May 25, 2023 at 7:52 a.m.
River Monsters claim home opener over Marshfield
River Monsters claim home opener over Marshfield
Ryan Jamison allowed two hits over seven innings, the River Monsters got 10 hits from 10 different players and committed only one error in an 8-2 victory over the Marshfield Chaparrals.
Rhinelander (2-0) didn't get going offensively until the middle innings, but took the lead for good in a four-run fourth inning and never looked back.
Base coach Andy Van Dyke, who served as acting manager Sunday with Todd Johnson having to take off early for a previously scheduled commitment, said the first two games of the season have far exceeded his expectations.
"Seriously, Game 1, I was just going to be happy if we didn't get no-hit and for them to put up 15 hits that day and today wasn't a great hitting day but fantastic at-bats," he said. "They worked the count. It seemed like they were working counts all day long. Excellent at-bats by everybody."
The River Monsters won despite stranding 17 runners on base, included the bases loaded in the first and third innings. Rhinelander finally came up with some big at bats from the heart of its order in the fourth.
Easton Senoraske and Joe Zuiker both walked to begin the inning and Nate Schmidt put the Monsters on the board two batters later with a double off the fence in right field that scored Senoraske. That wound up being a close play at the plate with Senoraske having to wait to make sure the ball was not going to be caught.
"I tried to screw it up by not sending Easton, but luckily Easton's got enough speed where he made it work with a nice slide at home and wasn't run off (of third) by Zuiker," Van Dyke quipped.
Schmidt's double chased starter Chase Higgins from the hill. Though he only gave up two hits, Higgins walked seven batters over 3 1/3 innings.
"The pitcher though, to his credit, we had no idea what he was throwing," Van Dyke said. "It didn't seem like he had his best stuff, but we couldn't tell what he was going to throw. We finally got a rhythm going and put some on the board."
Quinn Lamers was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases before Jesse Robison grounded to short and beat out a double-play attempt. Joe Zuiker scored on the grounder and Schmidt came around when Marshfield's throw to first went wide. Robinson advanced on a wild pitch and scored moments later on a two-out single by Tyler Blomdahl.
Lamers drew a bases-loaded walk to add to the lead with two out in the fifth.
Jamison had only one spot of bother in his start. That came in the sixth as he hit Riley Bauman and Isaiah Baierl back-to-back with two outs. The two worked a double steal to score Bauman. Baierl then stole third and scored when catcher Ben Quade's throw down sailed into the outfield.
Rhinelander restored a five-run cushion in the bottom of the inning. Quade and Jamison both scored when Senoraske reached on a one-out error. Nick Spencer drew a bases loaded walk in the seventh as Jamison exited the mound with a six-run lead.
Jamison (1-0) struck out 11 batters and had only two walks in a 114-pitch effort. He limited the free bases on Sunday and was able to go much deeper into the game than his opening day start at Merrill, which lasted only four innings.
"Jamison threw a gem, really settled in after the first," Van Dyke said. "I was super impressed with his command and, compared to his pitch count last game, it was really something to see. He pitched a great game."
Lamers worked around three walks over the final two innings to finish off the win for Rhinelander.
"I had never seen Quinn pitch before, at least on the bench," Van Dyke said. "Great off-speed stuff. He kept them off balance those two innings and was just a great performance for him to finish it up."
The River Monsters return to action tonight as they travel to Weston to face the Everest Merchants in Dairyland League play. Rhinelander's next home game will be Sunday, June 4 against Whittlesey.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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