July 26, 2021 at 6:41 a.m.
Team review: RHS baseball
Hodags put it together in magical postseason run
Team review: RHS baseball
The 2021 Hodags did that better than any other team he's skippered.
Not only did Rhinelander make its first trip to sectionals in 17 years, the Hodags had the lead over eventual state champion Denmark in the sixth inning of the sectional finals. Though Rhinelander came up short, the Hodags had plenty to be proud of in a 12-11 campaign that saw them finish tied for second in the Great Norther Conference.
"I know that that group loved baseball and they laid it out today," an emotional Waksmonski said following the sectional loss to Denmark.
Though the story of the 2021 Hodags ended on a late June day in Wrightstown, it began more than a year prior when the entire 2020 season was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That did not stop the players from finding a way to get to Stafford Field to keep their skills sharp during the summer.
"They took it upon themselves to, every Wednesday night, get down to the field and continue playing baseball even though, as coaches, we couldn't coach them and couldn't give them instruction," Waksmonski said. "They did everything on their own. I'm just so proud of them. I don't know if there's another group we've had that would have done that."
Here are five things to know about this year's team.
Postseason run
Rhinelander's run in the WIAA tournament began with two dramatic contests to merely get out of the regional rounds.
The Hodags eked out a 1-0 victory over 2019 Division 2 state champ Antigo in the regional semifinals and then withstood a late Shawano rally to defeat the Hawks 5-4 in nine innings to take the team's first regional title since 2004.
Against Antigo, Joe Schneider scored on a groundout by his younger brother, Sam, in the fourth inning and the Hodags held on behind a four-hit shutout from Isaac Bixby. The Hodags made their defensive play of the year in the sixth, cutting down Antigo's Elliott Oregman at the plate as he trying to score the tying run from second on Eli Fleischman's two-out base hit.
Rhinelander led 4-0 in the sixth at Shawano but gave it all away as Joe Schneider reached his pitch limit and Quinn Lamers wasn't able to lock down the save. Yet, Devyn Orth came on for 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and the Hodags finally retook the lead on Joe Schneider's two-out single in the ninth that scored Bixby.
"For a while I thought we were pretty snake-bit there, but you've got to give credit to our guys," Waksmonski said after his first regional final win in six tries. "We get to practice and that's probably some of the best words I can say right now. We get to practice for a half more week or whatever that is."
Beating Antigo
Arguably, the turning point of the season took place June 1 when Rhinelander, despite committing eight errors, rallied from an early 6-0 deficit to defeat Antigo 11-10 at Stafford Field on Sam Schneider's walk-off, two-out double in the seventh.
The Hodags were down six going to the home half of the fourth, but clawed back to take a 7-6 lead in the sixth as Lamers beat a throw home following a Walker Hartman base hit.
Antigo responded with four in the seventh to retake the lead before Rhinelander answered with four of its own in the bottom of the inning to notch their first win over Antigo in high school play since 2012.
"They've been a great program for so long, you see that state championship team a couple of years ago," Lamers said. "We knew it was going to be tough today. We knew they were going to battle. They always do, no matter what sport it is, and we just came out on top today."
Early lumps
After starting the season with a pair of wins over Lakeland, the Hodags went on a five-game skid in what proved to be an incredibly difficult week of baseball. The Hodags dropped two conference games to eventual champion Medford and also fell to Wausau East in a non-conference game before losing a doubleheader at Rice Lake. Medford and Rice Lake, like Rhinelander, were D2 sectional finalists - with Rice Lake beating Medford to advance to state where it fell to Denmark in the semifinal game.
"We just have to get better, fundamentally, just shore up some of the routine stuff on the defensive end," Waksmonski said after the Rice Lake sweep dropped the team to 2-5. "Pitching-wise, especially against Medford, I thought there were chances for Medford to really kind of take us out, but I thought our pitching held together. Offensively, we just have to flat out start hitting the ball. I think going into that last game (at Rice Lake) we had scored seven runs in four games, or whatever it was. That's not going to win a lot of high school baseball games."
Statbook
Rhinelander did start hitting the ball as the season went on. After hitting .238 as a team over the first eight games, the team hit at a .280 clip the rest of the way to bring its year-long average to .265.
Joe Schneider paced the Hodags hitting at a .397 clip with 16 RBIs. Ian Miller (.345, 8 RBIs) and Lamers (.333, 17 RBIs) rounded out the top three in batting.
Sam Schneider, who hit .444 over the first half of the season cooled off in late May and June, finishing the spring at .324 - but he still led the team with 11 extra base hits and 24 RBIs. He collected seven RBIs alone in the second game of the Rice Lake doubleheader, which Rhinelander lost 14-8.
Rhinelander also got a lift during the second half of the year from Walker Hartman - whose status going into the season was unknown after he suffered a knee injury during a football game last November. Though Hartman was unable to catch - where he played as a freshman and sophomore - he turned into a designated hitter and first baseman for the Hodags, hitting .317 with 10 RBIs.
Meanwhile, on the mound, the conversation started and ended with Bixby, who was the Hodags' unquestioned ace. He went 7-1 this spring with a 1.67 ERA and 65 strikeouts over 56 2/3 innings. He was especially stellar in the postseason, combining to allow a run on four hits with 14 strikeouts in complete-game wins over Antigo and Seymour. The UW-Platteville recruit was named honorable mention All-State and first-team All-District by the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association for his efforts.
Joe Schneider was Rhinelander's No. 2 option on the mound, going 2-5 with a 3.38 ERA and 43 strikeouts over 38 2/3 innings. Orth (1-1, 3.05 ERA, 20 2/3 IPA), Ryan Jamison (1-2, 6.16 ERA, 19 1/3 IP) ended up being Rhinelander other starting options with Lamers primarily working out of the bullpen. Lamers was 1-1 with a 4.10 ERA in 14 innings, recording three saves in four chances.
What's next
The make-up of next year's team remains to be seen as the team graduates nine seniors from this year's roster, including five starters. In Bixby, Lamers, Hartman and Miller the team loses two of its top four pitchers and four of its top six hitters from this spring.
The Schneider brothers, Jamison, Kolby Ridderbusch and Jacksen Smith are the players from this year's varsity squad slated to return.
"We have five that got experience here at the varsity left. We'll be looking for a pretty big crop of JV kids here that will have to jump up, step up and make plays for us," Waksmonski said. "In particular, they've got to be committed to the offseason. Now that we have this fancy dome, we have to take advantage of that if we want to get better as a ball club."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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