Big inning propels Hodag baseball to third straight victory

CRANDON — The Rhinelander High School baseball team waited for its opportunities Thursday night in a non-conference contest, and took full advantage of them when they arrived.

Rhinelander scored 15 times in the first three innings, including a whopping 10-spot in the third, as it defeated Crandon 17-3 on the road.

The Hodags (4-2, 1-0 Great Northern), notched their third straight win even if it took a little bit for the bats to get going. 

Rhinelander scored five times on just one hit through the first two innings, but then pounded out seven during the third inning. The Hodags also feasted on a buffet of Crandon mistakes. The Cardinals (0-2, 0-0 Northern Lakes) walked 10 batters, and committed five errors. 

“In the beginning, we took advantage of their mistakes,” Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said. “I believe we had seven runs on one hit at one point in the beginning. Then after that, we just kept going. We got the offensive bats going, we got a bunch of hits, and it was a good team win.”

Rhinelander raced out to the lead in the contest, scoring twice in the first on a sacrifice fly by Conner Rappley and a double steal of home and second from Jackson Waydick and Seth Nofftz. 

    Rhinelander’s Jackson Waydick hits an RBI double during the fifth inning of a non-conference baseball game at Crandon Thursday, April 17. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

­­A fielder’s choice, an error and a hit batter loaded the bases again with one out in the second. John Turek scored on a wild pitch, Waydick added a sacrifice fly and Rowan Wiczek recorded the team’s first hit of the game — a two-out single off the bag at third — to drive in Dylan Vanderbunt and make it 5-0.

Rhinelander got the merry-go-round going in the third as the first five batters of the inning reached safely. Two runs scored as Turek reached on an error and Abe Gretzinger added an RBI single. The Hodags added three straight RBI hits from Seth Nofftz, Wiczek and Rappley later in the inning and then drew three straight two-out walks. That included a bases-loaded free pass to Gretzinger before Vanderbunt singled home the final two runs of the inning. 

“That’s the big thing with this team this year,” Waksmonski said. “It seems like we’re putting the ball in play, not as many strikeouts as in recent past, but definitely putting the ball in play and putting pressure on the defense. And we’re putting the ball in play hard, too. We had a number of lineouts to the outfield today, great approaches at the plate and some good swings.”

Crandon scored twice in the third on an RBI single by Mavrik Mayer and a fielder’s choice by Cruz Palubicki. Rhinelander got both runs back in the top of the fifth as Waydick doubled home Vince White. Gretzinger also scored on the play when the relay back to the infield was misplayed. Crandon got the final run in the fifth on a Trent Palubicki sacrifice fly. 

Vanderbunt worked three innings for the Hodags in the win, striking out seven. He allowed three hits and one earned run. Most of the action against him came in the third, following the Hodags’ long rally in the top half of the inning. 

“I think the hiccup in the third just came from just sitting for so much,” Waksmonski said. “You know, we spent a lot of time on offense in the first three innings and he might have been a little bit tight that third inning.”

    Rhinelander’s Vince White throws a pitch to Crandon’s Matthew Jahnke during the fifth inning of a non-conference baseball game at Crandon Thursday, April 17. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

White, a freshman, made his second appearance on the mound this spring, allowing a run on a hit with two walks and four strikeouts over the final two innings. 

Rhinelander outhit Crandon 10-4 in the contest with Vanderbunt, Wiczek and Gretzinger collecting two hits each. Vanderbunt, Waydick, Wiczek, Rappley and Gretzinger each drove in two runs. 

Rhinelander has a road game at GNC-champ Mosinee on Tuesday, and will then return home for GNC games against Tomahawk and Lakeland Wednesday and Friday. The Tomahawk game was originally scheduled to be played Monday, but was postponed due to inclement weather.

“Mosinee will be a good test for us, and then obviously Tomahawk and Lakeland, those are two teams that got us last year, so, we can’t take anyone lightly,” Waksmonski said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].