Monsters drop season opener at Abbotsford

The Rhinelander River Monsters took to the diamond for the first time this season Saturday, May 9 and — in a number of ways — it looked like it in the Dairyland League Large Division opener.

The Monsters were scored on in every inning except the sixth and fell via the run rule 12-2 in seven innings to the Abbotsford Merchants at Red Arrow Park in Abbotsford. 

Rhinelander had a couple of chances early, but the Merchants scored seven times between the second and third innings to blow the game open. 

“We got that first one under our belts, and I just told them after the game, ‘OK, just flush this one away,’” River Monsters manager Todd Johnson said. “There were just not a lot of bright spots in that game, and it just seemed to get away from us every inning a little bit.”

After coming up empty with the bases loaded in the top of the first, the Monsters quickly fell into a 5-0 hole. Tanner Hraby walked and scored all the way from first after an errant throw on Blake Jakobi’s sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the first. 

All four runs in the second inning were unearned as well after JJ Heller reached on an error. The Monsters got Tanner Hraby to ground into a bases-loaded fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning, but Heller and Judd Hraby both scored on subsequent wild pitches and Blake Bargender added a two-run single to give the Merchants a 5-0 lead. 

Rhinelander’s lone offense came in the third inning. Back-to-back doubles by Easton Senoraske and Sam Schneider generated the Monsters’ first run. Schneider scored the second on a two-out single by Martin Hoger. 

The Merchants went right back to work with four straight hits to lead off the bottom of the third. Aaron Marrow had an RBI single as the third hit in that string and, after the Monsters threw out Dakota Ellenbecker at the plate on Heller’s single to right, two more wild pitches accounted for two more runs and an 8-2 Abbotsford lead. 

The Merchants tacked on single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and clinched it in the seventh on RBI singles by Judd Hraby and Jakobi. 

Nick Bolte, in his River Monsters’ debut, got touched up for eight runs, but only three earned, on five hits with four walks and two strikeouts over the first three innings. Hoger, the team’s leader in innings pitched and ERA last year, worked the final three and a third for the Monsters, allowing four runs (two earned) on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts. 

“Our pitching wasn’t great. When I looked at it, we gave up five walks, but it seemed like more than that. They were just in, inopportune times, walking leadoff guys putting them on base,” Johnson said. “Then errors, we probably made as many mental errors as we made physical errors, and it just wasn’t a, sharply-played game, certainly not what these guys were capable of playing.”

Peyton Schreiber worked the first three innings for Abbotsford before turning the ball over to Tanner Hraby. The UW-River Falls sophomore scattered two hits, walked two and struck out five to earn the victory. 

“Tanner’s a good player. He didn’t have a hit, but he hit the ball hard every time he was up, and when he comes in to pitch, he’s pretty tough,” Johnson said. “But, I mean, his dad, Judd, played. And Judd played a great game for them, so I give him a lot of credit.”

Abbotsford outhit Rhinelander 12-5 in the contest. Schneider had the Monsters’ lone multi-hit game, connecting on a pair of doubles. 

Rhinelander (0-1) kicks off a seven-game homestand this Sunday against the Merrill Rangers. First pitch is slated for 1:30 p.m.

“It’ll be nice to play at home next week. Hopefully we have some decent weather and rebound and get the first win of the year,” Johnson said. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].