May 20, 2021 at 9:07 a.m.
RHS baseball gets bats going, routs Northland Pines
Hodags then edged by Everest in non-conference
RHS baseball gets bats going, routs Northland Pines
The Hodags had nine more hits Tuesday, but fell in a non-conference contest to D.C. Everest, 7-4.
All nine Hodags starters reached base Monday against the Eagles and contributed a run, hit and/or an RBI. Meanwhile, Isaac Bixby was nearly flawless as he recorded eight strikeouts over four innings to earn the win.
"We talked before the game, we just have to worry about what we can control today - put together good at-bats," coach Joe Waksmonski said. "The first inning we got a couple of walks right away, but to be able to score those runs and push across a couple runs was huge."
The Hodags jumped out early with four runs each in the first and second innings. Bixby walked and came around when Joe Schneider reached on an error to second. Sam Schneider followed with a two-run double to record his team-leading 16th and 17th RBIs of the spring. Sam Schneider later scored on a wild pitch as Rhinelander took a 4-0 lead after one.
Lamers singled home Tim Fox with one out in the second, but the Hodags did most of their damage with two outs against reliever Kadin Kroeplin. Lamers scored on a wild pitch and Ian Miller reached on an error to keep the inning alive. Ryan Jamison and Jacksen Smith then followed with back-to-back RBI singles to give Rhinelander an 8-0 lead.
Lamers tripled home a run in the third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Joe Schneider to round out the scoring.
In addition to recording seven hits, the Hodags had seven flyouts to the outfield in the game, which Waksmonski said was an indication the team's bats are starting to come around.
"We've been preaching that non-stop for the last month now, just take what the pitcher gives you," he said. "If he's going to throw you on the outer half, that's where you've got to hit the ball - right-center, right field. You can see that things are slowly starting to turn in that direction. Even our outs today, we had a lot of balls where we hit the ball into the outfield and they made a couple of nice running catches on some of those balls."
Bixby allowed only two hits in four innings and did not walk any batters as he improved to 3-1 on the season. Jack Bunter had a leadoff bloop single to right off Bixby in the third and Matthew Szarfanski reached on a infield hit to lead off the fourth.
"You don't want to expect a performance like that from Isaac, but it's almost second nature now that when Isaac's pitching, you're going to see something like that on the mound," Waksmonski said.
Walker Hartman recorded his first hit of the spring for the Hodags with a single in the fourth inning. Hartman started at designated hitter in his first start, and second appearance, of the spring as he works his way back from an offseason knee injury.
D.C. Everest 7, Rhinelander 4
The long ball proved to be the difference on Tuesday as Rhinelander dropped a home non-conference contest to D.C. Everest.
The Evergreens hit three home runs in the game, including Owen Latendresse's solo shot in the fifth inning that broke a 4-4 deadlock, as Everest rallied to win.
"Both teams hit the ball well. I just felt D.C. Everest did things just a little bit better than we did," Waksmonski said. "They had 11 hits. We had nine, but three of their hits are home runs. We had a couple extra base hits, but they had the three home runs and a couple of other extra base hits as well. When they hit the ball, they made it count."
Evan Gartzke homered off Rhinelander starter Ryan Jamison to lead off the game, but the Hodags answered in the bottom of the first with a bases-clearing two-out double by Hartman that made it 3-1.
Keegan Bohlman hit a two-run shot to tie it in the fourth before Ben Adams doubled and eventually scored on a grounder by Tanner Graham.
Lamers singled home Fox to tie it for Rhinelander in the bottom of the fourth, but the Hodags were twice thrown out at third in the inning to end the rally.
"Defensively, they threw out a couple of our base runners, threw behind them after we hit the ball pretty solid," Waksmonski said. "We had some close plays that we didn't quite get there and make the play. It kind of cost us. Those two outs at third base are obviously crucial in those situations."
Everest drew back-to-back bases loaded walks in the sixth to add two more insurance runs. The Hodags threatened in the seventh as Joe Schneider reached on a two-out error and Sam Schneider walked to bring the tying run to the plate, but Jamison grounded out to second to end the game.
Jamison went four innings in a no-decision for Rhinelander allowing four runs on five hits. Joe Schneider took the loss allowing three runs on five hits. After beginning his outing with a bases loaded walk, Orth settled in and allowed no runs on a hit over the final 1 2/3 innings.
"We saw a couple of different arms today," Waksmonski said. "Ryan started off and did a great job, even after he gave up the leadoff home run of the game, he came back and got the next three guys out and was kind of cruising there through certain portions of the lineup. I thought he did a really nice job. We didn't want to get him to the third time through Everest's order. We brought Joe in and then Devyn came in at the end and did a nice job as well."
Bixby recorded three hits for the Hodags in the game while Joe Schneider and Hartman had two hits each. Everest's fifth-inning rally made a winner out of Nathan Langbehn on the mound. Wyatt Miles did not allow a hit over the final three innings to earn the save.
Up next
The Hodags (4-7, 4-3 Great Northern) were scheduled to finish up a home-and-home set with Northland Pines yesterday in Eagle River. Rhinelander travels to Tomahawk on Monday before returning home to face Merrill this coming Tuesday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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