Jason Arndt, jarndt@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Jason Arndt Shawano Community High School junior Nate Laude delivers a pitch against Rhinelander in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday at Memorial Park. The hurler tossed nine innings and allowed no runs in the Hawks’ 1-0 11-inning win.
Playing a doubleheader can be an endurance test for any team on the baseball diamond.
But on Saturday, the Shawano and Rhinelander high school squads played the equivalent of nearly three games, with Shawano sweeping the twin bill, 4-3 in eight innings and 1-0 in 11 innings.
Senior pitcher Jack Lacy notched both victories in relief. He took the rubber in the 10th inning of the second game after junior Nate Laude turned in nine strong innings, striking out seven Hodags, walking two and allowing six hits.
“That was a solid performance. To go nine innings, that is a great achievement for a high school kid to do that, so he really stepped up and contributed,” Shawano coach Rob Wolff said.
“It is not only me that did this, it was the team that was behind me,” Laude said. “The pop-ups to the outfield helped me a lot. … My arm started to hurt toward the end.”
With Rhinelander as the home team in the second game, Lacy got out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 10th inning, coaxing catcher Ben Quade (1-4) to pop out to first baseman Tommy Stueck.
“(Lacy) did a really good job,” Laude said. “He got the first win, and the second win for me.”
Kasey Kristof (1-4) scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the top of the 11th.
Kristof and Brandon Warrington (1-4) were the only Hawks with hits, as Rhinelander starter Nick Spencer and reliever Kurt Zuiker combined for 13 strikeouts and eight walks.
“I gotta tip my cap to both pitchers for the performance,” Wolff said.
Rhinelander coach Joe Waksmonski credited Spencer for getting himself out of early jams.
“This was everyone’s first time outside today,” said Waksmonski, whose team has been practicing indoors due to rain and wet field conditions. “(Spencer) got himself out of tough jams, made some strikeouts when needed.”
Shawano (3-1, 0-0 Bay Conference) squandered two scoring opportunities with the bases loaded earlier in the game.
“We had 19 innings of baseball, 5 1/2 hours of baseball. … Twice in the game we did not execute, ending either with a pop-up or strikeout,” Wolff said.
The leading hitters for Rhinelander (0-2, 0-0 Great Northern Conference) were Kent Matthews (2-4), Brandon Reinthaler (2-5) and Logan Fruend (2-5).
In the first game of the doubleheader, senior shortstop Zack Sousek scored both the first and game-winning runs.
Sousek scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by senior Chase Henning (0-2) in the bottom of the first inning. Senior left-fielder Adam Bartz (2-3) scored the second run on a single by catcher Jack Hanauer (2-2) in the third inning. Stueck scored in the bottom of the fifth inning before the Hodags tacked on two runs in the sixth inning to tie the game at 3.
Sousek scored the winning run on an error.