Hodag baseball spilts final regular season games

After closing out the Great Northern Conference season with one of its best games of the year, the Rhinelander High School baseball team followed up with one of its worst last Friday. The Hodags bounced back Tuesday, however, as they looked to carry momentum into the WIAA playoffs.

The Hodags were blanked 12-0 by Marathon at Stafford Field, but followed that up with a 6-0 victory Tuesday over Wisconsin Rapids Assumption. That gave the Hodags an 11-10 mark to close out the regular season and assured the team would have at least a .500 record overall as it began WIAA tournament play Thursday at home against Amery. 

Those two games followed up last Thursday’s 8-0 win at Medford in which sophomore Conner Rappley threw a perfect game. Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said it’s all about consistency for his club as it enters the postseason. 

“Doesn’t matter what you did the day before. It’s all about being present in the moment,” he said.

Rhinelander 6, Wis. Rapids Assumption 0

The Hodags did a better job of being in the moment on Tuesday. Senior Mason Schmidt pitched six shutout innings and the Hodags had enough offense early to get past the Royals in the regular season finale. 

Rhinelander held Assumption to three hits on the night and played error-free defense to get the victory. 

“Defensively tonight, not having any errors, pitching, being able to throw consistent strikes tonight, really making the routine plays and (we we’re) just kind of taking care of business tonight on those two aspects — pitching and defense,” Waksmonski said.

Schmidt saw his most extensive action of the spring in the contest. He worked around four walks and a hit batter in the contest, and struck out six to pick up his first win of the season. 

“He was in and around the zone most of the night.” Waksmonski said. “I think they had one runner to get the third base but, again, he was able to pitch in within the strike zone consistently and induce some pop-ups and some ground balls and get the occasional strikeout as well, just pitching on the corners.”

    Rhinelander’s Dylan Vanderbunt makes contact on a pitch during a non-conference baseball game against Marathon at Stafford Field Friday, May 23. Vanderbunt had two hits and two RBIs Tuesday in Rhinelander’s 6-0 victory over Wisconsin Rapids Assumption. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander cashed in on some Assumption miscues early to jump ahead. Jackson Waydick and Dylan Vanderbunt both scored in the first inning after the Royals misfired on a fielder’s choice attempt off the bat of Seth Nofftz. 

John Turek singled and scored after Assumption \ tried to throw back to third against Turek and, instead, sent the ball into the outfield in the second inning. The Hodags made it 4-0 on a Vanderbunt double that scored fellow senior Tyler Chariton. Vanderbunt and Nofftz added back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth. 

“Offensively, it wasn’t our best night, but we were able to scratch across a couple runs, taking advantage of some of their mistakes,” Waksmonski said.

The Hodag defense helped to preserve the shutout with a couple of highlight plays. Cyler Schill hit a one-out single in the fourth for Assumption that turned into an inning-ending double play as Camden Martin was thrown out trying to score from second base and Schill was cut down trying to take second following the throw to the plate. 

A walk by Martin was followed by a double by Schill with two outs in the sixth, but the Hodags ended the inning with a running grab of a fly ball to left. 

Rowan Wiczek completed the shutout as he worked a perfect seventh inning with a strikeout. 

Marathon 12, Rhinelander 0

The Hodags struggled on the mound and in the field last Friday as they fell to Marathon roughly 24 hours after Conner Rappley’s perfect game. 

The leadoff batter for Marathon, Cody Radtke, walked and scored in first inning. That set the stage for a rough night for Rhinelander’s pitching and defense. Four different pitchers combined to walk 12 batters and the Hodag defense committed five errors.

“It was the opposite of yesterday with the walks and the errors, and then offensively, just not able to generate anything much,” Waksmonski said. “You get runners and scoring position and then don’t get him in. Just a lot of mistakes we made that we were making early on in the year that we were kind of grown out of but, again, if we are not present in the moment, that stuff will happen.”

Marathon tacked on three runs in the second, one in the fourth, one in the fifth and blew the game open with six in the sixth. Sawyer Bishop started and lasted only 1 1/2 innings, allowing four runs on a hit with five walks an no strikeouts in the loss.

Schmidt worked 3 2/3 innings, giving up a pair of runs. Abe Gretzinger walked six and allowed three hits over two thirds of an inning in Marathon’s six-run sixth. 

Gretzinger and Vince White had two hits each in the contest, but the Hodags stranded nine runners — including runners in scoring position in the third, fourth and sixth innings. 

Rhinelander hosted Amery in the regional quarterfinals Thursday after press time for today’s edition. The winner of that game travels to St. Croix Falls for a regional semifinal Tuesday.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].