Monsters win back-to-back games

Over the course of two days the Rhinelander River Monsters got right back into the WBA postseason race.

Rhinelander scored three times in the 10th inning Saturday to knock off the Everest Merchants 4-2 in Weston. The Monsters turned around on Sunday and won a wildly offensive affair, holding off the Marshfield Chaparrals 18-15 at Stafford Field. 

The wins vaulted Rhinelander (4-5) from last to fourth in the Dairyland League schedule as their brutal first-half schedule came to a close. Sunday’s game began a string of six consecutive home games for the River Monsters to close out the regular season. 

“Going into this weekend, a lot of uncertainty with the D.C. Everest game, just who was going to be here. We had some recruiting that we did and you know, all those guys contributed,” River Monsters’ bench coach Ken Zuiker said following Sunday’s contest. 

Rhinelander 4, Everest 2

    Rhinelander’s Martin Hoger pitches during the seventh inning of a Dairyland League baseball game against the Everest Merchants in Weston Saturday, June 21. Hoger allowed one run on three hits over nine innings and the River Monsters defeated the Merchants in extra innings, 4-2. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

For the second time this season nine innings were not enough to decide things between the River Monsters and the Merchants. Rhinelander again came out on top, and got their first win over Everest at Simon Field, thanks to some small ball in the 10th inning. 

Cruz Palubicki, a senior-to-be at Crandon High School making his River Monsters debut, got the 10th going with a bunt single that advanced Chad Huebner to third. Huebner scored when Everest misfired on a pickoff attempt to first. Following a Caden Palubicki sacrifice, Quinn Lamers and Easton Senoraske hit back-to-back RBI singles to give Rhinelander a 4-1 lead. 

“Cruz Palubicki, another kid that stepped up for us, lays down beautiful bunt,” Zuiker said. “Caden Palubicki follows that up, and we were starting to beat (Everest reliever Logan) Langbehn. Then a key base hit by Quinn and we just finished them off. And that’s what we needed to do.”

Jackson Albee, the inherited runner for the Merchants in the 10th, advanced on a Connor Langbehn groundout and scored on a wild pitch, but Lamers struck out Tony Liebe and got Tom Fish to pop out to short to nail down the save. 

That made a winner out of Martin Hoger who, for the second time this season, pitched nine strong innings against the Merchants. He scattered three hits, walked four and struck out six on Saturday. The lone blemish came in the fourth when Albee doubled in Nic Barnes following back-to-back two out walks. 

“Hoger going out and throwing nine innings in this heat, 119 pitches, unbelievable,” Zuiker said.

That hit tied the game at one. Rhinelander’s lone run until extras came in the first as Lamers reached on an error, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Hoger. 

That was all the offense Rhinelander had against Everest starter Jared Hoekstra who scattered four hits over six innings. While he struck out only one, Hoekstra induced a lot of weak contact by the River Monsters in the early innings. 

“We had bad at bats against their soft tosser. He was really efficient. I was glad when they pulled him out because, typically, we hit faster pitching better,” Zuiker said. 

Logan Langbehn did not allow a hit over his first three innings of relief while Rhinelander had to wiggle out of couple of jams to send the game to extras. 

Logan Langbehn was hit by a pitch and Albee walked to give Everest runners on first and second with nobody out in the seventh, but Hoger picked Langbehn off second and then Rhinelander High School junior to be Jackson Waydick, also making his River Monsters debut, threw out Albee attempting to steal second. 

“Martin and Easton, you know, they saw something with that base runner. And they called for that moving pick off. Picked him off, and the very next pitch, the guy from first goes to steal and Jackson Waydick, another kid that stepped up for us this weekend, throws a BB. I mean, right on the bag, that guy’s out,” Zuiker said. “And suddenly, you know, the big threat in a tie ball game was gone.”

Hoger also worked around a walk and a hit batter in the eighth inning, getting Ryan Hubacek to ground out to second.

Rhinelander outhit Everest 7-3 in the contest. Tyler Blomdahl recorded a pair of doubles in the game.

Rhinelander 18, Marshfield 15

    Rhinelander’s Quinn Lamers steals third base ahead of the tag by Marshfield’s Al Lalicata during the first inning of a Dairyland League baseball game at Stafford Field Sunday, June 22. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Monsters exceeded their run total from Saturday before recording a single out on Sunday, but needed all the offense they could muster as Stafford Field turned into the friendly confines on a hot day with the wind blowing straight out. 

