River Monsters split twinbill at Merrill

MERRILL — The secret, it seems, for the Rhinelander River Monsters to be successful this season simply boils down to the opportunity to hit last.

The Monsters had that chance for only the second time this season and, coincidentally, came away with their second win of the year as they salvaged a split of a Dairyland League doubleheader Sunday at Merrill.

After dropping Game 1 5-2, the Monsters — serving as the home team for the second game — jumped on the Rangers for three runs in each of the first two innings en route to a 7-1 win. That moved Rhinelander to 2-4 near the halfway-point of the Dairyland season — with all but one of its games so far being played away from Stafford Field.

“We’re definitely looking forward to that June, July homestand. That’ll be welcome. It’s been a long month or so on the road, that’s for sure,” Rhinelander manager Todd Johnson said. “Ideally, it would have been nice to get two (wins) and get back in it, but we couldn’t leave here losing two. So, to get that last one and get some good feelings going again, and get a little positivity and momentum, confidence, whatever you want to say, that was big for that second game.”

Lucas O’Brien was sharp in his second pitching outing for the Monsters and Rhinelander pounded out a season-high 11 hits in Game 2 as it controlled the game from wire-to-wire. 

The Monsters jumped on Merrill starter Spencer Schneider right away with three runs in the opening inning. Caden Palubicki singled up the middle followed by a bunt for a base hit by Quinn Lamers. Both advanced on a wild pitch and scored on an Easton Senoraske single up the middle. Jesse Robinson singled home Senoraske to close out the scoring in the opening frame.

Three straight batters reached again to start the second as Tyler Blomdahl walked, O’Brien singled to right and Palubicki delivered an RBI-double to left, which became two runs after Merrill misplayed the relay back to the infield. Palubicki scored moments later on a ground out by Lamers. 

“We went three runs and three runs and, you know, good at bats and it carried through pretty much the whole lineup,” Johnson said.

Rhinelander tacked on one more in the fifth as Owen Kurtz singled and scored on a two-out base hit by Ben Quade. Palubicki, Senoraske and Robinson each had multi-hit games for Rhinelander in the contest. 

That was plenty of run support of O’Brien, who needed only 68 pitches for a seven-inning complete game. He scattered five hits, didn’t allow a walk and struck out two. The only blemish on his line came in the third when Isaak Clapper singled and scored on a two-out double by Cole Osness. 

    Rhinelander’s Easton Senoraske throws to first to record an out during the second game of a Dairyland League baseball doubleheader at Merrill Sunday, June 8. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Even though the leadoff batter reached in four of the seven innings against O’Brien, none of them scored thanks in part to a sharp Rhinelander defense that turned a pair of double plays. 

“He wasn’t walking, guys. He’s a good pitcher. He’s a smart pitcher, and the key for this game is we played defense behind him,” Johnson said. “We turned several double plays to erase base runners. The couple-game skid that we were on there, we weren’t playing the defense that we were capable of. As much as it was nice to see the bats come around. It was good to see a real solid defensive game.”

Merrill’s Jayden Sus kept Rhinelander’s offense mainly in check in the first game and added a key two-run double in the fourth inning that gave the Rangers a 5-1 lead.

Rhinelander scored in the first after Merrill overthrew a play at third base in an effort to catch Lamers stealing. Lamers was able to trot home thanks to the overthrow. 

Double plays in the third, fourth and sixth innings hindered Rhinelander’s chances at a comeback. The Monsters got one run back in the seventh as Robinson walked and scored when Blomdahl reached on an error. Rhinelander got the tying run to the plate in the seventh, but Carter Baade made a long, running grab on a ball hit deep to the gap in left center by Palubicki to rob him of extra bases and end the contest. 

Though Rhinelander had only four hits off Sus in Game 1, Johnson said he could sense the bats starting to come around late in the contest. 

“I think that’s just from playing and getting some at bats, and hopefully that continues as we go along,” he said. “It was definitely too little, too late at the end of Game 1, but then I think, you know, we came out right away and hit the ball pretty well the second game.”

Merrill tied Game 1 in the bottom of the first inning as Clapper reached on an error and scored on a Connor Cortright sacrifice fly. The Rangers took the lead in the third on a two-out RBI single by Baade and added one more run when Zach Kriegel was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing in Sus. 

Martin Hoger took the loss in Game 1, allowing five runs on six hits with four walks and a strikeout over four innings. Lamers threw two innings of scoreless relief, striking out two.

The Monsters have only two more road games remaining on their schedule before coming home for a six-game homestand to close out the season. Rhinelander travels to Whittlesey this Sunday and will play at Everest June 21 before coming home to face Marshfield June 22.

“We do have another road game against Everest, but then, you know, after we get through this Whittlesey game, then it’s basically home the rest of the summer, which is, you know, a real weird scheduling fluke — and some stuff that we had to rearrange ourselves — but it’ll be nice to be home in those last two months of the season,” Johnson said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].