River Monsters top Reds; Small Division set to start

DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL

The Whittlesey Reds took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second inning Sunday, but a four-run bottom half by Rhinelander was all the host River Monsters needed to secure a 5-2 Dairyland League victory at Stafford Field.

The league’s new addition to its Large Division improved to 3-1 in the standings with Sunday’s win while the Reds dropped to 1-2 with their second straight league loss.

Whittlesey was held to two hits by Rhinelander pitchers Ryan Jamison and Joe Schneider. The Reds scored their runs without a hit in the second inning. Tom Mildbrand was hit by a pitch, the first of three times that happened in the game and Ben Meyer walked. They moved to second and third on Parker Lissner’s sacrifice bunt and Mildbrand scored on Brandon Loertscher’s groundout. An error on a ball hit by Cody Loertscher allowed Meyer to score and give Whittlesey the lead.

Rhinelander, who had gotten on the board in the first on Jamison’s sacrifice fly, sent nine men to the plate in the bottom of the second to regain early control of the game. Nick Spencer singled and Ben Quade was hit with a one-out pitch. An error on a ball hit by Kurt Zuiker loaded the bases for Quinn Lamers, who singled in the tying run. Schneider knocked in the go-ahead run while reaching on a fielder’s choice and a two-run single by Sam Schneider made it 5-2 and ended Brandon Loertscher’s short start on the mound. He took the loss in 1.1 innings, allowing four hits and three earned runs while striking out one.

After the second, Rhinelander did little offensively. Nick Retterath pitched 5.2 scoreless innings, striking out seven, walking one and allowing just one hit. Spike Alexander threw a scoreless eighth with two strikeouts and a walk.

Jamison went six innings for Rhinelander. He struck out four and allowed both hits, a third-inning single by Cade Alexander and a fifth-inning single from Meyer. He walked five and hit two batters. Schneider got the three-inning save, striking out three, walking two and hitting three. Whittlesey had some chances, leaving two runners on base in the third, fifth, seventh and ninth innings.

Lamers and Sam Schneider had two hits apiece, accounting for four of Rhinelander’s five hits.

Whittlesey is back home at Mike Roiger Stadium on Sunday to face Marshfield (1-3) at 1:30 p.m. Rhinelander visits the Rapids Redhawks at the same time.

Small Division warm-up

The Dairyland League’s Small Division begins play this weekend with four games, including Rib Lake at Tomahawk Saturday at 6 p.m. and Medford at Spirit, Abbotsford at Interwald and Pittsville at Westboro all at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Interwald defeated host Westboro 13-2 in a practice game played this past Sunday.

Westboro outhit Interwald 13-9 but 13 walks and four hit batters allowed Interwald to keep traffic on the base paths.

Dalton Strebig, David Fliehs and Matt Mohr had two hits apiece and all of them scored twice atop Interwald’s batting order. Mohr had two runs batted in.

Luke Blomberg was one for three with three RBIs, including a two-run single in Interwald’s four-run fifth.

Westboro got an RBI single in the first from Dakota Willemssen and a run-scoring single from Tucker Kraemer in the fifth. Willy Johnson and Kraemer had three hits apiece for the Trojans. James Holliday had two hits.