Hodag Highlights: Rhinelander baseball downs Merrill 11-1

The bats were humming Thursday, and it seemed as though every Hodag got in on the action, as the Rhinelander High School baseball team dominated the Merrill Bluejays 11-1 at Stafford field. The game ended in the 5th inning due to the mercy rule.
Connor Rappley was a standout on the mound and at the plate.
He racked up 6 strikeouts as the game’s starting picture and tallied a double and two singles at-bat. Merrill mustered 6 hits in the contest but could not score enough to keep up with a Hodag team firing on all cylinders.
Rhinelander broke the game open with 5 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning, including a double RBI by first baseman Sawyer Bishop. Vince White was a sparkplug at the plate, driving in three runs. The team recorded 13 hits on the day as the Hodags continued their perfect season.
After the game, The Star Journal asked Rappley how it felt having such a strong start to the season, after having last season’s middle-of-the-road 11-10 record.

“It feels good to start out 3-0 and to be able to beat some of these teams pretty badly,” he shared. “Dealing with an arm injury last summer I wasn’t able to pitch, it was a long process of recovery, so it feels good to come back and have a good start to the season.”
Thursday’s win was the second of the week for the Hodags. On Tuesday, Rhinelander defeated Northland Pines 7-2 in a game where they committed no errors,
Jackson Waydick pitched 6 innings, striking out 8, walking 1 and giving up 3 hits and 1 run. Rowan Wiczek pitched the 7th. He gave up a one-run home run but struck out the side to end the game.
Rhinelander was scheduled to take on the Tomahawk Hatchets on Friday but the game had to be postponed due to weather. Rhinelander faced Mosinee Monday afternoon, after this edition went to press.
(Additional information provided by Bob Mainhardt)