River Monsters start slow, fall to Ducks 7-3

An early six-run deficit was too much for the Rhinelander River Monsters to overcome Wednesday night as they fell to the Minocqua Wood Ducks 7-3 in Dairyland League play at Stafford Field.

Thought the hits were close — the Ducks held a slight 11-9 edge in that department — Minocqua was able to do more with its offensive chances as it jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the fourth inning and held on down the stretch. 

“We got off to this sluggish start and, really the first four innings, we didn’t play particularly well in any facet,” Rhinelander manager Todd Johnson said. “You know, too many walks and some errors, and I didn’t think we had really good at bats the first several innings and we dig ourselves a hole.”

The Ducks (6-4) jumped on the Monsters (4-6) right away in the opening inning as Johnathan Miller doubled and scored on a two-out single by Danny Gahler. Gahler and Austin Samanske then worked a double steal of second and home to put Minocqua up 3-0.

Peter Aerts walked, stole a base and scored in the third when Samanske’s single was bobbled out in left field. Minocqua applied more pressure in the fourth with a trio of one-out hits by Landyn Hoeft, Miller and Aerts. Aerts’s hit scored Hoeft before Miller and Aerts worked a double of steal of second and third, which allowed Miller to score following an overthrow by Rhinelander catcher Tyler Blomdahl. Aerts came across on a two-out double by Gahler that gave Minocqua a 6-0 lead.

Stolen bases were part of Minocqua’s game plan on Wednesday night. The Ducks swiped seven bags and five of the runners who stole bases eventually scored. 

“They were getting a pretty good lead and, yeah, they’re aggressive, and they hit the ball well,” Johnson said. “There were so many times that we were ahead in the count and, you know, then they’d put something in play and did a couple of hit and runs.” 

It took Rhinelander the better part of four innings to figure out Minocqua starter Brad Stephens, but strung four straight hits off the southpaw in the fourth. An RBI single by Sam Schneider and another run-scoring base knock by Gavin Scheurer made it 6-2 and chased Stephens from the bump. Landyn Hoeft came on in relief and ended the threat by getting Lucas O’Brien to strike out and Owen Kurtz to pop out.

“The first pitcher was sort of, you know, shades of the Everest game where, he’s not going to throw it by anybody and, you know, we just weren’t getting good at bats against him. I think we got a lot better at bats when they brought in Landyn,” Johnson said.

Minocqua got a run back in the top of the fifth as Sam Johnson reached on an infield hit, stole second and scored on a two-out double by Landyn Hoeft. Rhinelander answered with what proved to be its last run of the game in the sixth as Schneider walked and scored on a two-out single by O’Brien. 

Rhinelander threatened one more time in the seventh as Easton Senoraske doubled and Blomdahl was called safe on appeal after winning a footrace to the bag on a slow roller for an infield hit, but Schneider lined out to second base to end that treat. The Monsters went down in order in the eighth and could not take advantage of a one-out error in the ninth. 

    Rhinelander’s Lucas O’Brien pitches during the first inning of a Dairyland League baseball game against the Minocqua Wood Ducks at Stafford Field Wednesday, July 9. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

O’Brien went the distance, throwing 148 pitches, in the loss for Rhinelander. He allowed seven runs on 11 hits with six walks and seven strikeouts. He settled in late in the outing, allowing just one run on four hits over the final five innings. He proved to be effective in getting ahead in the count — he delivered a first-pitch strike to 24 of the first 25 batters he faced and 37 of 45 overall —but has a tough time securing outs in the early innings. 

“Lucas settled in and, you know, threw a great game at the end. I mean, I think one run in the last five innings or something like that,” Johnson said.

Rhinelander’s next scheduled game is not until July 20 at home against Abbotsford and the regular season will end at home July 27 against Whittlesey. While there was still no official determination from the league of how to treat the scheduled June 29 doubleheader against Wisconsin Rapids in which the Redhawks backed out due to low numbers, Johnson said the preliminary inclination is to try to play one of the two scheduled games in Rhinelander, while considering the other a forfeit win for the Monsters. 

If that ends up being the case, the Monsters would have to win two of their final three games to finish .500 on the year and bolster its chances of making the Wisconsin Baseball Association playoffs.

“Just like last year, we’re probably up against at least one or two must-win games in there,” Johnson said, referencing the Monsters’ late surge to finish 7-5 in the Dairyland Large and secure a postseason berth.  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].