RHS baseball routs Merrill 11-1

The Rhinelander High School baseball team performed well against Great Northern Conference newcomer Merrill on April 16. The Hodags beat the Bluejays 11-1 in five innings — pounding out five doubles as part of a 13-hit performance at Stafford Field.

No time was wasted in the scoring department for the Hodags. Abe Gretzinger, who went 3-for-4 in the contest, led off the bottom of the first inning with the game’s inaugural double after the Hodag defense went one-two-three against the top of Merrill’s order. Jackson Waydick worked a walk before Gretzinger scored the first run on a ground-rule double from Rowan Wiczek. Bluejay pitcher Cameron Wallin struck out three straight to end the first, stranding Wiczek and Waydick on second and third. 

Another quick second inning for the Hodag defense paved the way for a pair of runs produced by the bottom of the order. Hoyt Dantoin pushed successful hitters Charlie Johnson and Josh Willoughby to second and third with a sacrifice bunt before Gretzinger gained his two RBIs for the game on a single that scored Johnson and Willoughby. 

Merrill’s lone run came on an error in the top of the fourth, but Rhinelander bounced back with their biggest inning of the night in the bottom half. 

    Rhinelander’s Sawyer Bishop fields a throw to first to retire Merrill’s Cooper Wendorf during a GNC baseball game at Stafford Field Thursday, April 16. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Gretzinger started the fourth with a single, his third hit of the night. Waydick once again worked a walk before Wiczek hit an RBI single to score Gretzinger. Conner Rappley reached on a walk before Sawyer Bishop smashed a double and allowed Waydick and Wiczek to cross home. Rappley scored when Vince White grounded out, and Johnson capped off Hodag scoring in the fourth with an RBI double to score Bishop. 

“I thought it was a really good win. You know, Merrill threw one of their, one of their top pitchers at us,” head coach Joe Waksmonski said. 

He noted that a few of the Hodags in the lineup played travel baseball with Merrill pitcher Wallin, so they had formulated their own scouting report even with Merrill being new to the GNC this year. 

“You could just tell our guys, kind of had, already had an idea of what he was going to throw and how he was going to try and work them,” he said. 

Waksmonski added the Hodags are starting to find a rhythm, especially at the plate, with this being their third game of the season. 

“It’s game three for us, so now things are starting to click a little bit quicker...we talked about making our adjustments a lot quicker,” he said.   “When you go back to Tuesday (against Northland Pines), it took us the first time through the order to kind of make some adjustments, and then we started hitting the ball and then...with Merrill, obviously, we started hitting the ball right off the bat.”

    Rhinelander’s Conner Rappley pitches during a GNC baseball game against Merrill at Stafford Field Thursday, April 16. Rappley allowed a run on six hits with six strikeouts in Rhinelander’s 11-1 win. (Blake Richard/River News)
  

From a defensive perspective, Rhinelander had another strong effort, but the Hodags were unable to capitalize on some double play opportunities that Waksmonski said they’ll work on in coming practices. 

Rappley had six strikeouts in his five innings on the mound, allowing two walks and six hits. He hit one batter, but kept the Blue Jays to minimal scoring.

“(Rappley) battled,” Waksmonski said. “(Merrill) was fouling  him off, fouling him off. I believe there was like eight-, nine-, 10-, 11-pitch at bats. There were at least four of them. So that kind of drove his pitch count up, but he battled, he competed, competed hard. The defense once again played really well behind him.”

Rhinelander was scheduled to face Tomahawk Friday, but the game was postponed due to the severe thunderstorms that went through the area. The game will be now played Thursday, April 30. 

The Hodags have a busy week, which began Monday night in a matchup against defending GNC-champion Mosinee that concluded after press time. Rhinelander hits the road tonight in a non-conference game against Marathon of the Marawood South, and have more conference action scheduled at Lakeland on Thursday. 

Blake Richard may be reached via email at [email protected].