Rhinelander blew one eight-run lead, and nearly gave up another, but held on for an 18-15 win in the highest-scoring game in River Monsters history. 

Up 18-12 going to the ninth, the Monsters gave up three to the Chaparrals, who got the tying run to the plate with nobody out in the inning before Casey Gerber finally put out the fire in his first pitching appearance for Rhinelander. 

“They never gave up, right to the bitter end,” Zuiker said. “They’re a tough squad. Like every team in the Dairyland, there’s no weakling. But, we made enough plays.”

Rhinelander seemed in cruise control early as the first seven batters of the game reached. Caden Palubicki, Lamers and Senoraske hit three straight doubles to lead off the home half of the first. Hoger added an RBI single, Jacob Dreifuerst had a two-run single and Gerber added a sacrifice fly that made it 6-0. 

Marshfield got a run back in the second but the Monsters answered with a three-run shot by Dreifuerst in the bottom half of the inning, part of a three-hit, six-RBI day for the Rhinelander first baseman. 

“The thing about Jacob he’s certainly got the power, and he just hasn’t had the at bats. You started to see it in Whittlesey. He was starting to get back to the Jacob that we’re used to,” Zuiker noted.

Marshfield rallied to tie the game with eight runs in the fourth as Lamers began to tire. He walked four batters in the frame and gave up a two-run shot to Logan Homolka. He left leading 9-5, but Marshfield tied it off reliever Sam Schneider, who gave up a three-run triple to Riley Bauman and then an RBI single to Homolka, who was thrown out trying to take second on the play to end the inning. 

Rhinelander retook the lead as quickly as it lost it in the bottom half of the inning. Blomdahl walked, stole second and scored on a Dreifuerst single. Gerber added a single, and an errant throw when Gerber stole second allowed Dreifuerst to score from third. Lamers added an RBI single and Senoraske added a two-run single up the middle to make it 14-9. 

“They come back and tie it up. And we promptly answer with five,” Zuiker said. “We just really had to grind it out.” 

The Monsters restored the eight-run advantage with three more runs in the fifth. Waydick had an RBI double and both he and Dreifuerst scored on wild pitches. 

Marshfield answered back with two in the sixth. Colin DeBoer’s sacrifice fly scored Al Lalicata and Isaiah Baierl doubled and scored on an errant pickoff attempt at third. Riley Bauman doubled home Lalicata in the seventh, but Baierl was thrown out trying to score on the play after missing home plate on his slide. 

With a six-run leading going to the ninth, Schneider walked the first two batters he faced. At that point, the Monsters turned to Gerber — who mentioned in the dugout on Saturday his ability to throw given Rhinelander’s thin bullpen in the two-game weekend.

“Until yesterday in the dugout, we didn’t know he was a pitcher. You certainly would have liked to give the kid a bullpen or something, but it was trial by fire, and he came in and locked it down,” Zuiker said. 

Not that it was easy. Bauman hit a bloop single off Gerber to load the bases and then Homolka drew a walk to force in a run. Luke Wirtz added an RBI single that brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out. 

Gerber struck out Andrew Sieracki looking before giving up a sacrifice fly to Seann Bryant the made it 18-15. A walk to Cole Hediger reloaded the bases and Lalicata followed with a hot shot to third that Caden Palubicki deflected. Senoraske picked up the deflection and fired over to first just in time to retire Lalicata and end the contest. 

“If that’s a different runner, he’s going to be safe. But they stuck with it and just got the job done,” Zuiker said.

Schneider got the win, pitching 5 1/3 innings of relief. He allowed seven runs on eight hits with nine walks and three strikeouts. Lamers gave up seven runs over 3 2/3 innings in a no-decision with three hits, four walks and four strikeouts. 

Offensively Lamers went 4-for-6 at the plate with two RBIs. Dreifuerst, Senoraske and Schneider all had multi-hit days and Rhinelander outhit Marshfield 17-13.

League leaders ahead

Though Rhinelander vaulted into fourth in the Dairyland Large standings with the win, they face a tough challenge this coming Sunday as league-leading Wisconsin Rapids heads to Stafford Field for a doubleheader. The Redhawks are off to a 4-0 start in league play and, according to Zuiker, will feature the deepest pitching staff in the league.

“They’ll be real deep. But, you know we can play ball with them. I don’t really know their roster, but they’re going to be, they’re the class. They’re the class of league,” he said.

The teams will play two, seven-inning games with first pitch at noon. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].