May 18, 2022 at 1:17 p.m.
Hodag baseball can't keep up with No. 2 Mosinee
Hodag baseball can't keep up with No. 2 Mosinee
The Hodags didn't on Monday and it was reflected in the result. The Indians scored in every inning but the fourth and Rhinelander aided the effort with six errors in an 11-0 loss at Stafford Field.
The miscues led to five unearned runs, and Mosinee (19-2, 10-1 Great Northern) stung starter Jacksen Smith for nine runs on seven hits over five innings. On the flip side, the Hodags (7-5, 6-5 Great Northern) managed only two hits off Mosinee's Keagen Jirschele as they were shut out for the second time this season.
"They came as advertised and when you start trying to do too much, that's when the mistakes happen," Waksmonski said of Mosinee, which clinched a share of the GNC title with the victory. "You start forcing the issue. We did a little bit too much of that tonight."
Mistakes loomed large from the start of the game as Jirschele singled, moved from first to third on a hit and run groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Davin Stoffel singled and the Hodags misfired on a chance to retire him at second on a grounder by Tanner Unertl. Both Stoffel and Unertl scored when Gavin Obremski hit a single to left and the Hodags mismanaged the relay back to the infield, giving Mosinee a quick 3-0 lead.
Stoffel hit a two-run double in the second and Obremski tripled in a run in the third before his courtesy runner, Seann Bryant, scored on a Drake Grod grounder.
Trevor Garski was hit by a pitch in the fifth and scored when Obremski's single to right got by the outfielders. Obremski wound up at third on the play and Bryant, running for him again, scored moments later on a Grod sacrifice fly.
In all Smith allowed six earned runs, struck out four and walked two as he fell to 2-3 on the season.
"There were just a couple of mistake pitches that we made and Mosinee just stung the ball and made us pay for those couple of mistake pitches," Waksmonski said. "For the most part, he got a lot of pop ups off their front foot. He induced some ground balls as well. I thought he did a nice job keeping them off balance. There were a couple of pitches here and there, but with hitters like that, a couple of mistake pitches are a couple too many with them."
Mosinee tacked on two more in the sixth off reliever Max Ratty. Eli Miland took two bases on errors on a mishandled and misfired ground ball to third. After Stoffel walked with two outs, a misfire on a throw back attempt to second advanced the runners and Unertl hit a two-run single to make it 11-0.
Rhinelander had only three base runners against Jirschele the entire game, and two of their best offensive chances were nullified by right fielder Taylor Lemanski. After Sam Schneider walked in the first inning, Lemanski made a diving catch on a soft line drive to right by Ratty to end the inning. Lemanski robbed Ratty again in the fourth on a ball hit to the right center gap and he threw out James Heck, who tried to turn a single on a slicer down the right field line into a double.
"He definitely looks like a veteran outfielder out there, just the way he positioned himself swing to swing, hitter to hitter," Waksmonski said.
The Hodags made contact against Jirschele, a sophomore who transferred from Wausau West last summer, but only Owen Kurtz and Heck were able to get hits off the hard-throwing righty.
"It was just a steady diet of fastballs. I was hoping we would adjust a little bit better. We did hit a couple of balls out to right field," Waksmonski said. "They had their right fielder stationed pretty close to the infield. But, like we said afterward, until we start hitting the ball the way we should, hitting over the outfielders heads, that's where the outfielders are going to be playing."
Rhinelander was set to face Mosinee again Thursday to close out conference play and there's a chance the Hodags could see the Indians again in the WIAA playoffs. The regional seeding meeting was scheduled for Wednesday evening, after press time for today's edition. The top four teams in the GNC - Mosinee, Medford, Antigo and Rhinelander - figured to be the odds-on favorites for the top four seeds in the seven-team bracket. Though Rhinelander had a better conference and overall record than Antigo going into the seeding meeting, the Red Robins had a bargaining chip over the Hodags by virtue of sweeping their regular season series in a pair of one-run games.
"I'm sure that will lock in quite a bit. I'm not sure what's going on (Tuesday) night as far as some of the matchups, but we'll see what happens," Waksmonski said.
Rhinelander plays three more games to close out the regular season, beginning with a home triangular against Green Bay Notre Dame and Rice Lake today, followed by a non-conference contest at Merrill on Monday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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