DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL - Runs rain on Chaps in 4th; Whittlesey wins shortened game
DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL
Mother Nature tried to stop Marshfield and Whittlesey from playing their Dairyland League baseball game Memorial Day weekend, but the teams did find a window to get seven and a half innings in on Monday.
With the game site switched from Marshfield to Whittlesey, the Reds got a first-inning homer from Nick Meyer and six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to secure a 7-2 win over the Chaparrals.
The win was the first of the summer for the Reds in Large Division play as they improved to 1-1. This was the first league game of the season for Marshfield, who was originally scheduled to host the game on Sunday.
A deluge brought Monday’s game to a sudden halt just as the Reds were about to hit in the bottom of the eighth.
Meyer’s solo homer with one out in the bottom of the first gave the Reds a quick 1-0 lead, but Marshfield scored twice in the third to grab its lone lead at 2-1. Three straight hits started the inning, then Colin DeBoer added an RBI single later in the frame.
Whittlesey’s big fourth-inning rally started with Cody Loertscher reaching on an error. Brent Mueller doubled. Then with one out, three straight walks scored two with Nate Retterath and Zach Haynes getting RBIs. Spike Alexander’s line-drive single scored two runs to put the Reds up 5-2. Logan Baumgartner added a sacrifice fly and Mueller was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
That was it for the offense as Marshfield reliever Preston Wagner shut the Reds down the rest of the way. But a strong fiveinning start from Nick Retterath and three scoreless relief innings from Alexander kept the Chaps at arm’s length. Retterath struck out five, walked one and allowed seven hits. Alexander allowed three hits and struck out three. He also went three for four out of the leadoff spot in the batting order. Five Reds had one hit apiece.
Whittlesey returns to league play on Sunday, June 9 when it hosts the Rhinelander River Monsters at 1:30 p.m.
