June 24, 2021 at 8:44 a.m.
Denied by Denmark
Hodags push No. 1 Vikings to the brink, but fall 3-1 in sectional finals
Denied by Denmark
After knocking out Antigo and Shawano in dramatic fashion in regional play, and taking care of Seymour 6-1 in Tuesday morning's sectional semifinal, the Hodags held Denmark - the No. 1 team in the WBCA Division 2 coaches poll - scoreless just five outs away from a trip to the WIAA state tournament.
Unfortunately the Hodags could not keep the Vikings on the mat as Denmark rallied for three runs in the sixth, defeated Rhinelander 3-1 and ended an incredible run for the Hodags in the D2 sectional finals.
Only twice prior had Rhinelander baseball been one of the last eight teams standing in its division of a WIAA tournament - when it qualified for the eight-team Division 1 state tournament in 1996 and 2003.
This year's team equaled that feat despite a sub .500 regular season record, getting hot at the right time and nearly making it all the way to the D2 final four and the state tournament in Grand Chute.
Rhinelander gave 29-1 Denmark everything it could handle, but in the end, came up two runs short.
"I know that that group loved baseball and they laid it out today," Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said in a postgame interview, his voice cracking with emotion.
Things turned for the Vikings in a fateful sixth inning as Ethan Ovsak fought from down 0-2 in the count to work back to even and then sliced a double down the right field line. Two batters later, Brennen Miller sliced one to left that eluded the diving attempt of Jacksen Smith, brought Ovsak home and tied the game.
Waksmonski said Smith was caught off guard by a gusting westerly wind that affected Miller's ball while in the air.
"The wind definitely knocked it down. He thought he was camped under that, (the wind) knocked it down and took him toward the left field foul line," he said. "It's just one of those situations where it's a tough play to make and, unfortunately we didn't make it and they took advantage of that."
Joe Schneider then hit Hayden Konkol with a pitch following a long nine-pitch battle, bringing the Hodag junior righty to his daily 100-pitch limit. Devyn Orth came on in relief and walked Logan Paplham to load the bases before getting Reis Johnson to ground back to second for a force out at home for the second out.
Orth, who logged 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief in the regional final at Shawano, could not get out No. 3 in the sixth as Reese Piontek ducked on an inside fastball that glanced off the top of his batting helmet, forcing in the go-ahead run.
The Hodags went to Quinn Lamers after that, who gave up an RBI single to Owen DeGrand to make it 3-1, but Kolby Ridderbusch made a throw home to cut down Johnson's courtesy runner, Drake Locklear, and keep it a two-run game.
"You've got to play for 21 outs against a team like that and, unfortunately, we got to about 15," Waksmonski said.
The Hodags got a run in the first inning as Logan Paplham proved wild in a starting effort. He walked Isaac Bixby and then threw two wild pitches - one that got Bixby to second and another that brought him home.
After Paplham walked Ryan Jamison with one out in the second, Denmark made a pitching change, bringing in Miller, who kept Rhinelander off balance the rest of the day.
Sam Schneider singled off of Miller to give Rhinelander runners at first and second with one out, but Miller struck out Tim Fox and Bixby looking to get out of the jam. The Hodags had two on and one out again in the fifth after Bixby singled and Lamers reached on an error, but Miller again got out of it by striking out Joe Schneider and getting Walker Hartman to fly out weakly to right.
Miller struck out seven, walked nobody and allowed only three hits in 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, taking advantage of a strike zone that favored the outside corner of the plate.
"He just pounded that spot and pounded and pounded and pounded," Waksmonski said. "We talked about it, that's what you're going to hit and we just could not pull the trigger at times. The times we did pull the trigger, he threw that slider, and he had a pretty good slider going as well. You've got a combination like that with two quality pitches, plus you're able to pound that particular part of the zone, he was tough to hit."
Joe Schneider settled in for the Hodags after allowing the first two batters of the game to reach, keeping Denmark scoreless until the sixth with a five strikeout effort. However the Vikings' ability to battle with two strikes eventually caught up with Schneider, drove up his pitch count and chased him from the mound. Of the 103 pitches Schneider threw, 45 of them were on two-strike counts. The Vikings fouled off 15 two-strike pitches against Schneider in the contest.
"They were relentless at the plate, all their hitters one through nine," Waksmonski said. "They didn't really pound the ball very hard. They found a couple of holes here and there, but they were just relentless and they were able to drive up Joe's pitch count.
"They came as advertised as the No. 1 team in the state. Their lineup was relentless, but then the quality arms. We saw the first pitcher they had in Game 1 (Piontek) and the two arms they threw at us in Game 2. They're all quality arms. They're arms that college coaches are looking at. They're a deep team, a team with a lot of depth in the lineup and a lot of depth in the pitching department."
Rhinelander 6, Seymour 1
The Hodags advanced to the sectional final round behind another gem from Bixby, who kept Seymour to two hits and struck out six as the Hodags took the semifinal 6-1.
"You could just tell, there wasn't a moment out there that was too big for him. He was confident. He was in control and it was amazing," Waksmonski said.
Rhinelander also got plenty of production from the bottom of its order, which combined for six hits and sparked the Hodags to a two-run second to take the lead and a four-run fourth to extend it.
Ian Miller got the game's first hit, a single to right, to get things going in the second before Kolby Ridderbusch doubled deep to right. Ryan Jamison followed with a sacrifice fly to score a run and Fox added an RBI single to make it 2-0.
Seymour's lone run came in the third as Will DeBruin reached on an error and scored on a Mason Dorn single, but Rhinelander answered back in the fourth as the first five batters of the inning reached base. Hartman started it with a double before Miller reached on an hit past an infield that was expecting a bunt. Ridderbusch followed with an RBI double. Miller scored as Jamison hit a slow roller up the first base line and ended up safe as Jacob Woldt dropped the tag on him. Fox followed with an RBI single and Lamers added a run-scoring ground out two-batters later.
That was more than enough for Bixby, who was nearly flawless. He walked three batters, but two of those came with two outs and the bases clear in the seventh inning.
"I developed a little slider over the second half of the season. I think that's what's been my key pitch so far. I've been working that outside fastball and the slider away," Bixby said. "It was a huge success for me today."
The end of the run
The Hodags' season ends with a 12-11 record and a runner-up finish in the Great Northern Conference. But Waksmonski said the journey for this year's team started last May when the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly there after a group led by Bixby and Joe Schneider started gathering players for informal practices at Stafford Field that continued throughout 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."
Of course, this group of players still has one more opportunity to do something special as many of them are playing for the Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels in American Legion baseball this summer. That season began right away on Wednesday with a home contest against Mosinee and the team hopes it will conclude with a trip to the Class AA state tournament in Antigo at the end of July.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.