Monsters hold off Whittlesey, near WBA playoff berth

One small adjustment might have been enough to ensure the Rhinelander River Monsters a spot in the WBA playoffs. 

Josh Randolph collected four hits and five RBIs Saturday night as the River Monsters held off the Whittlesey Reds 9-6 at Stafford Field in Dairyland League play.

It was a big night at the plate for Randolph, who came into the game hitting .236 with only four RBIs on the summer. Manager Todd Johnson said a switch to a shorter bat appeared to be what got Randolph going as the River Monsters (6-6, 6-5 Dairyland Large) got a key win for their WBA tournament resume in the penultimate game of the regular season.

“Randy changed bats today. He went from a 33 (inch bat) to a 32 and felt he was a little quicker with that. Yeah, I think he’s going to stay with that now,” Johnson said.

The Monsters got 7 1/3 strong innings out of Martin Hoger on the mound. Thanks to Randolph’s bat and a big two-out rally in the second, Rhinelander held a 9-1 lead after seven innings. The Monsters held on from there after the Reds scored four in the eighth and brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth before Quinn Lamers shut the door. 

The Monsters won despite missing a number of their regular starters. While the WBA tournament field and regional assignments will not be announced until next week, Johnson said guaranteeing at least a .500 record in the Dairyland Large will go a long way to ensuring the Monsters get to play into the second weekend of August. 

“I think that pretty much got us in. We certainly want to go out and win tomorrow (at Minocqua), that’s the key,” Johnson said. “But, from everything I heard, we needed one win this week to be assured of qualifying. You didn’t want to wait and do it tomorrow. You never know what’s going to happen. 

“That’s what we said after the game. We told the guys how proud we were tonight. I sent them a text this week and said, ‘Hey, here’s the situation. This is your team. It’s up to you guys how you want this to play out.’ They came out tonight and played a great game — good defense, good at-bats.” 

Cody Loertscher put Whittlesey on the board first with a two-out RBI single in the first, but the Monsters responded with a big two-out rally in the second. After Hoger walked earlier in the inning, AJ Berg drew a two-out free pass and Adam Radtke was hit by a pitch to load the bases before Kolby Ridderbusch smacked a 2-0 offering off Cade Alexander into left field to give Rhinelander a 2-1 lead. After Lamers drew a walk to reload the bases, Randolph cleared them with his first big hit of the night. He drove in two with his single and then Lamers scored after the Reds had trouble getting the ball back in from left. Jesse Robinson doubled home Randolph to put the Monsters up 6-1. 

“That six-run rally started with two outs and a six-pitch at-bat. There were a couple of walks, a hit batsman and some key base hits,” Johnson said. “I think it was huge. It got Martin a little more comfortable. It made everybody a little more comfortable. We were talking in the dugout. We were up five and that’s not enough against these guys. These guys can hit. But it was huge to get off to a lead and then maintain it and tack a couple of runs as we went along.”

Randolph tacked on an RBI single in the fourth after Ridderbusch walked and moved to second on a Lamers sacrifice. After the Reds misplayed a potential double play ball in the sixth, Randolph singled to right, scoring Ridderbusch and Lamers to make it 9-1.

    Rhinelander’s Martin Hoger pitches during the first inning of a Dairyland League baseball game against Whittlesey at Stafford Field Saturday, July 27. Hoger allowed five runs on eight hits over 7 1/3 innings in the River Monsters’ 9-6 victory. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

After allowing a run in the first, Hoger got through the next six innings cleanly. He ran into trouble in the eighth, however, as his pitch count neared 100. The Reds collected four singles off of him, including an RBI base knock from Spike Alexander that forced Hoger off the hill. Hoger allowed five runs on eight hits, struck out one and walked three in the contest. 

“That’s what you’re going to get from Martin,”Johnson said. “He’s always going to give you that. He was getting tired and they were starting to hit him a little bit. It was time (to make a change), but just an awesome effort from Martin tonight when we needed it.”

Lamers struggled to put out the fire in the eighth, walking Ben Meyer to force in another run. Cade Alexander then brought in a run on an infield hit before Spike Alexander scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-5.

Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out in the ninth. The Monsters thought they had a game-ending double play after Randolph dropped a line drive to short and got two force outs, but an infield fly was ruled, keeping the game alive. Meyer followed with an RBI single to score a run. Cody Loertscher tried to score from second on the play, but was tagged out in a rundown between third and home to end the game. 

Things got heated at that point as Loertscher knocked third baseman Casey Gerber to the ground as Gerber made the game-ending tag. Whittlesey’s Ryan Kraschnewski was ejected after the game for arguing with the umpires. Jeff Kraschnewski was tossed in the seventh inning for the Reds after disputing balls and strikes. 

The Monsters closed the regular season at Minocqua Sunday afternoon in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander won the game, 4-3. Read a full report of that contest in Friday's River News.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].