April 27, 2023 at 8:11 a.m.
Medford sweeps baseball twinbill from Hodags
Medford sweeps baseball twinbill from Hodags
The Hodags could not dig out from an early 6-0 deficit in Game 1, eventually falling 10-6 to one of the GNC favorites. A pair of five-run innings - including a grand slam by Medford's Max Dietzman - were enough for the Raiders to cruise to a 10-0 win in the nightcap.
Medford (8-3, 5-1 Great Northern) scored five times in the second inning of both contests, building leads it would never relinquish.
"We let some routine plays happen against us," Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said. "We had a fly ball drop in, had a chance to turn a double play to get out of the inning and couldn't complete it. That led to some big innings at the beginning of the game."
The Raiders scored first in Game 1 as Miles Searles singled to right, moved to second on dropped fly in center and then scored on a Braxton Weissmiller base hit.
Errors that allowed Dietzman and Metz to reach base sandwiched a Parker Lissner hit for Medford to lead off the second. Dietzman scored as Metz reached on an error. Jack Wojick then hit an RBI groundout, Tanner Hraby singled home a run two batters later, followed by an RBI groundout by Searles and an RBI single by Logan Baumgartner to make it 6-0.
That was all the damage James Heck would allow. He went four innings in the loss, allowing six runs, one earned, on eight hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts.
"I would say this was James' best performance of the year to date," Waksmonski said. "He was, for the most part, in and around the strike zone and he did keep them off balance, but we didn't make all the plays that needed to be made behind him."
The Hodags got a run back in the top of the fourth as Sam Schneider walked and scored on a two out single by Cody Everson, who finished with three hits in Game 1. Medford answered off reliever Kaden Vanney in the fifth, with a sacrifice fly by Tucker Kraemer that scored Lissner.
Rhinelander made it interesting thanks to a two-out rally in the sixth. Heck singled home Max Ratty and Everson followed with a base hit. A passed ball and a wild pitch would later allow both Heck and Everson to score.
Medford responded with three in the bottom of the sixth. Ratty was hit by a pitch and scored on a passed ball in the seventh. Schneider was hit by a pitch and scored on an Everson base hit to make it 10-7, but the game ended with Owen Kurtz being thrown out while trying to advance to third on the play.
The Hodags got four hits off Metz over 5 2/3 innings and further did damage once Hraby came on in relief.
"Ty Metz, I think he's a quality pitcher in the conference," Waksmonski said. "It took us a little bit, but I think we started having some better at-bats. We just didn't seem very comfortable in the box early on but, toward the end of the game, I thought we felt more comfortable and making either some loud outs or getting some base hits."
It took much longer for the Hodags to get comfortable against Baumgartner, Medford's ace, in Game 2. Baumgartner had a no-hitter going into the sixth inning before Ratty broke it up with a one-out single to right center. Kurtz added a single later in the inning and Everson was hit by a pitch to load the bases and put the game-extending run on third base, but Heck grounded out back to Baumgartner to end the contest.
"He's definitely one of the top pitchers in the state and he's just able to throw hard, hit the corners and hit his spots," Waksmonski said. "He's got a real nasty slider or cutter that moves quite a bit. It took a while, but we were able to eventually get a couple of hits off him late in the game. For the most part, he was dealing and that last inning I thought we had a couple of at bats where we were on him, but we just couldn't plate any runs."
Medford teed off on Ratty in the second to build a 5-0 lead in Game 2. The first five batters of the inning reached via a combination of hits and walks. Metz had an RBI single, Wojcik drew a bases-loaded walk, Hraby hit into a run-scoring fielder's choice and Baumgartner hit a two-run, two-out double.
That was all the damage Rhinelander would allow until the sixth. Ratty gave up back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and eventually hit the 100-pitch limit after getting Searles to ground out for the second out of the inning. Reliever Dylan Vanderbunt walked Baumgartner before a passed ball allowed Wojcik to score. Vanderbunt then walked Weissmiller before giving up a grand slam to Dietzman, who took a 1-2 pitch out to right.
Ratty finished the night giving up seven runs on eight hits with four strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.
"Once they got Max to 100 they got to the pen and did their damage there," Waksmonski said. "There too, Max I thought threw all right. That's just a tough lineup to try to keep down. You have to have your A-game to try to keep that lineup down."
Rhinelander (2-7, 2-4 Great Northern) is set to face Ashland this afternoon at Stafford Field and will hop back into GNC play Monday at Lakeland.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.