Hodag baseball drops back-to-back GNC games to Antigo, Medford

The Rhinelander High School baseball team was in contention against a pair of teams in the upper half of the Great Northern Conference Monday and Tuesday, only to see their chances for victory slip away late.

Single runs in the sixth and seventh innings were the difference on Monday as Antigo got by Rhinelander 7-5 at Stafford Field. A four-run sixth inning blew things open on Tuesday as the Hodags lost at Medford, 7-1.

“They just started hitting the ball and putting it in play. We made a couple of mistakes behind that and they broke the game open,” Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said after Tuesday’s loss against Medford. 

That refrain could have been used in both of the Hodags’ early-week contests. Rhinelander gifted Antigo three unearned runs in the first three innings on Monday and the Robins’ final two runs were courtesy of pitches that made their way to the backstop. In between the Hodags struck out 12 times, including five times with runners in scoring position.

Antigo 7, Rhinelander 5

    Rhinelander’s Owen Kurtz strikes out with the bases loaded to end the sixth inning of a GNC baseball game against Antigo at Stafford Field Monday, April 22. The Hodags struck out 12 times and stranded 10 base runners in a 7-5 loss to the Red Robins. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Antigo capitalized on a lead-off error on a dropped fly ball to left to start the Monday’s contest. After reaching base, Preston Knapkavage stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Colton Thomae single to give the Robins the lead. 

Antigo added to its total in the second as Alec Knapkavage walked and scored on a Gordon Lucht double. Two errors in the first three batters of the third helped Antigo score three times and build a 5-1 lead. 

“Just not a good start. It was kind of that way the first three innings,” Waksmonski said. “The leadoff man gets on due to a mistake or a freebie — first inning it was a leadoff error, second inning leadoff walk scores, third inning leadoff error scores. That right there, we’re giving them free bases and that leads to runs.”

Kaden Vanney went 3 for 3 Monday for the Hodags and drove in four runs with a pair of doubles. He doubled in Seth Nofftz in the first and added a bases-clearing two-bagger in the fourth that brought the Hodags within 5-4. He scored the tying run moments later when a Max Ratty fly ball was misplayed in center field.

“He was feeling it. He was hitting the ball really well, seeing the ball well,” Waksmonski said. 

Antigo took the lead in the sixth. With runners at the corners and one out, Antigo tried to execute a double steal of second and home. While the Hodags cut down Preston Knapkavage at the plate, Thomae moved from first to third on the play and scored the go-ahead run off reliever Oscar Hanson moments later on a wild pitch.

The Hodags threatened in the home half of the sixth and Dylan Vanderbunt bunted his way on and moved to second on a passed ball. With a first base open, Antigo opted to intentionally walk Vanney. Rhinelander eventually loaded the bases after Adrian Patrone was hit by a pitch with two out but Owen Kurtz struck out swinging with the go-ahead run at second base.

“Really, we were hitting the ball well, putting the ball in play hard. Again, the nature of our offense so far this season is just the strikeouts,” Waksmonski said. “The strikeouts are just killing us. We had 12 Ks offensively tonight. When talking about a defense only having to get nine outs, that’s not a lot of pressure we’re putting on them. We did hit the ball, it was a season-high in hits tonight, but we’re getting runners on and find a way to strike out.”

Antigo tacked on one more insurance run in the seventh as Devin Breitenfeldt, running for Luke Battle following a double, scored on a two-out passed ball.

Hanson took the loss for Rhinelander, allowing a pair of runs on three hits with a walk and five strikeouts over the final two innings. 

“He threw the ball hard, threw the ball effective and threw the ball well,” Waksmonski said. “He had five strikeouts, one walk, but just some little mistakes that we make that we just can’t make in a tight ball game, defensively.”

Ratty gave up just two earned runs and scattered six hits in a five-inning starting effort. That included just one walk and a season-high eight strikeouts. That was better than his first outing against the Robins in which he walked five, struck out only one and gave up five runs in four innings.

“Max did throw well. We had a couple of major gaffes defensively that caused at least three unearned runs,” Waksmonski said. “It’s just working around some of those mistakes. He finished with eight strikeouts, only one walk. He was around the zone and was able to work all three of his pitches in and around the zone for strikes.”

Medford 7, Rhinelander 1

    Rhinelander’s James Heck pitches during the third inning of a GNC baseball game at Medford Tuesday, April 23. (Matt Frey/Star News)
  

Medford’s Tanner Hraby quieted the Hodag bats Tuesday, striking out seven over 5 2/3 innings and Rhinelander was unable to climb out of an early hole in the loss to the Raiders.

The Hodags’ lone run came in the third as Vanderbunt singled and scored on a two-out base hit by Patrone.

“Tanner Hraby pitches well,” Waksmonski said. “He’s around the zone, works really fast. It seemed like whenever we did get runners on, we just couldn’t completely string it all together. Adrian did have one RBI single but, really, after that it was not much else happening.”

The Hodags were down 3-1 at that point, and it could have been more had starter James Heck not worked himself out of a couple of early predicaments with limited damage. Heck put five of Medford’s first six batters aboard freely — three walks and two hit batters — but got out of the first allowing only two runs as Max Dietzman hit a bases-loaded ground out and Carson Carbaugh was plunked with the bases full. 

Hraby singled and scored on an RBI groundout by Braxton Weissmiller in the second.

Heck settled in from there, allowing three runs on three hits with four strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings. 

“The first inning was a rough start for us. James walked the first three hitters, ended up hitting two guys in the inning yet we somehow escaped with only giving up two runs, kind of walking the tightrope,” Waksmonski said. “To James’s credit, he competed hard all night. He overcame that first inning and was almost able to record a couple of 1-2-3 innings.”

Medford got to Vanney in a relief appearance in the sixth. Weissmiller had an RBI single followed by back-to-back run scoring errors on ground balls to short before Carbaugh added an RBI single to make it 7-1.

Vanderbunt had two hits in the game for Rhinelander, marking his third straight multi-hit game.

Next up

The Hodags (1-8, 1-4 Great Northern) faced Medford again yesterday afternoon at Stafford Fieldl. Originally scheduled for today, the teams pushed up the contest with rain in the forecast this afternoon in a decision that was made Wednesday evening, after press time for today's print edition of the River News.

Rhinelander is back at home Monday to face Lakeland in GNC play.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].