Big inning propels RHS baseball in opener

The Rhinelander High School baseball team kept Antigo’s bats silent most of the game Friday and took advantage when the Red Robins gifted the Hodags with an opportunity. 

The Hodags scored all four of their runs in the fifth inning — aided by a trio of Antigo errors — and held the Robins to only two hits as they scored a 4-2 victory in Wisconsin Rapids.

The game was originally scheduled for Rhinelander, but was moved to the artificial turf at the Wisconsin Rapids Sports Complex with Stafford Field not yet ready for play. After losing its first three games of the season due to weather, the Hodags finally got on the diamond for the first time this spring, which coach Joe Waksmonski said was evident during the contest.

“Everyone’s trying to knock the rust off. Everyone’s trying to get into game shape. And then you’re also kind of battling the conditions, you’re trying to keep everyone fresh, you’re not trying to burn anyone on game one,” he said. “Multiple factors today that just made this game unusual and like I told the team, at the end of the day, we got the win and we’re 1-0.”

The Hodags (1-0, 1-0 Great Northern) trailed 1-0 in the fifth when the Robins (0-1, 0-1 Great Northern) gifted them with three extra outs. Charlie Johnson started the inning with a walk and, two batters later, ended up safe at second when pitcher Marcus Washatko fired high on a force out attempt off a bunt by Hoyt Dantoin. 

Abe Gretzinger, who collected two of Rhinelander’s five hits in the game, reached safely when Levi Binversie dropped a fly ball to center — loading the bases with one out. 

Jackson Waydick tied the game on a fielder’s choice to third that appeared to be the second out of the inning, but Dantoin was called safe after third baseman Caleb Vandenlangenberg fumbled the ball while stepping on the base. 

Two batters later, Conner Rappley tied the game on a sharply-hit infield single to short and Sawyer Bishop, the Hodags’ leader in RBIs in 2025, followed with a two-run single that ultimately served as the final margin of victory. 

“They gave us a couple chances defensively as far as getting base runners on. At the end, Sawyer had the big hit to knock in two RBIs and kind of give us a little more breathing room. It was the big inning for us that helped us out,” Waksmonski said.

Waydick got the ball to start for Rhinelander. He worked around a hit, a walk and a hit batter as he tossed three scoreless innings with a couple of strikeouts. Sophomore Vince White picked up the win in relief, striking out two over two innings. While the Robins didn’t record a hit off White, they did score in the fifth after Seth Medo drew a leadoff walk. His courtesy runner, Braydon Kielman, stole second, moved to third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch to give Antigo a 1-0 lead.

Rappley, the Hodags’ ace from a season ago, worked the final two innings to earn the save. He allowed an unearned run in the sixth after Jordy Pregler reached on an error off a chopper back to the mound. Pregler got to third thanks to a couple of passed balls and scored on a two-out single by Boden Kuenzli. 

Antigo got the tying run aboard in the seventh after Zach Bula drew a one-out walk, but he was picked off first base and Rappley got Binversie to fly out to right to end the contest. 

While all three Rhinelander pitchers were well under the daily 100-pitch limit, Waksmonski said he wanted to limit their pitch counts in their first game action of the spring. 

“You definitely don’t plan on going into a game, trying to throw three your top pitchers. That’s also was unusual to do, but again, I mean, all three pitchers that came in got good work in,” he said. “They had their ups and downs on the mound and, for the most part, they threw strikes. The couple times we had some walks, of course, there were lead-off walks to get on to start off innings … That’s just kind of a product of this time of year, it’s tough conditions to pitch in. It’s tough to hit in. It’s kind of who handles those conditions the best.”

Antigo’s Tate Unsinn kept Rhinelander’s offense in check over the first four innings, allowing just two singles to Gretzinger, with a walk and five strikeouts in a no-decision. 

“Their starter, (Unsinn), threw great. He had a nice fastball. He was hitting the zone. He had a real nice curveball that it was, you know, very, very, deceptive — big speed differential and kept their hitters off balance. Obviously he threw very well,” Waksmonski said.

Washatko took the loss for Antigo. All four runs he allowed were unearned as he gave up three hits and struck out four over two innings. 

First pitch temperature was 44 degrees in Wisconsin Rapids, and with the wind gusting over 20 MPH out of the northwest, Waksmonski said the conditions turned the Rapids diamond into a pitcher’s park.

“Anything hit to that left center gap, the wind was blowing it in or pushing it toward that right field foul line. You could see a couple of the high pop-ups, the wind was definitely wreaking havoc on it. So just not conducive for big offensive production,” he said.

Rhinelander was scheduled to travel to Eagle River Monday to take on Northland Pines, a determination of if that game would take place as scheduled had not been made as of press time. The Eagles were scheduled to host Merrill on Friday, but the game was switched to Merrill, with the Eagles picking up a 4-0 win over the previously unbeaten Bluejays. 

Rhinelander is scheduled to host Merrill Thursday. Waksmonski said he was unsure if Stafford Field would be ready by then, or if that game could possibly be moved to Merrill as well.

At either rate, Waksmonski said both games are critical early in the season — especially after defending GNC champion Mosinee was upset by Tomahawk 8-6 Friday in its season opener.

“They’re conference games, so it’s important to get those games in right now as well,” he said. “For sure, we got it, we got to get those wins too. You want to stack up those April wins right now and make your give yourself a good chance of winning the conference at the end.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].