them," Waksmonski said.
First pitch is slated for 4:30 p.m. at De Pere High School's Aurora BayCare Field.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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