RHS baseball wins GNC outright

The Rhinelander High School baseball team claimed the Great Northern title outright with a 3-2 walk-off win over Lakeland on May 18 at Stafford Field in Rhinelander. A sacrifice fly from Vince White allowed Jackson Waydick to tag from third base and score the outright conference championship clinching run. Head coach Joe Waksmonski also secured his 200th career win with the victory.

“Coach (Waksmonski) talked to me before (the at-bat in the seventh), and he was telling me, ‘Just look for a ball that you can pop up in the air, look for that (sacrifice) fly to get the runner in, so that’s all I was doing,” White said after the game.

After fouling off the first pitch he saw, White cranked one to center field. 

His sacrifice fly brought home the game-winning run that not only secured the outright conference championship, but also Waksmonski’s 200th career win. 

“You go back to the first couple years and you think about all the players and coaches that have been working with you,” Waksmonski said. “It’s a team effort to get to get to 200 wins, it’s not just me and it obviously was really special to have that happen on a night you win a conference championship.”

Rhinelander 3, Lakeland 2

    Rhinelander’s Vince White (13) walks back to celebrating teammates Charlie Johnson (left) and Jackson Waydick (middle) following the end of a GNC conference game against Lakeland at Stafford Field on May 18. White hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh to give the Hodags a 3-2 victory. (Blake Richard/River News)
  

Tied at two with the Thunderbirds in the bottom of the seventh, Waydick worked his second walk of the night on Lakeland pitcher Drew Warren, who was then forced to leave the bump due to reaching the 100-pitch maximum. Reliever Landyn Kropidlowski came in for Warren as Waydick stood on first, but two passed balls allowed Waydick to reach third base with one out. 

Conner Rappley was walked after Rowan Wiczek flew out to center, and Sawyer Bishop loaded the bases when he was intentionally walked by the Thunderbirds. 

White’s deep fly ball, to an outfield already playing shallow, gave Waydick enough time to sprint down the line and slide across home to give the Hodags sole rights of the GNC trophy. 

“Nerve wracking. It’s nerve wracking,” Waksmonski said. “It kind of felt like there was a monkey on our back and to try and get it done right away.” 

Last Thursday, Mosinee ended the Hodags’ undefeated season, which also pushed the outright championship-clinching game to May 18 against Lakeland. 

Similar to the Mosinee game, Rhinelander had trouble stringing hits together off of lefty pitcher Warren, never scoring more than one run an inning against the Thunderbirds. 

“If we did get runners in scoring position, we just couldn’t get them quite in,” Waksmonski said.  “You gotta tip your hat to Drew Warren. He did a nice job ... at keeping our hitters off balance.”

Warren struck out eight Hodags and allowed two earned runs in six-plus innings. 

    Rhinelander’s Vince White pitches in the fifth inning of a GNC conference game against Lakeland at Stafford Field on May 18. White allowed two runs on six hits, striking out a dozen and walking one in Rhinelander’s 3-2 win. (Blake Richard/River News)
  

White also went six innings for the Hodags, tallying a dozen strikeouts and allowing two earned runs on six hits and one walk. 

“Vince came back after that first inning, where he gave up three hits,” Waksmonski said. “(Lakeland was) ready for him right off the bat and they get that first round. But then for Vince to climb back into the driver’s seat the rest of the way, and just really command the zone, command two different pitches, his fastball, his curveball and being able to just go after their hitters.”

“Go right after the hitters early in the count,” White said about his approach during the six innings he pitched. “I started out a little shaky, but I was glad I was able to dial it in as the game went on.”

Rhinelander 13, Edgar 6

After securing the top spot in the GNC regular season, Rhinelander beat Edgar 13-6 in a non-conference clash at Stafford Field on Tuesday. 

Other than a late rally in the sixth and seventh, the Wildcats struggled to put runs up against the Hodags. They scored once in the first, but Rhinelander pounced with nine unanswered after that. 

The Hodags were able to break it open when Waydick hit a bases-clearing triple to right field in the bottom of the second, extending the lead to a 5-1 advantage. 

Additional damage came for the Hodags as they found the scoreboard in the next inning on singles from Bishop, White, Josh Willoughby, Abe Gretzinger, and Waydick. Coupled with an error and a few stolen bases, the Hodags were up 9-1 by the start of the fourth. 

They piled it on again  in the sixth, with Rowan Wiczek first reaching on a walk. Rappley advanced Wiczek and himself with a single right before Bishop hit a sacrifice fly to score Wiczek. Back-to-back singles from Johnson and White, along with another Edgar error had the Hodags up 13-4. 

Edgar’s two runs in the seventh came on and RBI groundout and a double. 

Waydick threw five innings, while Wiczek and Johnson capped off the contest with one inning apiece. Waydick allowed one run on four hits and two walks, adding four strikeouts to his five complete innings. 

Rhinelander played Medford at Stafford Field in their last regular season GNC game after conclusion of press time for this edition.

The Hodags will close out the regular season at home against Spencer Tuesday, May 26.

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