May 31, 2022 at 6:11 a.m.

One to remember

One to remember
One to remember

By Jeremy [email protected]

MERRILL - May 27, 2022 was always going to be a day Ryan Jamison, Jacksen Smith, Joe Schneider and the rest of the seniors on the Rhinelander High School baseball team would remember. After all, that's the date that will be written on their high school diplomas.

But, just hours before donning cap and gown, the trio of Hodag senior baseball players made the date even more memorable for another reason.

Jamison and Smith combined to strike out seven batters and threw a team no-hitter Friday in a 3-0 victory over Merrill in the opening round of the WIAA playoffs.

Joe Schneider, in his second full game back from offseason knee surgery, hit a two-run home run in the first inning, which proved to be enough offense on a dominant day for the Hodag pitching staff.

"It's just surreal. You dream of it as a kid," said Jamison, who struck out six over 6 1/3 innings before reaching the daily 100-pitch limit. "To see it come true, in the playoffs no less, it's just an amazing experience."

Smith got the final two batters to close out the victory, the first no-hitter tossed by the Hodags in almost exactly one decade. Kyle Comer was the last to do it when he no-hit Tomahawk in a 2-1 victory at Stafford Field May 15, 2012.

"To win a playoff game is one thing but, to do it in the fashion that we did it today, it's definitely really special," Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said. "It's something they'll be talking about to their kids, their grandkids for the rest to shire lives."

It proved to be quite a day as the contest was postponed from Thursday due to rain and wet field conditions. The game started at 11 a.m., so the seniors on both teams had plenty of time to prepare for their commencement exercises later in the evening.

Jamison walked four batters, and Merrill also got a base-runner aboard via a one-out error in the third inning. He started the seventh inning on 98 pitches, and struck out Zach Neumann before being forced from the mound. Smith came on to earn the save. He got Nathan Brzoznowski to pop out to Jamison, who moved to shortstop following the pitching change, before fanning Jack Hoock on a 2-2 fastball to end it.

"I've never seen a no-hitter in person, let alone to be a part of one. I still haven't really processed it yet. It's just amazing really," Jamison said. "I was able to throw strikes and execute today. Coach (Waksmonski) called a great game. Sam (Schneider) caught a great team and we were just able to execute."

Smith said he knew exactly what he needed to do to close out the contest.

"All basketball season Jamo had my back, so I just thought, you know what, I've got to his back right here," Smith said, alluding to the Hodags' Cinderella run to the sectional semifinals of the WIAA boys' basketball tournament. "I just in there and threw strikes. That's all I had to do."

Rhinelander jumped ahead 2-0 in the first inning when Joe Schneider took a Henry Reimann 0-1 fastball out over the short porch in left field. Initially, the umpires were not certain if the ball had traveled over or under the chain-link fence, but ruled home run following a conference.

"The first pitch I was way too into it, trying to swing too hard," Schneider said. "I was just trying to calm myself down and he gave me one, probably around letter-high and I just took it to left and the ball did the rest."

Schneider, who had just one hit in limited at-bats this month as he worked his way back to full health, had two hits on Friday.

"I'm excited for Joe, his story and his journey this year to get to this point, to have something like that happen for him is definitely well-deserving," Waksmonski said. "I can't think of a better kid for something like that to happen too."

Rhinelander added another run in the third inning as Sam Schneider hit a sacrifice fly to right center, scoring Smith. The Hodags loaded the bases with two out that inning, but Owen Kurtz struck out looking to end the threat. Rhinelander stranded eight runners in the contest, including four in scoring position.

"We had multiple opportunities early on to put them away early but, like we talked about going into today, our calling card is our pitching and our defense," Waksmonski said. "If we can scratch enough runs, we'll be all right. Obviously we did scratch enough runs, and two more than we actually needed."

Merrill's best threat came in the third as Bradyn Pieper reached on a mishandled ground ball to second and Michael McRae walked to give the Bluejays two on with one out, but Jamison got Henry and Sam Reimann to both ground back to the mound to get out of the jam.

From there Jamison pitched around walks in the fifth and sixth inning to keep the Bluejays off the board before Smith came in to earn the save.

"You could just tell, they had the laser focus coming in today and pitched the same way out in the field," Waksmonski said.

Smith and AJ Turek each had a pair of hits as Rhinelander collected nine hits in the contest. The Hodags (9-7, 6-6 Great Northern) will now prepare for round three with GNC-champion Mosinee, which had a first-round bye in the tournament. Rhinelander lost 11-0 and 8-2 in the regular season to Mosinee but Jamison's spot in the rotation never came up against the Indians. He is Rhinelander's probable starter for this afternoon in Mosinee.

"That's the one card we have up our sleeve right now. They haven't seen Jamo," Waksmonski said. "We've seen both their top two pitchers now. We'll go back to work this weekend, work on hitting the fastball. That's what we're going to be seeing a lot of. We saw a lot of it today and I felt our guys were a lot more comfortable now seeing some plus speed a the high school level."

Joe Schneider said this year's seniors are ready for the rematch as they try to replicate last spring's Cinderella run to the WIAA sectional finals.

"All of us seniors remember what happened last year. We know that we can keep going," he said. "We all have the confidence. We've just got to relax and keep going against Mosinee."

Note: Jamison, Sam Schneider and Max Ratty were honored on the All-Great Northern Conference baseball team, announced Friday morning. Jamison received first-team honors as an infield and honorable mention as a pitcher, Schneider was second-team as both a catcher and utility player, Ratty received honorable mention as an infielder. More on the all-conference selections will be published in Friday's River News.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].

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