Rhinelander fends off Minocqua 3-1

A strong pitching debut and a couple of timely hits on Sunday proved to be just enough to get the Rhinelander River Monsters back to .500 in the Dairyland League Large Division at the halfway point of the season.

Spencer Buskager scattered four hits over seven innings and a two-run single by Ben Quade in the first stood up as the River Monsters edged the Minocqua Wood Ducks 3-1 at Stafford Field. 

    Rhinelander’s Spencer Buskager pitches during the first inning of a Dairyland League baseball game against Minocqua at Stafford Field Sunday, June 16. Buskager allowed a run on four hits over seven innings with three strikeouts in his River Monsters’ debut as Rhinelander won the game, 3-1. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Buskager, a recent transplant to the area, struck out three and walked three over seven efficient innings of one-run ball. Quinn Lamers had three hits at the plate, scored what proved to be the winning run and sat down the final six batters for Minocqua to earn the save. 

It was Rhinelander’s second straight win and got the Monsters back to 3-3 in the Division and 3-4 overall with six league games remaining. 

“I don’t even think we’ve hit any kind of stride yet, which is fine because as long as we do it at playoff time, that’s what it’s all about,” River Monsters assistant coach Andy VanDyke said. “I think we’ve lost some game to teams we can certainly compete with. Everest’s a state (runner-up). I thought that was a very winnable game. I’m excited to see what we can do at the end of the season, because I know we haven’t played our best baseball.”

As has been a theme for the Monsters this season, a hot start was followed by a lull in the middle innings. However on Sunday, as it was the previous week in a 4-3 win at Whittlesey, Rhinelander mustered up just enough insurance at the end to capture the win. 

The Monsters had runners at second and third with nobody out in the first after Kurt Zuiker walked, Lamers singled and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. However groundouts by Easton Senoraske and Joe Schneider left the runners at their stations and would have resulted in a fruitless inning had Quade not knocked a 1-2 pitch into left field to put the Monsters on the board. 

The Monsters had runners in scoring position each of the next three innings, but were unable to capitalize any further off Ducks’ starter Landyn Hoeft. Austin Samanske then came on in the fifth inning and worked a pair of scoreless innings. 

“That’s kind of been the theme, we hit in innings 1-4 and then we just stop.” 

Still, Buskager was efficient, facing only one over the minimum through five innings. Minocqua halved the lead in the sixth as Ben Peterson drew a leadoff walk and scored on a two-out double to deep center by Nate Hopkins. 

Buskager then worked himself out off a bases loaded jam with one out in the seventh as Peterson struck out looking and Ashton Bremer lined out to short. Buskager needed only 80 pitches to get through seven innings.

“Spencer, that’s the first time we had ever seen the guy,” VanDyke said. “We met him today and he was efficient. From the way he throws, he doesn’t waste anytime. It was fun to watch. I hope he’s around a lot.” 

Rhinelander also left the bases loaded in the seventh but got one key insurance run as Sam Schneider, who also had three hits on the day, reached on an infield hit and came around on a one-out single by Kurt Zuiker. 

The Wood Ducks were unable to get a ball out of the infield in play against Lamers, who had a pair of foul outs, a pair of ground outs and a pair of strikeouts. He fanned Danny Gahler on a curveball to end things in the ninth. 

“That’s the best I’ve seen him pitch,” VanDyke said as Lamers picked up his first save of the summer. “Now, I never saw him in high school, but that’s the best I’ve seen him pitch. Yeah, it was only two innings, but he had command of everything. That was cool.”

    Rhinelander’s Jacob Dreifuerst leaps to make a catch at first base during the seventh inning of a Dairyland League baseball game against Minocqua at Stafford Field Sunday, June 16. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Sunday’s game got in as schedule despite morning rainfall that prompted the cancellation of the final day of the Rebel Invite Legion tournament at Stafford Field. The teams raced through the game, needing only 1 hour, 43 minutes to compete nine innings. That was in part thanks to some stellar defensive play by both teams. There was only one error in the game, and that came on a Buskager pickoff attempt in the fourth. 

“Those first two innings we had a double play in each,” VanDyke noted before referencing a hard-hit ball down the third base line in the seventh by Gahler, that Sam Schneider kept in the infield. “Sam had some hard hit ball to him, made every play. That weird one in the seventh inning, we were talking about it in the dugout. The play at second was the only one he really had. The fact that he even made the play saved a run, I think, and we couldn’t have had that happen at that point.” 

Rhinelander outhit Minocqua 8-3 in the contest. Hoeft allowed two runs on five hits over four innings in the loss of Minocqua. Samanske allowed a run on three hits. Neither pitcher recorded a strikeout against Rhinelander. 

“Which is phenomenal,” VanDyke added. “Great at-bats. They really hit the ball hard, they just didn’t fall.”

Rhinelander will host the Marshfield Chapparals at Stafford Field this coming Sunday in a noon first pitch. The two teams split their games last year in Dairyland League play.

“It’s at home, which is nice. They’re a good squad,” VanDyke said. “It will be fun and we’ve just need to win. Just keep winning.”  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].