May 8, 2023 at 8:26 a.m.
Hodag baseball drops GNC games to Lakeland, Mosinee
Hodag baseball drops GNC games to Lakeland, Mosinee
A five-run third inning was the difference on Thursday night as the Hodags fell at home to Lakeland 5-4 at Stafford Field. On Saturday, top-ranked Mosinee had four innings in which is scored four or more runs as it swept a road doubleheader from the Hodags by matching 10-0 scores.
The losses dropped Rhinelander (3-9, 2-7 Great Northern) to sixth in the league standings.
"That's what happens when you string together hits," Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said. 'When you string your hits together, that's when you can score runs in bunches."
Lakeland 5, Rhinelander 4
One big inning proved to be the difference on Thursday afternoon as the T-Birds strung together five runs on four hits in the third and held on to beat the Hodags 5-4 at Stafford Field.
Lakeland collected only five hits in the contest, but they came at the right time to produce a big inning.
Rhinelander had nine hits in the contest, but left nine runners on base - including six in scoring position. The Hodags stranded the tying run at second in both the sixth and seventh innings.
"We had baserunners but when you look at some of our at-bats at the end of the game, especially late, we had fastball pitches to hit and we were fouling them off," Waksmonski said.
"A couple of those led to strikeouts, but the message there is when you have that pitch to hit early in the count we have to be ready, have to be on time. There were multiple times there toward the end there with runners in scoring position where you get that pitch that hit and you foul it off," Waksmonski added.
Max Ratty walked leadoff hitter Ashton Bremer to begin the third inning and then Danny Gahler reached on an infield hit to the right side of the infield past Cody Everson, who was drawn over trying to hold Bremer on at second following a stolen base. A wild pitch scored Bremer before Will Fortier singled to left to give Lakeland a 2-1 lead. After a strikeout and a hit batter, Mitch Fulton singled to right, and a bobble in the outfield allowed Fortier to score from second. Ben Peterson added an RBI single and Max Nowak hit a run-scoring groundout to short to make it 5-1.
Those were the only runs the Hodags allowed but Waksmonski said Ratty faced several stressful innings to start the game. Ratty issued leadoff walks in each of the first three innings.
"We talked about the importance of getting that leadoff runner out in every inning and it wasn't until the fifth inning that we got that first batter out in the inning," Waksmonski said. "It's a lot of stress on a pitcher to pitch like that when the leadoff hitter gets on - especially if it's a walk or a hit batter. It's one thing to give up a hit, but walking that first batter of multiple innings is really tough to get out of those jams. That's how the rally started for Lakeland there."
AJ Turek went 2-for-2 with three RBIs for Rhinelander. He singled home Dylan Vanderbunt in the second, and drove in Seth Nofftz with a base hit in the fourth. Turek made it 5-3 in the sixth on a sacrifice fly that scored Nofftz again. Cody Everson followed with a single that drove in Vanderbunt and cut the lead to one. After a Ratty single, Sam Schneider struck out looking on a high 2-2 fastball to end the sixth.
The Hodags had one last gasp in the second at Nofftz reached on a two-out error to short, but Vanderbunt went down swinging to end the contest.
Peterson scattered eight hits over 5 2/3 innings in the win for Lakeland. Fortier recorded the final four outs to earn the save.
"Both Peterson and Fortier, you don't get too many opportunities like that with pitchers like that," Waksmonski. "That was the message at the end. When you have that opportunity to make contact, make solid contact, we need to do so."
Offensively, Ratty, Nofftz and Turek each had two hits in the contest and the bottom four in Rhinelander's lineup - Nofftz, Vanderbunt, Barak Rappley and Turek - were a combined 6-for-13 in the contest.
"They had great at-bats in the bottom of the order, AJ especially with three RBIs," Waksmonski said. "Then right in front of him with Barak and Dylan and Seth, just some great at-bats. Their confidence, you can just see that growing in them at the plate in just the way their swinging the bat. That's awesome to see."
Ratty allowed five runs on five hits with seven strikeouts over six innings. Kaden Vanney had an effective relief appearance in the seventh with a four-strikeout inning. Merrick Trotter reached on a dropped third strike with one out in the inning, but Vanney fanned the next two batters to get out of the inning unscathed.
"That's exactly what we're kind of looking for, having our pitchers come in and throw strikes, get ahead and stay ahead and keep them off balance. Kaden did that with all four of their hitters," Waksmonski said.
Mosinee doubleheader
Waksmonski said Mosinee came as advertised as a team that could make a deep run in the WIAA tournament. Offensively, the Indians collected 19 hits between the two games - including 10 that went for extra bases. Meanwhile, Gavin Obremski and Keagen Jirschele combined to strike out 19 Hodag batters in the doubleheader.
"Their pitchers are power pitchers that are strictly trying to throw fastballs past you and, for the most part they did that today. Our hitters had a difficult time catching up to that," Waksmonski said.
Extra outs came back to bite the Hodags and pitcher James Heck early in Game 1. Mosinee got on the board in first game as Davin Stoffel reached on a two-out error, allowing Taylor Lemanski to score in the bottom of the first inning.
The floodgates opened in the second. Already up 2-0 after Cameron Ziebell grounded in Blake Nichols, who led off the inning with a walk, back-to-back two-out walks and an error that allowed Obremski to reach base brought in a run before Stoffel tripled to left center to make it 5-0.
"The first run of the first inning was a routine ground ball we have to make. It was an error and that was their first run. After that we had an error in the second that let the big inning happen," Waksmonski said.
Those were the only runs Heck would give up in four innings of work. Only one of the five runs was earned as he walked four and struck out three in the loss.
"I thought, for the most part, he was in and around the zone with both his fastball and curveball as best as he's been all year." Waksmonski said.
Mosinee tacked on five more in the fifth off Vanney in relief and the game ended on another two-out error, which allowed Mosinee to score twice, including the game-clinching run.
Rhinelander had only one hit off Obremski in Game 1. That came on an Owen Kurtz single to right in the fourth, but he was erased trying to stretch the hit into a double.
Vanderbunt kept Mosinee's lineup at bay for a while in Game 2, but Mosinee got to him the third time through the order, and then added six more runs off Vanney to finish off another 10-0 win.
Jirschele walked and scored on a bloop single to left by Obremski to begin Mosinee's fifth-inning rally. Stoffel followed with a two-run home run to left center. Mosinee tacked on two more hits in the inning, a double by Sawyer Holtz and an RBI single by Nichols to make it 4-0.
"(Dylan) was kind of leaving his curveball up that third time through and that's when they kind of got to him," Waksmonski said.
Vanderbunt gave up seven hits over five innings, including four in the fifth. He walked three and struck out three.
"The first two times through the order he pitched with poise. He was there to battle. He was hitting his spots with both fastball and curveball. He threw a couple nice changeups as well," Waksmonski said.
A double steal and a wild pitch allowed Mosinee to score twice more in the sixth before the went to hitting again in the second. Nichols, Grant Kuklinski, Jirschele and Lemanski all had RBI hits in the inning.
The Hodags had a chance to get to Jirschele on the mound early in Game 2. First inning singles by Ratty and Schneider, followed by a passed ball gave the Hodags runners at second and third with one out, but Jirschele struck out Kurtz and Cody Everson to end the inning.
"We had some chances to score, especially early on, and we just could put that clutch hit across to put across that first run."
Ratty and Schneider each finished with two hits in Game 2 for Rhinelander.
Up next
The Hodags traveled to D.C. Everest on Monday in a game that concluded after press time for today's edition. Rhinelander will play another non-conference contest Friday at Merrill.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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