RHS baseball clinches share of first GNC title since 2012

MERRILL — For the first time since 2012, the Rhinelander High School baseball team has clinched a share of the Great North Conference title. 

The Hodags locked up the crown with three games to spare on Monday, securing a 3-1 win over the Merrill Bluejays at Athletic Park in Merrill.

It’s the third GNC title for coach Joe Waksmonski, who also skippered the Hodags to back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012.

“First and foremost, I mean, you got to celebrate,” he said after the game. “It’s our first ... share of it since 2012, so, we’ve got three games left, and we always preach you still want to play your best baseball going into the postseason.”

With the Hodags leading 2-1, freshman Jaxon West led off the top of the seventh with a single before a sacrifice bunt from Abe Gretzinger moved him to second. West scampered to third on a wild pitch and Jackson Waydick brought him home on a sacrifice fly to give the Hodags a two-run lead headed into the bottom of the seventh. 

“I thought that last inning, the top half of the seventh, was huge for us,” Waksmonski said. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Tyson Ott reached on a leadoff walk by White, which put White over the 100-pitch maximum. Charlie Johnson retired the next three batters in order with a strikeout, popout and a flyout to slam the door and earn the save.

The Hodags got on the board in the fourth in after putting runners at the corners with nobody out. Conner Rappley led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a single by Sawyer Bishop and scored when Johnson ground into a double play. White made it a 2-0 game in the sixth, taking the first pitch from Merrill’s Cooper Wendorf over the center field fence.

Though the Hodags couldn’t string enough of their nine hits together for more than one run in an inning, Waksmonski said they executed the small details to come out on top. 

“It starts with pitching, and then play some defense behind,” he said. “(The hits) were all scattered. We just couldn’t quite piece it together for one big inning, but, you know, we did the little things.”

    Rhinelander’s Abe Gretzinger turns an unassisted double play in the sixth inning of a GNC conference game in Merrill Monday, May 11. Gretzinger helped get two outs in the sixth, the only inning Merrill scored. (Blake Richard/River News)
  

Merrill’s sole run came on an RBI single from Noah Klug in the bottom of the sixth, and the damage could have been worse for the Hodags if not for Gretzinger’s unassisted double play on the at-bat prior. The Bluejays hit back-to-back singles to start the sixth, but a grounder toward the middle allowed Gretzinger to reduce Merrill’s occupancy on the bases to only one as Cam Wallin stood on third. Klug hit him in with his single to right before White ended the sixth with a strikeout. 

In his six innings pitched, White allowed one earned run on six hits. He had two walks and struck out 11. White reached the pitch count limit in the seventh before Johnson took the mound for the final three outs. 

The Hodags won despite an altered lineup, with both Rowan Wiczek and Josh Willoughby scratched from the lineup following a collision during a May 8 win at Northland Pines. Freshmen Blake Bauer started in centerfield, and West made his varsity debut playing second base.

Both Bauer and West recorded their first career varsity hits, and West finished 2-for-3 on the day.

“It was just one of those things where both those guys as freshmen making their first starts, they just weren’t fazed,” Waksmonski said. 

Rhinelander traveled to Mosinee after conclusion of press time for this edition, looking to win the GNC title outright with a win against the Indians. Results will push to the May 19 edition of River News.

Lakeland and Medford are the two remaining GNC games for the Hodags, both at Stafford Field. They play Lakeland on May 18 and Medford on May 21. 

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