River Monsters hold off Everest in extra innings

After leading most of the way Sunday, the Rhinelander River Monsters had to find a little extra to get past the Everest Merchants on a cool, blustery day at Stafford Field.

Nate Schmidt came through for the Monsters with the bases loaded in the 10th inning, delivering an infield RBI single that gave Rhinelander a 3-2 victory in Dairyland League play.

Everest (0-1) rallied after being down to its final out in regulation as back-to-back singles by Cameron Ziebell and Josh Nielsen tied it, leaving the Monsters (1-1) to have to fight a little longer to earn their first league win of the season. 

“I always say in these elements, when it’s cold — and it kind of tried to sprinkle, but thank God it didn’t — the tougher team wins,” Rhinelander bench coach Andy Van Dyke said. “This isn’t about baseball skills even at this point. It’s the tougher team wins. And we were tough today.”

Martin Hoger went nine innings for the Monsters in a no-decision. He was unable to slam the door in the ninth, however as Ziebell hit a hot shot past third to start the Everest rally. Ziebell moved to second on a wild pitch and scored one pitch later as Nielsen dumped the a single into shallow right. 

“That Everest culture, that it’s always going to be tough at the end. They’re always in a ball game, no matter what,” Van Dyke said.

The Monsters went down in order in the ninth to force extra innings, which follow Major League Baseball rules and begin with a runner on second base for each team. Everest was able to bunt its runner, Nielsen, to third base, but a fly out to shallow center by Brandon Kranz wasn’t deep enough for Nielsen to score and Ryan Hubacek flew out to right to end the threat. 

With Quinn Lamers starting on second in the Rhinelander 10th, Easton Senoraske blooped a single to right-center, but not deep enough for Lamers to risk going to third. Lamers stole that base, instead, on the next pitch. Everest then opted to intentionally walk Jacob Dreifuerst to load the bases and get to Schmidt, who was 0-for-4 on the day. With the Merchants infield in, Schmidt hit an 0-2 pitch hard to first where Nielsen deflected, but wasn’t able to corral the ball, and Lamers came through for the winning run. 

“I don’t think he played last year, and it’s been about a year and a half almost,” Van Dyke said of Schmidt’s first appearance in a River Monsters uniform since July 16, 2023. “Again, (he’s) one of the most talented baseball players I’ve ever coached, certainly I’ve ever been around. With him, it’s just mental, it’s confidence. Getting back, you know, getting your legs back in. I’m not sure how many games he’s going to be at, but we’d love to have him at all of them, for sure.” 

Rhinelander took the lead early as Lamers, Senoraske and Dreifuerst strung together singles with one out in the bottom of the first to give the Monsters a 1-0 advantage. Everest tied it in the third as Nielsen singled and scored on a soft looping liner by Hubacek with two out in the second that Schmidt got a glove on, but could not corral. Rhinelander retook the lead in the fifth as Caden Palubicki walked, stole second and scored on a throwing error after Lamers reached on a dropped third strike. 

Though the Monsters collected nine hits, they again struggled with runners in scoring position, going 3-for-11 in that regard and stranding 12 on base. Rhinelander was unable to cash in on a key chance to add to the lead in the sixth and Ben Quade drew a lead off walk and Hoger singled to give the Monsters two on with nobody out. Tyler Blomdahl lined out to second, Kaden Vanney struck out looking and Palubicki popped out to first to end that threat. 

“Unfortunate that we couldn’t get any across there in the sixth, because a couple insurance runs really would have been nice, but, again, it’s sometimes in baseball, it’s what comes up,” Van Dyke said. 

Hoger wiggled out of a jam in the seventh as Koleman Schilling reached on a leadoff error and got to third with one out on a sacrifice by Ziebell. Hoger froze Noah Chimelewski and got Cuyler Soppe to pop out to maintain a 2-1 lead. 

Hoger scattered six hits over nine innings with a walk and four strikeouts.

“For Martin to go the full nine strongly, was an amazing thing to watch,” Van Dyke said. “One walk, I believe. Just in command all day. He pitched strikes and pitched to contact and his defense didn’t even bail him out. They just did their job all day long.”

Lamers, in his first pitching appearance of the spring, worked through the Merchants in order in the 10th to get the win. 

“He’s been playing club ball and Madison this spring. Really great to have him come in. I mean, he’s already oiled up. He’s ready,” Van Dyke said. “I like him in a relief role. I don’t necessarily love starting him. So to have him come in and shut it down, I mean, literally blow it down was great. He’s a baseball player.”

Rhinelander outhit Everest 9-6 in the contest, with Senoraske and Hoger collecting two hits each for the Monsters. Nielsen struck out eight over five innings for Everest while Chimelewski struck out three over three scoreless innings. Matt Witter took the loss for the Merchants. 

Rhinelander will be on the road Sunday to take on the Minocqua Wood Ducks. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].