May 31, 2023 at 1:03 p.m.
Everest tames River Monsters in road tilt
Everest tames River Monsters in road tilt
The Monsters managed only two hits, struck out 16 times and compiled four errors in a 9-0 loss on the road to the Everest Merchants at Simon Field.
Everest (1-0) took the lead with a five-run third inning and never looked back. The River Monsters (2-1) had only two runners in scoring position the entire game and neither of their two hits left the infield.
"We never got anything going tonight at all," River Monsters' manager Todd Johnson said.
Martin Hoger got his first start of the summer for the River Monsters. He pitched six innings, mostly clean, but ran into a rough patch in the third where the Merchants did most of their damage.
Brandon Kranz and Romen McGuire to lead off the inning with back-to-back singles before Hoger put three runners aboard freely. Tanner Graham was hit by a pitch, followed by a bases-loaded walk to Wade Farmer and another hit-by-pitch to Ryan Hubacek to make it 2-0. After Connor Langbehn scored Graham on an RBI grounder, Nic Barnes and Logan Langbehn added back-to-back singles to make it 5-0.
"Martin got a little loose with some things and there were a couple of defensive plays we did not make behind him and things sort of unraveled a bit there," Johnson said.
Hoger allowed only one other hit in his six innings of work, an RBI triple by Farmer with two out in the sixth that gave Everest a 6-0 lead. Hoger walked two and struck out two in the loss.
Meanwhile, Rhinelander had no answers offensively. Up until the ninth inning, Rhinelander's lone hit was a bunt single by Ryan Jamison to lead off the fourth. The second hit came on a chopper to third by Marc Seils that loaded the bases with two out in the ninth, but Walker Hartman grounded out to third to end the contest.
Overall, the River Monsters struggled against Everest pitchers Heinrich Walder and Jared Hoeckstra. Walder allowed just one hit, struck out nine and did not walk anybody over five innings to earn the win. Hoeckstra struck out seven and worked around a hit and a pair of walks over the final four innings to record the save.
"The first guy (Walder) I thought was just throwing straight fastballs," Johnson said. "I thought we'd be on that. The second guy (Hoeckstra) was locating really well, throwing a curve, but it was sort of a disappointing night at the plate. Way too many strikeouts. Hopefully that was a one-time thing."
Everest tacked on some insurance runs late in the going off of Jamison, who was tagged for three runs on four hits over the final two innings, despite recording six strikeouts.
Andrew Baranowski and Matt Witter had RBI singles off Jamison in the seventh. Baranowski had another run-scoring base knock in the eighth after Jamison loaded the bases via a walk and two hit batsmen.
The Hodags were missing a number of starters from their first two contests due to the holiday weekend. Three players made their River Monsters debuts on Friday as Jacksen Smith played in left, Kolby Ridderbusch played in right and Jacob Dreifuerst started at third base.
"Today was certainly a different lineup. We were short-staffed but the guys we had come in, they're very good, capable players," Johnson said. "Jacksen and Kolby and Jacob Dreifuerst, great to have these guys here. They certainly can help us moving forward."
The River Monsters are gearing up for what is currently scheduled to be their lone two-game weekend of the regular season. The team will travel to Tomahawk Saturday night with for a Dairyland Large-Small crossover against the Titans that will not count toward the league standings. Rhinelander will be home Sunday afternoon to face the Whittlesey Reds (1-1) at Stafford Field.
"That's sort of a non-conference thing on Saturday night. That should be fun," Johnson said. "Then we're back at home for Whittlesey on Sunday and Whittlesey's a very good team. That will be a tough challenge."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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