Hodag baseball drops two in Mauston

MAUSTON — The Rhinelander High School baseball team showed some glimpses of turning things around over the weekend but was unable to get any victories on the field during an invite in Mauston. 

Big late innings cost the Hodags in an 8-1 loss Friday night to Hortonville and in a 13-3 loss to Barron on Saturday at the Woodside Sports Complex.

Rhinelander was supposed to play three games in the invite, but Bloomer pulled out of its Saturday morning contest against Rhinelander despite beating Cumberland 13-3 in a game immediately prior to when they were supposed to play the Hodags. The game will be considered a forfeit win for Rhinelander, according to Great Northern Conference statistician Gregg Scott. 

Despite the losses, coach Joe Waksmonski said it was an important weekend for his club which features a number of underclassmen who saw their first appreciable varsity innings. 

“It’s pretty positive,” he said after Saturday’s game. “It’s definitely been an interesting week, but it seems like this group really wants to compete. It just starts there with trying to be competitive, taking pride in your own personal performance and doing what’s best for the team.”

Hortonville 8, Rhinelander 1

The Polar Bears blew things open against freshman reliever Vince White, scoring seven runs off of him in the sixth inning, which proved to be the difference in Friday night’s game. 

Hortonville loaded the bases with a single and two walks with nobody out in the top of the sixth before Gary Wuest hit a one-hopper that Seth Nofftz couldn’t field at second, allowing the Polar Bears to take a 2-1 lead. From there, Hortonville added three RBI doubles, an RBI single and a sacrifice fly off White to take a seven-run lead. 

“It’s a 1-1 ball game going to the sixth inning against a really good team from Hortonville and you know just gave up a big inning — and lots of teachable moments we had in that inning — but overall today I think we were pretty pleased with how we were able to compete against the team like that,” Waksmonski said. 

Hortonville took the lead in the top of the fourth as Rashaud Kastner singled before Jack Tennie hit into a fielder’s choice. Barak Rappley then misplayed a roller up the first-base line by Brock Wolter that allowed Tennie to score from first. 

Rhinelander tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double by sophomore Conner Rappley, who plated Nofftz.

Conner Rappley started and looked sharp in his varsity debut. He allowed an unearned run on two hits with six strikeouts over four innings. 

“The biggest thing was, right off the bat first hitter of the game, he went 3-0 on him against a really good hitter, and he came back and threw three straight fast balls right by him,” Waksmonski said. “That set the tone for the rest of the inning. For a lineup that’s really, really good he was throwing the ball past them.”

White allowed seven runs, four earned, on five hits over two innings to take the loss. Mason Schmidt worked around a hit to pitch a scoreless seventh.

The Hodags struggled offensively against Hortonville starter Brayton Brantner, who struck out 10 and allowed two hits over four innings in a no-decision. Griffen Jens allowed one hit over three innings of relief to get the win. Sophomore Sawyer Bishop doubled off him in the fifth inning. 

“Their first pitcher, Brantner, 10 strikeouts in four innings but you know the biggest thing about what we’re seeing this year is that guys aren’t afraid,” Waksmonski said. “They’re up there taking hacks and they’re not afraid to swing. You can just kind of tell it’s a little different feel this year.”

Barron 13, Rhinelander 3

Shaky defense and pitching ultimately cost the Hodags on Saturday. Rhinelander committed six errors and five different pitchers combined for 12 walks and a pair of hit batsmen in a 10-run loss to the Golden Bears. 

After spotting Barron a 6-0 lead through 4 1/2 innings, the Hodags rallied for three runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Barron slammed the door with five runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh. 

“We’re keeping charts in our dugout as far as free bases and stuff like that. Big, big difference today between Barron and us,” Waksmonski said.

Jackson Waydick started and gave up three runs, one earned, on four hits with four strikeouts over three innings of work. Bryce Kittleson scored in the first after Barak Rappley wasn’t able to scoop a relay throw on what would have been an inning-ending double play. 

Barron tacked on two more in the third on an RBI single by Danny Edwards and a sacrifice bunt by Zac Edwards.

Barron added three in the fifth off reliever Dylan Vanderbunt. Danny Edwards hit a two-run double and scored on a double play ball by Zac Edwards. 

    Rhinelander’s Rowan Wiczek hits an RBI double during the fourth inning of a non-conference baseball game against Barron in Mauston Saturday, April 6. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Rhinelander bounced back with three in the bottom of the fifth, stringing together four straight two-outs hits from the top of the order with Vanderbunt, Waydick, Nofftz and Rowan Wiczek. Waksmonski said the team was able to adjust its approach that inning to focus on line drives after recording 10 pop/fly outs over the first four frames.

“Springtime, you got to have your focus down, think more line drives, ground balls,” he said. “Once we hit halfway through the game, you know, we started doing that. Rowan had the big double, then after that you can just see it was more line drives to the gaps instead of fly balls into the gaps.”

Wiczek hit two doubles in the contest and Vanderbunt added a pair of singles as Rhinelander was outhit, 9-8.

Bishop came on in the sixth but walked four over 1/3 of an inning while also giving up a pair of hits and seeing a batter reach on an misplayed sacrifice bunt. Schmidt allowed a sacrifice fly but no further damage in the sixth, but then walked the first two batters he faced in the seventh. They eventually scored on an RBI single by Zac Edwards and a bases loaded walk by Adam Wirth against Abe Gretzinger later in the inning. 

Waksmonski said the Hodags committed to their original plan of getting all of their available pitchers time on the mound despite losing one of their scheduled games for Saturday.

“It changed in regards of how many pitches that we were going to throw,” he said. “You know, we were going probably extend both Jackson and Dylan a little bit more, and maybe extend some of the other guys a little bit more. We got everyone in and they got some work in live action.”

Up next

The Hodags (1-2, 0-0 Great Northern) were scheduled to host Tomahawk this afternoon. While the game had not been officially postponed as of Sunday morning, the Hodags had already made indoor practice plans for today. Rhinelander is scheduled to travel to Antigo this Friday. 

As the temperature moderates later this week, Waksmonski said he’s hopeful that game will take place, and that his team will have some outdoors practice time prior to it. 

“Unfortunately, with the loss of the dome, we can’t go back to a regulation field,” he said. “We’ll be back into the gymnasium. Hopefully the weather helps us out here later this week and can get some snow out of the way and we can find a practice space outside — whether it’s at the field or in a green space or in the parking lot where we can again extend our arms.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].