Legion drops two straight after winning first pair of regional games

The Northwoods Wisconsin American Legion baseball team edged Antigo 9-8 in the opening round of the AA Wisconsin American Legion baseball regionals Thursday and Rhinelander 3-1 Friday before dropping 6-2 and 13-0 contests on Saturday afternoon and evening to be eliminated from the
tournament. The team finished the season with a 12-2 record.
“We had a very good season. I enjoyed coaching the kids, and it made it fun because these kids are all in and were committed to playing baseball and wanting to get better,” said Northwoods Manager Dustin Hoeft on the season.

2-0 start

Antigo struck first right out of the gate with two outs in the top of the first.

A two-out hit by Jordan Pregler gave Antigo the 1-0 lead. Northwoods threw a counter in the bottom half of the inning, which produced three runs. Griffin Beyer, Jonah Will and Jonathan Miller each got on base to open the frame. Each came in to score, including one on a sac-fly from third baseman Landyn Hoeft. Northwoods doubled up Antigo in the second, taking a 4-2 lead after Sam Koshuta rounded the bases to score. From there, Beyer controlled the mound until about the fifth or sixth inning as Antigo mounted a threatening comeback attempt.
“I was really happy with Griffin’s approach on the mound to consistently throw strikes and let them put it in play,” said Hoeft after the victory. “We were a little shaky on defense, but when it mattered the most, our defense came through.”
It wasn’t until the late innings that Antigo showed some life, scoring six of its eight runs in the fifth and sixth innings. A pair of runners crossed home plate in the top of the fifth to make it a 5-4 game, before Northwoods countered with a near-knockout blow in the bottom of the inning. Hoeft (Landyn) sparked the inning with an RBI triple that later led to three other runs scoring to extend the lead back to five, 9-4.

“I liked our approach the guys had at the plate. They made contact with the ball when it mattered most,” explained Hoeft on the offensive performance.
Antigo strung some hits together and scored two

quick runs in the sixth and still had runners on the corners with just one out. After getting the bases jammed and two more runs given up later, Beyer got out of the sixth in what became a tight 9-8 game.
After a tough sixth inning, Beyer forgot about it and breezed through Antigo’s
order in the seventh to close the complete game. Davis Beyer highlighted the inning defensively with a diving catch at first base to
save a hit. Pitching also came up big on Friday against Rhinelander as well, as
Hoeft (Landon) commanded the strike zone and battled
in a pitcher’s duel.

“Landyn pitched an awesome game and our kids never gave up against
them,” stated Hoeft (Dustin).
Northwoods trailed 1-0 for most of the contest before scoring all three runs
in the top of the seventh. Jason Linn’s grounder up the middle and an error scored the game’s tying run to get things going.

That put Northwoods into a Saturday matchup with also 2-0 Medford.

Consecutive losses
Northwoods had its shot at Medford to go to the regional title game Sunday and used its offense in an attempt to stay close, but Medford jumped on
Miller multiple times to gain the advantage on a blistering hot afternoon. It was a 3-1 game after three, and Northwoods gave up another three in the top of the fourth to fall behind 6-1.
A handful of errors didn’t help Northwoods in the

comeback attempt.
“We battled with Medford. We hit the ball well, but it just didn’t fall
our way,” explained Hoeft.
Northwoods kept putting the ball in play, but the balls were hit directly at players for easy outs.
That loss was the first of the season and put the team in a second game against Rhinelander nearly directly after the Medford loss.
Will got the nod after Hoeft used Miller in the previous game, and the
Pines upcoming senior held his own for a few innings.
“We were strong for the first two innings and then the heat caught up to us,” explained Hoeft. “It was hard on the kids to try and recover from the Medford game. Jonah gave us a chance, but we just couldn’t get the offense going.”
Rhinelander jumped on Northwoods in the third
and fourth innings, scoring 12 runs between the two innings to jump ahead 13 0. The loss ended Northwoods’ season just short of an AA state tournament berth.