May 15, 2023 at 7:49 a.m.
RHS baseball splits one-run games vs. Valley foes
RHS baseball splits one-run games vs. Valley foes
The Hodags ended up splitting a pair of one-run games, edging D.C. Everest 7-6 on Wednesday before falling at Merrill 10-9 on Friday.
Despite being unable to hold on and win both games, coach Joe Waksmonski said he sees his team turning the corner, especially at the plate, as it enters the final week and a half of the regular season.
"Especially from where we've come from three, four weeks ago, just great at-bats," he said. "We're getting great swings. The timing's starting to get to the point where they're jumping on fastballs now. They're not reacting any more and they're real aggressive swings."
Rhinelander 7, D.C. Everest 6
The Hodags scored three times in the sixth inning on Wednesday and held on to defeat the Evergreens 7-6 at Simon Field in Weston.
Barak Rappley and AJ Turek had RBI singles in the decisive inning and Dylan Vanderbunt needed only one pitch to record a save after a two-out error allowed Everest to score twice in the seventh.
"That's ultimately what it's about, just making more plays than the other team," Waksmonski said. "We're searching for ways to be positive, but there's not a better way to be positive than a win, especially against a team the caliber of D.C. Everest."
Rhinelander jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, loading the bases with nobody out in the first. Turek scored on a passed ball and Seth Nofftz hit a two-out, two-run single to give Rhinelander some breathing room. Everest got a clutch two-out hit of its own from Pierson MacDonald in the second to cut the lead to 3-2 and then tied it in the third as Cuyler Soppe was hit by a pitch, stole second, got to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Logan Cherek sacrifice fly.
Rhinelander got the lead back thanks to an adventurous trip around the bases by Rappley in the fifth. After walking, Rappley got to second following an errant pick off attempt. He then did a delayed steal of third and scored after the throw to the base sailed into the outfield. Everest answered in the bottom of the inning as Andrew Cotter walked and scored on a two-out triple by Cherek.
Rhinelander loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth. Cody Everson walked, Nofftz singled and James Heck was hit by a pitch before Rappley took a 1-1 pitch into right for an RBI single. After a strikeout, AJ Turek collected an RBI infield hit on a slow roller down the third base line and Ratty followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 7-4.
"We had our first swinging bunt of the year in AJ and it's about time one of those went in our favor. Great moment, got us an RBI," Waksmonski said.
Things got interesting in the seventh as Matt Ruether reached on an infield hit and Soppe walked with one out. Cherek lined out to Rappley for out No. 2 before Nate Langbehn walked to load the bases. Nofftz was late and wide on a throw to second on a ground ball by Cayden Langston, allowing Ruether and Soppe to score and ending Kaden Vanney's bid to earn the save. Waksmonski went to Vanderbunt to slam the door and Oscar Latendresse flew out to right on the first pitch he saw from the Hodag sophomore.
"Kaden did a nice job to come in there and throw strikes," Waksmonski noted. "He finished out the last of the sixth getting the one out. He worked himself into a little bit of a jam and, unfortunately, we couldn't make the play to end the game for him. But Dylan coming in, he wasn't feeling the greatest. He missed practice (Tuesday) because of an illness so for him to come in, just get loose and throw the strike that was great."
Ratty picked up the win for Rhinelander allowing four runs, two earned, on four hits with six strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings before reaching his daily 100-pitch limit. Both teams had six hits in the game with Nofftz going 2-for-4 with two RBIs for the Hodags.
Merrill 10, Rhinelander 9
The Hodags jumped out to a big lead again on Friday, but could not hold on against Merrill's hot bats.
The Bluejays climbed out of a 6-0 hole through an inning and a half and took the lead thanks to a five-run fifth inning. Rhinelander then fell just short in a comeback bid, losing 10-9.
Merrill pounded out 13 hits, including six in the decisive fifth. Rhinelander had nine hits in the contest, including a three-run home run by Owen Kurtz in the first, but was unable to collect the win.
"It was one of those games tonight where the team that hit the most was the team that was going to win," Waksmonski said. "Sure enough, their bats came alive in the middle innings. They strung it all together. You get stretches where you're getting three, four, five hits in a row, it's recipe for big innings."
Kurtz's three-run shot went the other way, just underneath the scoreboard in right field at Athletic Park. It was Rhinelander's first home run of the spring.
"That was exactly what (assistant) coach (M.J.) Laggis talked about with him in the cage tonight, talked about going opposite field, jumping on the fastball early on in the count. That's exactly what he did," Waksmonski said.
The Hodags made it 6-0 in the second as Ratty hit a two-out, two-run double and then scored when Sam Schneider reached on an error.
The Bluejays began to chip away in the bottom of the inning. Isaak Clapper was hit by a pitch with two outs and Nathan Brzoznowski followed with a two-run shot to left center.
Merrill closed to with in one in the fourth, keyed by an infield hit by Lucas Reist with one out. Clapper hit a two-run double two batters later and Brzoznowski followed with an RBI single.
Heck had an RBI groundout to give Rhinelander a 7-5 lead in the top of the fifth but, another infield hit, this time to short by Braiden Voigt, got the rally going for the Bluejays in the fifth. He beat out a throw on a bang-bang play to lead off the inning.
Sam Reimann followed with a RBI single before Connor Cortright walked to end Heck's time on the mound. Vanderbunt couldn't put out the fire this time, however, as he allowed singles to the first four batters he faced. EJ Weix tied it, before a go-ahead RBI single by Clapper and a two-run base hit by Brzoznowski.
"We had a couple of slow rollers. We seem to be snakebitten by that this year where we get those swinging bunts," Waksmonski said. "One of them I thought we had them. I though Seth made the play, but it was called safe and you've got to go from there, but you had to see it snowball into big innings like that."
Turek reached on an error and scored on a Ratty grounder to cut the lead to 10-8 in the sixth. The senior center field then robbed Reimann at the fence of a potential home run in the bottom of the inning.
Kurtz and Everson singled to lead off the seventh for Rhinelander, and were both bunted along by Nofftz. Heck was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out before a sacrifice fly by Tyler Morrison cut the lead to one. The Hodags got no closer, however, as Vanderbunt struck out to end the contest.
Up next
Rhinelander (4-11, 2-7 Great Northern) played at Tomahawk Monday in a game that concluded after press time for today's edition. The Hatchets make the return trip to Stafford Field on Thursday and then Rhinelander will travel to Lakeland for a make-up game against the T-Birds on Saturday.
"We've got three big conference games here and I kind of like where were at, where we're setting ourselves up for the final week, the final push going to the postseason," Waksmonski said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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