May 2, 2018 at 1:43 p.m.
Hodag baseball improves to 6-0 with wins over East, Pines
Hodag baseball improves to 6-0 with wins over East, Pines
The team picked up three more wins earlier this week, squeaking by Wausau East 3-2 Monday in Wausau before sweeping a doubleheader from Northland Pines 7-2 and 19-1 Tuesday in the home opener at Stafford Field.
It wasn't entirely a cakewalk for the Hodags. They had only two hits Monday in Wausau and were in an early 2-0 hole against Northland Pines in the first game on Tuesday, but coach Joe Waksmonski said the Hodags got just enough offense when they needed it to complement what he feels will be the team's blueprint for success throughout the season.
"For the most part, we're a pitching and defense team," he said. "It was nice to have the bats come alive in game 2 (against Pines), but we're going to rely on our pitching and defense this year."
Rhinelander 3, Wausau East 2
A combination of solid pitching, defense and Wausau East mistakes was enough for the Hodags to overcome a cold day at the plate as they defeated the Lumberjacks Monday in Wausau.
The Hodags collected only two hits, but took the lead for good after drawing five straight walks in the first inning and held on after Wausau East made a comeback in the fourth.
East starter Carter Prey walked the first five Hodag batters, giving Rhinelander a 2-0 lead. That proved to be a mixed blessing for the Rhinelander. Prey followed with three straight strikeouts to end the inning and kept Rhinelander hitless over three innings of work.
"We just ultimately were unable to capitalize and make it a bigger inning," Waksmonski said, calling Prey effectively wild in his outing. "He threw decently hard and it just seemed like after our guys saw all those walks we just kind of got into a little passive mindset. We were kind of expecting the pitches to be balls, instead they were strikes and we were not taking very good swings at them."
Josh Randolph finally collected Rhinelander's first hit in the fourth inning, singling off reliever Ben Liss-'s-Gravemade. He scored two batters later when Brad Quade reached on one of five Wausau East errors in the contest.
Forrest Kronberger's two-run double in the bottom of the inning cut Rhinelander's lead to one, but the Hodags allowed only two base runners after that.
Randolph got the win, allowing two runs on four hits over 5 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts. Brad Comer did not allow a hit over the final 1 2/3 innings to pick up the save.
"I thought he did a really nice job keeping their hitters off balance, hitting his spots," Waksmonski said of Randolph's pitching performance. "Defensively, once again, no errors tonight. We made all the routine plays. We didn't have any super outstanding defensive plays, but we were just solid behind our pitchers tonight."
Jacob DeMeyer collected Rhinelander's second hit in the contest, a double in the seventh inning.
Pines doubleheader
Nick Edwards got Northland Pines on the board with a two-run single in the first but, after that, it was all Rhinelander.
The Hodags tied it in the second, took the lead for good with a three-run third and added some insurance in the fifth.
"It was a little bit of a wake-up call in the first inning," Waksmonski said. "They came ready to hit right away. We had some pitches over the middle of the plate, a couple of defensive - not necessarily miscues - but mentally we just didn't look like we were ready to play."
Owen White went 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs in the first game. He put the Hodags on the board on the back end of back-to-back doubles that scored Comer and came around himself on an RBI single by Eric Grulke. White added a two-run double in the fifth to round out the scoring.
The top of the order gave Rhinelander the lead in the third as Quade singled home Cole Spaulding and DeMeyer doubled in Quade before the first out was recorded. Following an error, Comer drove in DeMeyer on a sacrifice fly.
That made a winner out of Bryce Schickert, who struck out nine and scattered five hits in a complete-game, 98-pitch effort.
"Bryce Schickert got into a nice groove, outside of a hiccup there one inning when we had a couple of defensive miscues and made him throw extra pitches," Waksmonski said. "It was big from Bryce to get us through that game on a straight 100 pitches and save us on some of our relief pitching."
Rhinelander pounced on Northland Pines right away in game 2, scoring nine runs in the first inning as it defeated the Eagles in five innings via the 10-run rule.
Comer had a monster second game at the plate going 3-for-3 with eight RBIs, capped off by a grand slam in the fifth inning. He finished a triple short of the cycle.
"It was a big poke and he had a good approach the whole game," Waksmonski said. "Even in game 1 he hit a ball to the right center gap for a double and I think she had another double over the right fielder's head. When Brad's hitting the ball to right field with power, things are going well. When a pitch comes inside like that, he's going to make that pitcher pay."
With three runs already across in the first, the Hodags had eight straight batters reach after the bases were clear with two outs. A two-run double by Grulke and a two-run single by Spaulding, who was 3-for-3 in game 2, highlighted the two-out rally.
"We just kept after it. The bats just kept going," Waksmonski said. "Normally, in that situation we seem to be satisfied with that three runs, but we just kept after it. We had great approaches at the plate, great at bats and we were able to put up that big nine-spot."
Comer added a two-run double in the fourth. White singled him home and the Hodags added a couple of runs on Northland Pines miscues. Spaulding hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth before Comer's big blast. In all, 16 of Rhinelander's 19 runs in the game came with two outs.
Liam Stevens gave up three hits in four scoreless innings to earn the win. Aiden Lifschultz hit an RBI single off White in the fifth for Pines' lone run.
The Hodags (6-0, 2-0 Great Northern) host Medford in a doubleheader this afternoon.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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