Rappley, Vanderbunt shutout Amery in playoff opener

Pitching and defense have been a strong combination down the stretch of the regular season for the Rhinelander High School baseball team. That recipe served up another success Thursday in the WIAA playoff opener.

Conner Rappley struck out 12 batters over 6 2/3 innings and Dylan Vanderbunt put the finishing touches on a two-hit shutout as the Hodags defeated Amery 5-0 in a Division 2 regional quarterfinal at Stafford Field. 

The win guaranteed a winning record on the year for the Hodags (12-10, 7-5 Great Northern) and earned Rhinelander a date with second-seeded St. Croix Falls on the road this afternoon in the regional semifinals. 

Vanderbunt added a pair of hits at the plate, and the Hodags scored four times between the fourth and fifth innings to create some separation on Thursday. But it all started with another command performance from Rappley on the mound. 

Making his first start since tossing a perfect game May 22 at Medford, Rappley walked the first batter he faced, but settled in from there with a steady diet of strikeouts. 

“It starts with that fastball. He’s been able to locate in and out, up and down,” Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said. “Just really able to pinpoint that outside corner tonight, pitch on the black. He threw a couple of nice off-speed pitches, late in counts, got some strikeouts on that pitch. But again, just being able to challenge hitters and then, while he had the 12 strikeouts, he let his defense work for him too.”

Waksmonski said the opening inning was key to the Hodags’ success on Thursday. Michael Morrissey draw a leadoff walk for the Warriors but after back-to-back strikeouts, Morrissey was cut down by catcher Jackson Waydick in an attempt to steal second to end the inning.

Amery starter Jacob Maxon walked the first two batters he faced, and that led to a run after back-to-back fielder’s choices by Seth Nofftz and Rowan Wiczek plated Waydick.

“That first inning, there’s a lot of nerves you could tell, you know, Conner kind of had the battle through it a little bit. Jackson made a great play throwing out that base runner to kind of end that threat right away. And then in the bottom end (it was big) just to get that first run, just to kind of set the nerves and get guys feeling good.”

Amery threatened in the third as Mikey Kelly reached on a two-out error followed by a single to right by Morrissey — who had both hits on the afternoon for the Warriors. Freshman Vince White made a long running grab on a line drive by Maxon down the left field line to end the inning and keep Amery off the board. 

The Hodags made Amery pay for a leadoff error in the fourth as Wiczek reached on a sharply-hit ball that went between the legs of third baseman Sam Streich. Rappley drew a four-pitch walk and, two batters latter, Abe Gretzinger singled to right, to give Rhinelander a 2-0 lead.

Two batters later, Tyler Chariton delivered a single to left the scored Rappley’s courtesy runner, Mason Schmidt. Gretzinger came around on a double by Waydick. The inning ended as Chariton was cut down at the plate, trying to score from first on the play. 

“Tyler, huge, huge two-out hit with two strikes, finding a hole, being able to score Mason, then Jackson’s at-bat, I think he felt like he wasn’t getting a couple of calls his way the first two pitches. He was able to battle back in the at-bat, and then able to take a pitch middle away and drive it to right center, scoring the first one, we just couldn’t quite get that second run in for him,” Waksmonski said.

    Rhinelander’s Abe Gretzinger steals second base while Amery’s Mike Kelly is unable to field a high throw during the sixth inning of a WIAA Division 2 regional quarterfinal baseball game against Amery at Stafford Field Thursday, May 29. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodags got a call to go their way in the fifth inning, which led to one more insurance run. After Vanderbunt led off with a single, John Turek hit a chopper back to the mound that was initially ruled a double play. However, on appeal, Kelly was deemed off the bag at second when he received the throw from Maxon before throwing to first to retire Turek. Vanderbunt’s position on second was restored, and he eventually scored following a pair of Maxon wild pitches. 

“We haven’t had a call like that in a while here to kind of reverse our fortunes,” Waksmonski said. “And then obviously, you know, we able to get that run in. And that’s a big insurance run, and kind of almost a nail in the coffin at that point.” 

Maxon allowed five runs, but only two earned, on five hits over five innings with three walks and three strikeouts. Peter Markee worked around a leadoff hit batter in a scoreless sixth inning. Rappley reached the daily 100-pitch limit as he struck out Streich with two outs in the seventh. Vanderbunt walked Gavin Humpal before getting Chase Pnewski to ground out to first to end the contest. 

The news was not all good for Rhinelander, however. Nofftz appeared to sustain a lower body injury as he beat a throw to first on a fielder’s choice in the first inning. He initially stayed in the game, and played defensively in the second and third innings, before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the third. 

“The biggest thing is Seth’s leadership and Seth’s bat in the lineup that we lost,” Waksmonski said. “We tried to let him, you know, gut through it as best he could, but, you know, he just couldn’t quite swing the bat the way he wanted to, and then run consequently. So we had to make the decision to pull him there.”

Attention now shifts to today’s regional semifinal at St. Croix Falls. The Saints come in 15-9 on the season and were runners-up in the Heart O’North Conference with a 12-6 league mark. The only common opponent between the Hodags and the Saints is Barron, which both squads lost to during the regular season.

“To be honest, we don’t know much about St. Croix Falls,” Waksmonski said. “The little I know, they’ve got a really good catcher, and they’ve got a couple decent arms. It’s very similar, I’m sure, to what we see in our conference … They’re a winning team, and you know, you can’t take anything for granted. We just got to go over there and play our best baseball.”

The winner of that game will play again tomorrow in the regional finals against either Mosinee or Ashland.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].