July 13, 2016 at 2:39 p.m.
Dazzle's Demons hand Snowhawks first loss
Rhinelander squad downs Lake Tom 13-6
Dazzle's Demons hand Snowhawks first loss
By By Evan Verploegh-
Outhit and outscored, the Snowhawks fell 13-6 at Snowshoe Park to a squad that featured many familiar faces to snowshoe baseball fans.
Jordan and Nate Schmidt, Jamie and Jesse Robinson, along with Tom Ziemba, have all donned the Snowhawks' red, white and blue in the past, but sat on the opposing side for this contest. Each player made his mark on the game. Jamie Robinson went 4-for-5 at the plate. His younger brother, Jesse, hit a sixth-inning homer. The Schmidt brothers combined for five hits while Tom Ziemba crossed the plate three times in the leadoff spot.
"Those guys know how to play (and the team) was made up of a lot of younger guys," Snowhawk player and coach Jeff Smith said. "We were just flat. We struggled at the plate. You have to hit the ball in this game if you want to win and you have to make plays. We didn't make any."
Dazzle's Demons got going early, scoring four times in the top of the first inning. The Snowhawks responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning, but it would prove to be their only multiple-run inning of the game.
The Demons grabbed another run in the second and then two more in the third on a two-run homer by Benny Ives.
Leading 7-4 entering the fourth, team Demons wasted little time padding their advantage. Matt Furyk kicked off the inning with a single the Demons followed with back-to-back-to-back doubles by Ziemba, Jamie Robinson and Jesse Robinson.
The Snowhawks responded with a lone run in the bottom of the inning, falling behind 11-5.
"Boy, I think we had all of our hits against the Chicago All-Stars (their opponent last week). Anytime Dazzle's had a big inning, we couldn't respond," Smith said. "We were struggling."
Jesse Robinson, who was on the Snowhawks' roster for the big July 4 win over Chicago, went on to homer in the sixth and Drew Wallschlaeger crossed home plate in the top of the ninth to bring the Demons' run total to 13. The Snowhawks tried to mount a comeback in the bottom of the ninth when they loaded the bases following singles from Todd Niemuth, Cole Punches and Derek Young. Jack Dunbar walked to cross Niemuth, but a game-ending groundout from Brent Cella secured the win for the Demons.
"It's tough to take a loss, but on the bright side we had a great crowd here in Lake Tomahawk," Smith said. "Everything else besides baseball went really well. It looked like some rain was coming in but the wind held it off. We can't complain too much."
Smith said the Demons' defense made it difficult for the Snowhawks to put runs on the board.
"They played very good defense which was one of the keys in the game. They didn't let a lot of balls get through," he said. "They managed to put themselves in front of the ball and there were not many balls that got by them. I've got to hand it to them, they really played a great game."
The loss brings the Snowhawks' 2016 record to 3-1.
Lake Tomahawk was outhit 27-24 in the contest and Smith said if the Snowhawks intend to improve their record, they'll need to garner some more offense in the coming weeks.
"We really need to improve our run total and pushing people across the plate," he said. "I'm confident we'll get things going."
The Snowhawks take on WPS Local 420 this coming Monday at Snowshoe Park. First pitch for that game is set for 7:30 p.m.
Evan Verploegh may be reached via email at [email protected].
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