River Monsters gearing up for Year 3

The Rhinelander River Monsters are gearing up for their third season in the area’s foray back into adult baseball. 

The Monsters begin the 2025 campaign on the road at defending Dairyland League Large Division champion Marshfield, kicking off a 14-game schedule that will see the team play on most weekends during the summer. 

After posting winning records in the league and making the Wisconsin Baseball Association playoffs each of the last two years, manager Todd Johnson said the River Monsters are looking for more of the same this year. 

“Our goal, of course, is to qualify for the playoffs and get to the regional somewhere and then see what happens from there,” he said.

Players who reside within 30 miles of Stafford Field are eligible to play for the River Monsters in the wood bat league that features nine-inning games. 

The Monsters went 7-8 overall last year and 7-5 in Dairyland Large — and achieved that what turned into a piecemeal pitching staff. 

Rhinelander High School alum, and UW-Stevens Point pitcher, Joe Schneider was shutdown after only one start due to arm issues. Five different pitchers recorded wins for the Monsters last summer, including two each by Kent Mathews and Martin Hoger. 

Johnson said the Monsters may get Joe Schneider, Ryan Jamison and Isaac Bixby — the trio of starters that led the Rhinelander Post 7 American Legion baseball team to a state tournament appearance in 2021 — for a couple of games this summer. Otherwise, it will likely be a matter of pitcher by committee. Some of the top returning arms for the squad include Hoger (2-1, 4.76 ERA), Josh Randolph (1-0, 1.59 ERA), Quinn Lamers (0-2, 13.21 ERA) and Sam Schneider (0-0, 4-50 ERA).

“Pitching is going to be the big question mark, especially on those two-game weekends where we might run a little bit thin on pitching,” Johnson said.

Otherwise, Johnson said the majority of the squad returns from last season. Some of last year’s top hitters include Lamers (.439, 2 RBIs), Jesse Robinson (.238, 2 HR, 5 RBIs), Easton Senoraske (.289, 10 RBIs) and Randolph (.314, 9 RBIs).

“We’re going to be competitive. I mean the guys we have on this team, they know how to play the game. We’re going to be strong defensively. I’m sure we’ll haves ebbs and flows offensively,” Johnson said.

Rhinelander’s schedule is pretty much the same this year, with all of last year’s Dairyland Large teams returning. The one change is that Abbotsford moves up from the Dairyland Small this season to become the large division’s eighth team. 

“Adding Abbotsford then eliminates the bye, so it went from a 12-game league scheduled to 14. And that results in twice during the season we have two-game weekends should be a busy summer,” Johnson said. “The thing that we talk about every year, there’s not an easy game in this league. It really depends on you know who you hit, and it’s the same with us. We can be really strong on one day and not a strong the next, depending on you know who shows up on a given day and who is available to pitch. That’s sort of the story of the Dairyland League as well. You just never know never know who you’re going to get.”

The Monsters will get much of their traveling out of the way during the first half of the season with six of their first eight games on the road. Rhinelander will host Everest at Stafford Field May 18, Merrill on a to-be-determined date during the weekend of June 6-8 and then close the regular season with a six-game homestand that begins June 22. 

“From June 22 on we know we’re home so it’ll be nice once we get to that point,” Johnson said.

Home games will be 1:30 matinees on Sunday afternoons at Hodag Park, with the exception of the June 29 meeting against Wisconsin Rapids. That will begin at noon and be played as a doubleheader featuring two seven-inning games. 

Johnson said the team’s preparations were slowed a bit due to the temporary closure of the Hodag Dome but the team plans to get in a couple of practices prior to Sunday’s opener against the Chaparrals. 

“We want to put out our best efforts and see what happens,” he said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].

2025 River Monsters schedule

Date    Opponent    Time

5/11    at Marshfield    1:30 p.m.

5/18    EVEREST    1:30 p.m.

5/25    at Minocqua    1:30 p.m.

5/30    at Abbotsford    7 p.m.

6/6-8   vs/at Merrill (2 games)    TBA

6/15    at Whittlesey    1:30 p.m.

6/21    at Everest    4 p.m.

6/22    MARSHFIELD    1:30 p.m.

6/29    WISCONSIN RAPIDS (DH)    Noon/2:30 p.m.

7/20    ABBOTSFORD    1:30 p.m.

7/27    WHITTLESEY    1:30 p.m.

TBA    MINOCQUA    TBA

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