June 21, 2023 at 12:57 p.m.
River Monsters fend off Wood Ducks' late rally
River Monsters fend off Wood Ducks' late rally
Luckily for the River Monsters, they had enough of a cushion this time around to withstand a late rally. Rhinelander survived after nearly watching a 6-1 lead vanish to defeat the Wood Ducks 10-7 in Minocqua.
The Wood Ducks scored three times each in the seventh and eighth innings, and had the bases loaded in the ninth before Rhinelander finally shut the door and moved to 4-2 halfway through the Dairyland League Large Division year.
Rhinelander scored two insurance runs each in the eighth and ninth, which proved vital down the stretch.
It was a nice bounce back for the River Monsters, who squandered a 6-1, fifth-inning lead at Wisconsin Rapids the previous Sunday and fell, 7-6.
"I guess today the big things as we were able to tack on runs at the end. That was huge for us," Rhinelander manager Todd Johnson said. "It was nice to see us do that, which we haven't really done all year. It seems like we score early and then stall out, but at least today we were able to tack on runs throughout the game."
Martin Hoger walked a tightrope over the final 1 2/3 innings to get the save. He gave up a two-run shot to Wally Augustyn in the eight that cut Rhinelander's lead to 8-7. After the River Monsters restored the lead to three, a pair of hits and a hit batter loaded the bases with two out in the ninth for Minocqua. Even the final out proved dramatic as Matthew Vedder lifted a ball to the left-center gap and both left fielder Quinn Lamers and center fielder Kurt Zuiker tried to make a play on it.
"Kurt and Quinn sort of collided on the catch. I was just happy to not see it drop," Johnson said.
Joe Schneider went five innings on the mound for Rhinelander and collected five of Rhinelander's 10 hits on the day.
After a couple of scoreless innings, the Monsters hung up a big number as starter Zack Peterson began to lose command in the third - walking three batters and hitting another in the frame. Easton Senoraske put Rhinelander on the board with an RBI single before Hoger reached on an error that brought home Schneider. A walk to Nick Spencer reloaded the bases before Joe Zuiker was plunked with two outs. Ben Quade followed with an RBI single before Kurt Zuiker drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-0.
"We had some really good at-bats, took him into really deep counts and then got some key hits along the line and were able to get those runs on the board," Johnson said.
Minocqua got a run back in the bottom of third as Augustyn tripled home Nate Hopkins. Rhinelander tacked on one in the fifth as Hoger reached on an error and scored on a Joe Zuiker sacrifice fly.
Schneider struck out six, walked two and scattered three hits over five innings in the win. Lamers worked 2 1/3 innings of relief, giving up five runs. Trevor Roszcewski hit a two-run single and Austin Semanske added an RBI double off Lamers to make it 6-4 in the seventh. Rhinelander got two runs back in the eighth as Joe Schneider singled and scored on a Hoger base knock. Hoger later came around when Josh Younk reached on an error.
An RBI double by Matthew Vedder cut the lead to 8-5 and chased Lamers from the hill in the eighth. Hoger got Nate Hopkins to fly out before giving up a two-run shot to deep right by Augustyn. Rhinelander loaded the bases with one out in the ninth before Senoraske hit a sacrifice fly that scored Kurt Zuiker. Then Schneider got caught in a rundown between first and second allowing Lamers to score from third to make it 10-7.
"Joe threw well and then we went to Quinn. Quinn struggled a little bit, it seemed like the zone got a little tight on Quinn and then we went to Martin to finish it. Martin gave up a home run, but we were able to keep tacking on some runs," Johnson said.
Quade added a pair of hits for Rhinelander, which won despite getting outhit by Minocqua (1-5) by an 11-10 margin.
Rhinelander sits tied for second in the Dairyland League standings, a half game behind Wisconsin Rapids, as it jockeys for a spot in the Wisconsin Baseball Association playoffs come season's end.
"In this Dairyland League, there's really no easy games. Every game, I think is going to be a grind," Johnson said.
Rhinelander and Minocqua will meet again Saturday night at Stafford Field as the River Monsters kick off the second half of their regular season schedule. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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