Hodag Little Leaguers play hard in state tourney effort

The record will show that the Rhinelander 12U Little League All-Star team went 0-3 and finished last in the four-team Wisconsin Little League state tournament last weekend. But that statement belies how the Hodags played in the four-day event in West Bend.

Two of Rhinelander’s three losses came by a single run — against the two teams that eventually played for the state championship — and the 16 runs the Hodags allowed were the second fewest of the four teams in the field. 

“We definitely gave great efforts but, the games, it was really just a couple plays here and there that really decided that. That’s unfortunate, but I’m really proud of them,” Hodag manager Josh Clark said.

Rhinelander started the tournament with a matchup against Kenosha American. That was a rematch of the 2023 10U state championship series that Kenosha swept two games to none — the second game won on a walkoff in the bottom of the sixth. 

As fate would have it, Kenosha would get the better of the Hodags again on a walkoff, this time winning 5-4 in extra innings. 

Rhinelander spotted Kenosha a pair of runs in the first inning but got a run back in the third on an RBI single by Easton Sieker that plated Griffin Rady. Rhinelander tied it in the fifth as Blake Sundby doubled and scored on a passed ball. 

Rhinelander took the lead for the first time in the top of the seventh. Eli Bauer tripled to drive in inherited runner Jaxon Eades and Nick Schneider added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. 

Kenosha tied it in the bottom of the seventh, however, thanks to a single and an error, and then walked it off on an RBI single to right with two out in the inning. 

“It just came down to little plays in the end there. To be up 4-2 going into you know the bottom of the seventh inning, I think we felt pretty good about the effort and everything else, but I mean it’s baseball just doesn’t always go your way,” coach Clark said.

Rhinelander outhit Kenosha 8-5 in the contest as Bauer and Sieker had two hits each. Bauer pitched six innings in a no-decision before reaching the 85-pitch maximum for the day. He allowed no earned runs on three hits and struck out 11.

“Eli was just throwing darts. Our defense, we made a lot of play even though we had a couple errors, we still did make a lot of plays,” coach Clark said.

Eades took the loss, allowing three runs on a hit with a walk and two strikeouts. Schneider relieved him with two outs in the inning and surrendered the game-winning single. 

Coach Clark said there was plenty of emphasis on the Kenosha game, based on what happened two years ago and what it likely meant for Rhinelander’s chances of reaching championship Sunday.

“We knew if we were to win that game, we were gonna be in the driver’s seat,” he said. “I felt good about Madison. We would’ve had a really good chance against them with some momentum. Then going to Whitefish Bay 2-0 and I mean you’re already in the championship game and again we could’ve done some different things pitching but with that Game 1 being so close, we had the Eli the entire time. Our goal was to pitch him 50 and then he’d be available for the championship. But it’s one of those things, if you don’t win that game, you’re not getting into the championship.”

Rhinelander played catchup all evening in Game 2 against Madison Kennedy, eventually falling 5-1. Kennedy scored twice in the first to take the lead, tacked on two more runs in the fourth and one in the fifth. Rhinelander’s lone run came in the first as Eades walked and eventually scored on a two-out wild pitch. 

Rhinelander had six hits in the game, two of which were by William Sundby, but left nine runners on base in the contest. That included stranding the bases loaded in the fourth inning. 

“I know we had two on with one out a couple times. We had bases loaded with one out as well. Just never got that hit that kind of breaks it open,” coach Clark said. “Super unfortunate, but again, we gotta step up when we get those opportunities and you can’t leave bases loaded with one out and not score.”

Schneider took the loss for Rhinelander, despite a 10-strikeout performance over 4 2/3 innings. He allowed five runs on six hits with a pair of walks. Jeter Vander Galien worked an inning and a third of relief, allowing no runs on a walk, a hit and a strikeout. 

By the time Whitefish Bay and Rhinelander met on Day 3, both teams’ championship fates had already been decided. At 2-0, Whitefish Bay had clinched a spot in the title game while Rhinelander had been mathematically eliminated with an 0-2 mark. 

That didn’t stop the Hodags from giving Whitefish Bay its closest game in round-robin play after they had routed Madison Kennedy 27-2 and Kenosha American 11-1. Trailing 5-0 in the fifth inning, the Hodags scored five runs to tie it, but gave up a run in the top of the sixth to fall 6-5. 

Rhinelander loaded the bases with one out in the fifth when Cooper Clark drew a run-scoring free pass. Blake Sundby followed with a two-run double and Rylan Pasanen had a two-run single to tie the game.

“I mean their whole team is loaded,” coach Clark said. “The hitting part of it like, if you look back to their first couple rounds of the state tournament, they scored 15-plus pretty much every game like this wasn’t just down there that they were putting up big runs. This is kind of an all year thing. We made a ton of plays again. They didn’t back down. They weren’t terrified.”

Whitefish Bay went on to defeat Kenosha American 4-1 for the state title and advanced  to the Midwest Regional tournament, which begins today in Whitestown, Ind.

“That’s probably the best team that we will face you know at that age group in the state,” coach Clark added. “To be tied with them going into the last inning again like just really proud of them not backing down.”

Eades went five-plus innings in the loss, allowing six runs on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Vander Galien recorded a walk and a strikeout in the sixth. 

The team stayed in the Milwaukee area through Sunday, and even took in a Major League Baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Miami Marlins on Saturday. Despite going winless at state, coach Clark said the team was in good spirits afterward. 

“We go 0-3, and again lost two really tough games, but you know by the end, when we went to the Brewer game, all the kids were still one unit,” he said. “Everybody’s best buddies and then still having a ton of fun together and that stuff gonna serve them really well and they get older and big games that matter in high school and stuff.”

As for the future, some players will age out of Little League and move on to the 13U level next year, while some will still be age-eligible. Coach Clark noted it’s uncertain at this point if Rhinelander will field a Little League All-Star squad next year — it didn’t at the 10U level this summer — as more teams in the area get away from sanctioned Little League play and focus on weekend travel tournaments. 

“We’ll probably add a few more southern Wisconsin tournaments and so we are competing against high-level competition,” he noted. “The future is definitely really bright. Even like couple years below, a couple years above us, we have some really good coaching, really good kids. I think that’s a probably the biggest part is they’re all really good kids to get along with each other and you know that team aspect like they cheer just as hard for somebody else as they do themselves. I think that culture that we have right now going is really gonna pay off when they get to high school.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].