Monsterous comeback

The Rhinelander River Monsters’ chances in their regular season finale — and in all likelihood their Wisconsin Baseball Association playoff aspirations — were on life support late Sunday afternoon against Whittlesey before the unthinkable happened.

Owen Kurtz hit a walkoff double to right to cap a four-run rally — all with two outs in the ninth — as the River Monsters completed a wild 10-9 comeback over the Whittlesey Reds at Stafford Field.

The win moved Rhinelander to 6-8 and a fourth-place tie in the Dairyland League Standings. Projected as the first team out of the 24-team WBA Division A playoffs entering the weekend, the win snuck the River Monsters into the field, which was determined Tuesday night at a seeding meeting in Eau Claire. Rhinelander will be heading to River Falls Aug. 9-10 as the third seed in a three-team pool that includes Hudson and Tilden.

“Kind of the whole season on the line for us. We’ve played close games with a lot of teams, not a consistent lineup, injuries have played a factor all year, but, with playoffs on the line — and I believe that’s going to be the clincher to get us in the playoffs — they didn’t quit,” River Monsters’ bench coach Ken Zuiker said following Sunday’s win.

It would have been easy for the Monsters to pack it in after the Reds (5-9) scored two insurance runs in the ninth on a Jeff Kraschnewski double with two outs following a dropped fly ball in left by Kurtz earlier in the inning. However, the Monsters had some unlikely heroes step up in a dramatic final frame. 

Down to their final out, the Monsters’ chances seemed done for when Kraschnewski made a tough backhand play on a grounder to second by Chad Huebner. But Kraschnewski, who appeared to hurt himself on the play, one-hopped a throw to first that could not be dug out by Brent Mueller — allowing Huebner to reach and both Quinn Lamers and Tyler Blomdahl to score. 

Jesse Robinson was then hit by a pitch, moving the tying run into scoring position, before high school junior-to-be Sawyer Bishop smacked the first pitch he saw into right field, scoring Huebner to tie the game. 

    Rhinelander’s Owen Kurtz hits a game-winning double in the ninth inning of a Dairyland League baseball game against the Whittlesey Reds at Stafford Field Sunday, July 27. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

That brought Kurtz to the plate with a chance at redemption, and he drove the first pitch he saw to the fence in right-center to cap off an epic comeback. 

“It was really amazing at bats and stick-to-it-tiveness out of the guys,” Zuiker said. “Because of injury, you got a 54-year-old centerfielder (Huebner) who’s flying down the line, to beat that out. Sawyer Bishop, what, 15, 16 years old, comes in, unfazed. (Pitcher Nick) Retterath’s a big boy. He threw pretty well, and first pitch, Sawyer lines it. We tie the game, and then Owen walks it off. 

“Owen had some adversity in the field … It’s easy to get down, especially the second fly ball that was pretty routine for him. And for him (it was great) to come up in the clutch, and finish what the rest of the guys basically brought to the table.”

Whittlesey led most of the way in a back-and-forth game. The Reds got on the board with single runs in the third and fourth innings before Rhinelander got one back in the bottom of fourth on a two-out base hit by Sam Schneider. Whittlesey made it 3-1 in the fifth on a leadoff solo home run by Nick Meyer, but Rhinelander responded to take its first lead of the game in the bottom half of the inning. 

With two on and one out, Lamers hit a grounder to short, but Cody Loertscher missed wide on a throw to second, allowing Bishop to score, Kurtz to get to third and Lamers to second. Martin Hoger followed with a two-run single to right to give Rhinelander a 4-3 lead.

The advantage was short-lived as Whittlesey strung three runs and four hits off Hoger in a two-out rally in the sixth. Meyer beat out a slow roller to third for an infield hit that scored Cody Loertscher to tie it before Spike Alexander hit a hard grounder into right that scored Retterath. Meyer scored from second on the play as Rhinelander’s throw to the plate sailed to the fence. 

Rhinelander responded again in the bottom of the sixth to tie it. Caden Palubicki drew a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and Lamers followed by smacking a double off the fence in left. That plated Palubicki and Jesse Robinson, who had led off the inning with a single. 

“There was no quit in the boys. And again, so some plays that we wish we had back. But same goes for them,” Zuiker said.

Whittlesey regained the lead in the eighth on what proved to be the most contentious play of the day. After a two-out walk to Retterath, and a wild pitch that advanced him to second, Meier smashed a fly ball to the fence in left field. Whittlesey thought the ball had cleared the fence for Meier’s second home run of the day. However, Kurtz immediately put his hands up, signalling that the ball went under the fence. After the discussion, the umpires ruled the play a ground-rule double, which allowed Retterath to score and the Reds scored no further runs in the inning. 

    Rhinelander’s Owen Kurtz puts his hands up as a ball hit by Whittlesey’s Nick Meyer goes out of play during the eighth inning of a Dairyland League baseball game at Stafford Field Sunday, July 27. The play was ruled a ground-rule double. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

A photo of the play (shown above) proved to be inconclusive as to whether Meier’s ball did or did not clear the fence in left, however it does show a gaping eight-inch hole in the bottom of the fence where the ball apparently went under. 

The late rally made a winner out of Hoger, who allowed six runs — but only three earned — on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings of relief. He walked one and struck out three after coming on for Lucas O’Brien in the fifth. O’Brien gave up three runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings. 

“Lucas gave us what he had to start the game. And Martin was on fumes, but from that standpoint, we were in great shape,” Zuiker said of the team’s pitching staff. “We knew we had Quinn, we knew we had Sam. So I thought Sawyer’s hit to tie it, immediately, it was advantage us. I didn’t know we were going to walk it off. That’s the very best way that it could possibly happen, because they needed it. They needed it for their spirit. But I thought, if we go to extra innings, we have all of the advantages here.”

Whittlesey outslugged Rhinelander 15-13 in the contest. The Monsters got multi-hit games from Lamers, Blomdahl, Schneider and Kurtz. It continued a hot streak for Blomdahl at the plate. It was his third multi-hit game in the last four contests and he finished July hitting .400 (6 for 15) on the month.

“He’s been working, working in the cage, and you can tell, because all you have to do is look back at the lineups. Blom’s batting seven, eight, or nine. He forced his hand. I didn’t have to think twice when I was writing in the lineup. He’s batting cleanup, because he made it happen. Real good, good at bats for him, and just great improvement,” Zuiker said.

The River Monsters will be an underdog in their playoff pool. Hudson, the top seed in the pool, went 12-2 in the St. Croix Valley Baseball League. Tilden, which beat Rhinelander in the regionals and advanced to the state tournament, went 12-8 in the Coulee Region Baseball League North division.

Zuiker said the Monsters’ performances in the last two postseasons prove they belong there. He said it will all boil down to a matter of availability during the second weekend of August. 

“These guys can play with anyone,” he said. “It’s now a matter of who’s going to register, do we have the arms?  We need our core players to be signed up. And so let’s see how that goes … But now the push is on, because I really believe we made it.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].