May 10, 2021 at 8:33 a.m.
Rhinelander baseball closes out a winless week
Rhinelander baseball closes out a winless week
The Hodags dropped three more games late last week, as its losing streak crept to five games. Rhinelander lost to Medford 5-1 Thursday in Medford before dropping both ends of a non-conference doubleheader at Rice Lake, 9-0 and 14-8, Saturday.
Despite allowing 23 runs with the back half of its rotation in Rice Lake, Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said he was relatively pleased with the pitching effort. It's the defense and hitting that needs work as the Hodags get into the heart of the regular season.
"We just have to get better, fundamentally, just shore up some of the routine stuff on the defensive end," he said. "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."
Medford 5, Rhinelander 1
A combination of struggles at the plate and in the field ultimately cost Rhinelander on Thursday as Medford completed a two-game sweep of the Hodags.
Rhinelander managed only four hits off starter Spike Alexander, and the Hodags committed six errors in a four-run loss.
"They're a really good team but we have to realize too that if we play better, those scores are a lot different than what they turned out to be," Waksmonski said afterward. "We have it in us, we just have to prove it."
Medford's Caleb Guden hit a leadoff home run off Rhinelander's Joe Schneider in the bottom of the first inning to give the Raiders a lead they would never relinquish. Tanner Hraby singled and scored on a Blaine Seidl sacrifice fly to give Medford a 2-0 lead.
Rhinelander loaded the bases with two out in the second off back-to-back hits by Isaac Bixby and Joe Schneider, followed by a Quinn Lamers walk, but Sam Schneider popped out to right to end the threat.
"It was a two-out rally and we just couldn't punch any across there. If we're able to punch one or two there and that's a totally different ball game, but just couldn't quite do it," Waksmonski said. "Sam hit a ball down the right field line. Their three fielders converged. Their right fielder made a nice play and had he missed the ball or dropped it, it was right in fair territory and we could have scored two, maybe three there."
Medford responded with two more runs in the bottom of the inning as Seidl singled and came around on a Logan Baumgartner sacrifice fly. Spike Alexander singled and scored after Emett Grunwald reached on a two-out error. Another two-out error in the fourth allowed Hraby to score after he led off the inning with a double.
Joe Schneider was chased after four innings for Rhinelander, allowing five runs, but only three earned, on five hits with four strikeouts.
"I thought, for the most part, Joe pitched a lot better than he did last Friday against Lakeland. Medford's just a much better team, but I think he pitched really well considering," Waksmonski said. "We made a lot of mistakes behind him defensively tonight ... And a lot of it was routine that we need to make. I mean it's just flat out throw the ball, catch the ball."
Rhinelander was able to break up the shutout in the seventh as Jacksen Smith reached on an error, and eventually scored on a two-out single up the middle by Bixby. That single chased Alexander after 6 2/3 innings of four-hit baseball with only one strikeout.
Logan Baumgartner came on and needed only one pitch to end the game as Joe Schneider popped to earn the game. He was credited with the save in a four-run game because he entered the game with Rhinelander having the tying run in the on-deck circle.
Rice Lake doubleheader
The Hodags managed only three hits in the first game and Rice Lake used a couple of big innings in a 9-0 shutout. Despite a seven-RBI performance from Sam Schneider in the second game, the Hodags did not have enough offense to overcome a 10-run first for the Warriors and dropped the nightcap, 14-8.
Miscues cost the Hodags in the first game. Two runs scored in the bottom of the first as Joe Kroeger reached on an error. Kroeger later came around to score on a passed ball to give the Warriors a 3-0 lead after one.
That's the way the score remained until the sixth as Rice Lake plated six runs - five of which came on or after a two-out error that allowed Alex Belongia to reach base.
"There were some defensive plays that we could have made that we just did not make," Waksmonski said. "It felt like a close game up until that point. It was 3-0 and we had some opportunities to get a couple back early on and had some base running issues and kick of ran ourselves out of some innings."
Ryan Jamison went 5 1/3 innings before reaching the pitch count limit for Rhinelander. He allowed six runs, only three earned, on four hits. Lamers worked the remainder of the sixth for Rhinelander.
"It seemed like the first six guys were hitting the ball hard to spots before Ryan kind of settled in," Waksmonski said. "Then the second, third time through, I thought Jamison did a great job keeping them off balance. He did a real nice job after settling in."
Rhinelander jumped out to a 4-0 lead in Game 2, but that quickly evaporated as the Warriors spoiled Smith's varsity pitching debut. The Warriors tagged Smith for eight hits in only two-thirds of an inning to take a lead they would never relinquish. Smith was also hindered by some defensive miscues, as a dropped third strike allowed a batter to reach and an error in right field allowed the inning to continue.
"They had a number of (plays where), in the book it's a single, but a lot of bloop singles and ground balls that found the hole," Waksmonski said. "It was a tough luck outing for Jacksen, but I thought even though the scorebook doesn't say so, I thought it was a pretty decent outing on his part."
Meanwhile Sam Schneider pretty much was the offense for the Hodags in the second game, as he collected three doubles. He drove in three in the first before coming home on an Ian Miller sacrifice fly. He hit a two-run double in the second and another two-run double in the sixth.
"Sam had a great day today," Waksmonski said of the sophomore cleanup hitter who now has 15 RBIs in only seven games. "The great thing is about him it seems like whenever he has runners on in scoring position he's able to punch a single or punch a double. We go back to Sam and his approach. His power alley is the right center gap and he's just able to take those pitches on the outer half and just drive them that way."
Rice Lake tacked on two runs in the fourth, and single runs each in the fifth and sixth in the second game.
Rhinelander (2-5, 2-2 Great Northern) travels to Mosinee this afternoon. The Indians dropped a pair of one-run games in a doubleheader at Antigo Saturday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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