Hodag 10U All-Stars advance in district play

The Rhinelander Little League 10U All-Star team — featuring four players who were on last year’s state runner-up squad — is moving on to the second week of District 5 tournament play.

The Hodags clinched their spot in the second round by defeating Merrill 6-3 Monday as part of a three-team pool at Hodag Park. Rhinelander nearly won the pool, but saw Wausau American rally for four runs in the top of the sixth on Tuesday to defeat the Hodags, 9-6.

Because Merrill lost Sunday’s opener to the Americans, the Hodags went into Monday’s game knowing they could clinch a spot in the second round with a victory. After sitting through a roughly half-hour rain delay, Rhinelander got on the board first as Mason Paulson walked and scored on a throwing error in the top of the first inning.

Merrill scored all three of its runs in the second inning courtesy of three hits and a pair of bases-loaded, two-out walks. Rhinelander fought back to tie the game in the bottom of the inning on a two-run, two-out single to right by Cooper Clark and took the lead in the third as Rylan Pasanen walked and scored on an infield hit by Braxton Bolkema.

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2024 10U All-star Tournament

The Hodags added two more insurance runs in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Gage Dantoin and an RBI single by Clark.

That was good enough as Clark worked out of a pair of jams with runners and second and third in both the fifth and sixth innings to earn the save. He struck out three Bluejays over two innings — back-to-back to get out of the fifth unscathed and one more in the sixth to end the contest. 

Easton Ostrom started for the Hodags and went four innings before reaching the daily 75-pitch limit. He allowed three runs on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts. 

Rhinelander outhit Merrill 8-7 in the contest. The Hodags got three hits from Bolkema, two hits and three RBIs from Clark, and hits from Ostrom, Colt Waksmonski and Dantoin.

Tuesday’s game against Wausau American was a seesaw battle that saw Rhinelander fall behind by three runs on two separate occasions before rallying to take a 6-5 lead in the fifth. The Hodags’ final three-run deficit was too much to overcome, however, as the first four American batters of the sixth reach base via a pair of walks and a pair of errors. All four eventually came around to score. 

Rhinelander fell behind 3-0 after a half inning but rallied to get back within a run in the first thanks to back-to-back RBI singles by Ostrom and Waksmonski. After Wausau scored twice in the fourth to make it a 5-2 game, the Hodags rallied with three of their own to tie the contest. Pasanen was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, moved from first to third on a single by Ostrom and then stole home after Ostrom feigned a steal attempt of second. Ostrom got to third thanks to a pair of wild pitches and scored when Bolkema grounded to third, reaching base when the throw over pulled the first baseman off the bag. Bolkema moved to second on a wild pitch and to third when Derek Jorata reached on a error. He scored on an infield hit by Watson White. 

After working out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the fifth, the Hodags took the lead in the bottom of the inning as Max Maufort walked to lead off the inning and eventually scored on a two-out wild pitch. 

The Hodags outhit the American 9-5 in the contest, but were plagued by five errors — all of which occurred in innings that Wausau scored. Ostrom finished 2 for 2 in the game, Clark was 2 for 3 and the Hodags also got hits from Paulson, Waksmonski, Bolkema, Jorata and White. 

Pasanen started for Rhinelander, allowing one earned run on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts over four innings. White took the loss as all four runs he allowed in the sixth were unearned. He did not allow a hit, walked five and struck out one. 

The Hodags will move on to Wausau for the second round of district play beginning on Monday. Four teams will take part in a double-elimination tournament that runs through at least next Thursday. The winner of the tournament will host the winner of the District 3 (northwest Wisconsin) tournament in a best-of-three sectional tournament the following week for the right to play in the state championship series.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].