May 9, 2022 at 9:20 a.m.
Baseball: Raiders down Hodags in doubleheader
Baseball: Raiders down Hodags in doubleheader
Medford took Game 1 11-1 at Stafford Field. Then the Hodags couldn't get out of the seventh inning and force extra innings in Game 2 as Tanner Hraby's walk-off double gave the Raiders a 2-1 victory in the nightcap.
Rhinelander coach Joe Waksmonski said he is hoping, like last year, some lumps with a young team in early May will lead to success down the stretch and into the WIAA playoffs.
"I thought that was a great high school baseball game in Game 2. Games like that come down to the little things," he said. "You've just got to give Medford credit there. At the end, they executed just a little bit more than we did.
"Like I said to the guys after the game, it's ultimately playing your best baseball going into the postseason and teams like this will help us do that."
Rhinelander ace Ryan Jamison kept pace with Medford's Logan Baumgartner in a classic pitcher's duel in Game 2. But Jamison - ahead in the count 1-2 - ultimately could not retire Medford' Caleb Guden with nobody on and one out in the bottom of the seventh.
Guden drew a walk and Jamison's time on the mound, having reached the daily 100-pitch limit, was done. Guden stole second on the next pitch off reliever Kolby Ridderbusch before Hraby smashed an 0-1 pitch off the fence in left-center for the game-winner.
Jamison walked only one and scattered six hits over 6 1/3 innings. One of those hits should have never happened as catcher Sam Schneider couldn't come up with a 0-1 pop fly in foul territory by Aiden Gardner to lead off the fourth. The Medford catcher used the new life and smashed a single to center. A balk got him to second and he scored on a two-out single by Parker Lissner.
"Ryan pitched great today but we go back to early on and he had to work a little bit extra to get out of some innings," Waksmonski noted. "We had some miscommunication on some pop-ups and their first runs was a result of that. We make that play a lot it seems like. We did not make that pop-up, he gets on base and eventually comes around to score, so it came back to bite us there. Consequentially, Ryan had to throw I believe like 14-15 extra pitches in that inning."
Rhinelander got the run back off Baumgartner in the fifth inning as Ridderbusch singled and scored on a base knock by Logan Schmoeger, who had two hits in the second game. Rhinelander loaded the bases with one out, but James Heck was unable to tag and score from third on a flyout to right by Jacksen Smith and Jamison grounded to short for an inning-ending fielder's choice.
That was the biggest offensive threat for the Hodags against Baumgartner, who struck out 11 in a complete-game effort.
"He had our guys guessing and when you have a situation like that and you had that one shot we had that one inning, we scored a run but we left the bases loaded there," Waksmonski said.
Medford and Rhinelander traded runs in the first inning of Game 1. Aiden Gardner drove in Seth Mudgett with a double in the top of the inning. Jamison eluded a throw to the plate on a single to left by Ridderbusch to tie the game in the bottom of the frame.
The Raiders took a 3-1 lead in the third as Guden walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Gardner reached on a error and his courtesy runner, Colby Elsner, scored on a two-out hit by Braxton Weissmiller.
Things came unglued for the Hodag defense in the fourth inning, after a leadoff walk to Max Dietzman, Brigham Kelley reached on an error trying to bunt Dietzman along. Both advanced on a throwing error, setting the table for the top of Medford's order. Mudgett singled in a run, Tanner Hraby hit an RBI single and Gardner hit a two-run singles. Weissmiller reached on an error later in the inning, allowing another run to score.
The Raiders tacked on two more in the sixth and one in the seventh as the Hodags committed five errors in the game.
"You're talking about multiple free bases we gave away that inning. With a team like Medford, you can't do that," Waksmonski said. "If they're leadoff hitter gets on, it's almost basically like having a runner in scoring position with an offensive team like Medford. They were able to get that leadoff batter on in many different ways - whether it was a hit, a walk, I think we had an error in there as well. It's all about keeping the first couple of batters of the innings off the bases. You can't keep a lineup like that down forever and if they're starting off the innings with no one out and runners on base, it's ultra-tough on our pitchers and defense."
Smith took the loss for Rhinelander, allowing six runs on five hits over three-plus innings. Max Ratty worked into the seventh, allowing five runs on nine hits. Schmoeger inherited a second-and-third, no-out jam in the seventh, but returned three straight batters to get out of the inning.
Guden struck out 10 over 5 2/3 innings to get the win for Medford. Steve Hraby went the final 1 1/3 innings, striking out one.
Rhinelander 16, Lakeland 3
Three big innings were enough for the Hodags to sweep the regular season series from Lakeland on Thursday.
Hitless through four innings, Rhinelander turned things around with an eight-run fifth inning and pulled away for a 16-3 victory over the Thunderbirds in Minocqua. The Hodags tacked on four runs each in the sixth and seventh innings as they collected 11 hits in their final three turns at the plate.
"The fifth inning the bats showed up," Waksmonski said. "The nice thing was, in the sixth and seventh inning, we were just persistent, kept after it and hit an number of balls hard."
Lakeland starter Carter Quade lost command in the top of the fifth with his team ahead 2-0. A Schmoeger single sandwiched between two hit batters loaded the bases for Smith, who drew a walk to force in a run.
The T-Birds went to Will Fortier after that and Jamison rudely welcomed him to the mound. A wild pitch scored Schmoeger to tie the game and then Jamison smashed a two-run triple to right center, giving Rhinelander a 4-2 lead. After Sam Schneider walked, Jamison scored on a passed ball and Ratty hit an RBI single up the middle, scoring Schneider. Ratty came around when Owen Kurtz hit a single to right that then made its way past the defense and Kurtz later scored when Heck reached on an error.
A single by Smith, followed by back-to-back Lakeland errors gave Rhinelander its first run of the sixth. Ratty followed with a sacrifice fly before Kurtz belted his first career varsity home run, a two-run shot to left.
Rhinelander loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh, and an error to second off the bat of Cody Everson allowed two runs to score. RBI grounders by Ratty and Ridderbusch drove in two more runs.
Kurtz had two other hits to go along with his big fly while Jamison and Heck had two hits a piece for the Hodags.
"It's good to see (Kurtz) and James Heck, they hit the ball hard and you can see the confidence growing in those two hitters, those young hitters for us," Waksmonski said.
Rhinelander used three pitchers in the game in an effort to conserve arms for Saturday's doubleheader against the Raiders. Smith started and went 2 1/3 innings for the Hodags. The T-Birds got two off of him with some creative base running in the second. With runners at the corners following singles by Will Fortier and Danny Gahler, Gahler stole second and an errant throw allowed Fortier to score from third. Gahler got to third on the play and, after Josh Wagendorf walked, Wagendorf and Gahler executed a double steal of second and home to give Lakeland a 2-0 lead.
Ratty pitched three innings of relief in the win. The only run he allowed came in the fifth as Leonard Chosa singled and came around on a two-out double by Zack Peterson.
Rhinelander (5-4, 4-4 Great Northern) takes on Northland Pines today in Eagle River. The Eagles upset Raiders 1-0 in Medford onâThursday.
"We can't take Northland Pines lightly," Waksmonski said. "They're a top-notch team right now in our conference. They obviously just beat Medford the other night 1-0. We can't take anything for granted this coming week."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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