May 27, 2019 at 7:22 a.m.
Let there be light
Following darkness-shortened doubleheader, Hodags, Raiders meet again for trip to regional finals
Let there be light
The Hodags, who took Game 1 of the twinbill 7-4, had rallied from a 7-0 hole in Game 2 to make it 7-6 after five innings when darkness forced the game to be called.
Medford ran the table from there, ending Antigo's run of six straight GNC titles. Rhinelander, meanwhile, scuffled to a 6-6 conference record. The Raiders earned the No. 1 seed for the WIAA tournament while the Hodags were relegated to the fifth seed.
This afternoon, Rhinelander will get one more shot at Medford, with much more on the line. The two teams will cross paths again at Raider Field in Medford. To the winner, a berth in tomorrow's regional finals against either Antigo or Merrill.
The Hodags enter Medford today hoping to take care of unfinished business.
"I think our guys definitely want that shot," coach Joe Waksmonski said. "They felt like they were a little cheated out of those last two innings because we don't know how those last two innings would have played out. If we would have been able to finish off the comeback, that would have looked a lot different in the conference standings and maybe in our seeds here."
Medford breezed by Abbotsford/Colby 18-0 in the tournament opener last Thursday while Hodag seniors Bryce Schickert and Josh Randolph outdueled Mosinee in a 3-1 upset win over a team that had made back-to-back trips to the WIAA state tournament in Division 2.
Both games of the April 30 doubleheader were tight and Waksmonski said he expects more of the same this afternoon.
"It's going to be a battle," he said. "I think it's going to be two evenly-matched teams. Both teams have their strengths and weaknesses. Neither team is without its flaws and it's going to be about who plays their best."
The stats seem to bear out those facts. Medford was second in the league in both runs scored (7.2) and runs allowed (3.3), behind Antigo, but a 5-2, 16-8 sweep of the Red Robins May 7 helped the Raiders win the conference title. Medford hit .284 in league play this spring, only three points better than Rhinelander (.281), but it's staff ERA of 2.06 was second in the conference being Medford.
Waksmonski said he expects today could be another pitchers' duel as both teams will have all arms available. For Rhinelander, that means lefty Bryce Schickert, who scattered four hits and struck out seven over 5 2/3 innings in a win over Mosinee, can pitch along with the rest of the staff.
For Medford, that likely means hard-throwing righty Cade Alexander, who went 5-0 in GNC play with a 1.47 ERA and 27 strikeouts over 28 2/3 innings. He pitched four innings of scoreless, three-hit ball against Rhinelander April 30.
"They pulled him for whatever reason that night and that's when we made our comeback," Waksmonski said, referencing Rhinelander's six-run fifth inning that brought the Hodags back within a run. "We know what Cade has. He throws hard. He's got a hard fastball, hard slider. We know what we're up against offensively but, again, it's going to be up to (our) pitching and defense."
Offensively, Nick Retterath and Spike Alexander packed the most punch for the Raiders, hitting .432 and .400 respectively. Spike, the younger of the Alexander brothers, led the league with 19 runs scored.
First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at Raider Field, located behind Medford High School.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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