No. 2 Hodags drub Pines, take three-game lead in GNC

The Rhinelander High School baseball team enters this week on the precipice of its first conference championship in 14 years. The Hodags reached that point Friday with a commanding 8-1 victory over second-place Northland Pines in Eagle River.

Jackson Waydick belted three hits and four RBIs while Conner Rappley struck out 10 batters over 5 1/3 innings as the second-ranked (D2) Hodags (12-0, 10-0 Great Northern) moved three games clear of the Eagles and Mosinee atop the conference standings with four games remaining. 

“It was, I thought, a really well-played game, especially on our part,” Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said. “The magic number is down to one and, obviously, we want to experience our first conference championship in a number of years and, hopefully, everyone will be able to experience that with us.”

Leading 2-1 in the fourth inning, the Hodags broke things open against Pines starter Brody Hoeft. Josh Willoughby was hit by a pitch and singles by Weston Kibler and Abe Gretzinger loaded the bases for Waydick, who cleared them with a double to left field that made it a 5-1 game. Rappley doubled home Waydick two batters later, and Rappley came around on a two-out single by Vince White to make it a 7-1 game. 

Sawyer Bishop added an extra insurance run in the sixth with an RBI double, and the Hodags outhit the Eagles 12-7 in the contest. 

“We were kind of kind of dialed in offensively, I felt, as hitters,” Waksmonski said. “Then you break out with the big inning but it just felt like, and even that inning, we left the bases loaded. We had a lot of other opportunities where we could have just kept tacking on, but no, we definitely were hitting the ball really well.”

Not all the news was good for the Hodags, however, as a mishap in the fourth inning caused two of Rhinelander’s starters to leave the contest. Willoughby, playing second, and right fielder Rowan Wiczek collided on a bloop fly to shallow right to lead off the bottom of the inning by Nolan Huelskamp.

Rhinelander got out of the inning without allowing a run after pulling two players, Hoyt Dantoin and Henry Schmitz, from the junior varsity game across the parking lot to replace the injured starters. 

“Hopefully we hear some good news tonight as far as on the injury front,” Waksmonski said. “To our guys’ credit, they didn’t flinch. A couple of their buddies were, were injured and were hurt, but they kept at it. We even kept it to zero that any inning. I thought that was big on our part to keep playing on after even after something devastating like that happens.”

    Rhinelander’s Conner Rappley pitches during the first inning of a GNC baseball game against Northland Pines in Eagle River Friday, May 8. Rappley struck out 10 batters over 5 1/3 innings as the Hodags moved within one win of clinching a share of the conference title. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

A good bit of the credit went to Rappley who scattered three hits and allowed just one unearned run in the victory. While the Eagles had a number of long at bats to drive up his pitch count and eventually chase him from the mound in the sixth inning, Rappley didn’t allow the Eagle offense to make many inroads. 

“Conner threw real well again. Northland Pines, and they did this the first time too, I mean, their hitters battled. Conner faced, I believe, at least four or five at bats that win at least eight pitches long — and he ended up winning all those at bats,” Waksmonski. “I thought that was really big that he won those at bats. There’s nothing worse than when you have a long battle, a long at bat like that, and then you give up the base, but Conner locked in and competed hard and he won those at bats.”

Charlie Johnson allowed four hits over the final 1 2/3 innings but kept the Eagles scoreless. 

Rhinelander jumped out to a 1-0 lead right away as Gretzinger doubled to lead off the game and came around on a Waydick single. Rappley made it 2-0 in the third on a sacrifice fly that plated Waydick. The Eagles scored their only run in the bottom of the third as Jonah Will scored when Griffin Beyer reached on a two-out error. 

The Hodags’ first chance to lock up the GNC title came Monday at Merrill in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. The next chance will be Thursday on the road against a Mosinee squad that more closely resembles the team that was listed in the Division 2 preseason rankings. The Indians have reeled off eight straight wins, scoring eight or more runs in seven of them. The lone exception was a 4-1 win in Friday’s first game over Antigo, which restarted in the fifth inning after it was suspended back on April 13 due to weather. 

“We’re going to see how we’re at health-wise here. It will probably end up being a different look than what we’ve seen so far this year, but, again, that’s kind of where we’re at,” Waksmonski said. “Then obviously Thursday, Mosinee, looks like they have kind of figured out, especially offensively lately. Pitching-wise, it looks like their guys are throwing strikes, and obviously they could be a tough out.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].