July 11, 2018 at 12:46 p.m.
Rhinelander Green wins Senior League title
Beats Eagle River 7-5 in championship game
Rhinelander Green wins Senior League title
The Hodags pulled off the feat, and won the Northwoods Babe Ruth Senior League regular season championship to boot, knocking off Eagle River 7-5 at Stafford Field.
Teagan Guckenberg's two-run triple in the fifth inning proved to be the game winner for the Hodags, who held off a furious sixth-inning rally by the Eagles and then shut down the side in the seventh.
The bottom half of the Rhinelander order came up clutch all night long. Jason Huseby, the No. 9 hitter in the Hodags' 10-man lineup, hit a two-run, two-out single up the middle in the second inning that gave Rhinelander an early 2-1 lead.
After Eagle River tied the game in the third, the bottom of the order came through again as Guckenberg singled and Sinclair drew a walk to reach base. With two out in the inning and the bases loaded, No. 10 hitter Riley Lepak looked at a pair of pitches in the dirt that allowed Guckenberg and Sinclair to score.
Needing some insurance in the fifth inning, the Hodags got it. Quinn Lamers reached on a fielder's choice and Walker Hartman got aboard thanks to a dropped fly ball to right field, setting the stage for Jesse Mahner, who singled to right to drive in Lamers. Guckenberg followed with a big drive to the right center gap that scored Hartman and Mahner, and give Rhinelander a 7-2 lead.
It turned out the Hodags needed that insurance following a shaky top half of the sixth inning. A dropped pop up, a hit batsman and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out for Eagle River's clean-up hitter, Nathan Hopkins, who launched an opposite field drive to the fence in left field and cut the lead to 7-5.
That proved to be the only uneasy moment for Lamers on the mound. After allowing a leadoff single to Ty Springer in the seventh, Lamers fanned Braden Neubauer, Isaac Vedder and Frank Milanowski in order to close out the contest.
Lamers, who already tossed a couple of gems against Eagle River this season, struck out nine batters in four innings of relief to earn the win. Hartman started, pitched three innings and allowed two runs on three hits.
Rhinelander Green narrowly outhit Eagle River 6-5 in the contest. Mahner and Guckenberg each had two hits. Devyn Orth and Huseby delivered the other hits.
The win validated the regular season results for the Hodags, who entered the championship game with the league's best record at 11-1. Eagle River was second in the standings at 10-2 - both losses coming at the hands of Rhinelander Green.
Tournament begins
With the regular season over, tournament play now begins in the Northwoods Babe Ruth League.
In the Prep League, Rhinelander began tournament play Wednesday night with a quarterfinal game at Tomahawk Gold that concluded after deadline. With a win, the Hodags would face the winner of tomorrow night's Eagle River Blue-Tomahawk Blue contest Monday night in Eagle River.
The Senior League tournament gets underway this evening with top-seeded Rhinelander Green hosting Crandon at Stafford Field in the quarterfinal round. Laser Pros plays at Three Lakes in the other half of the draw.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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