Reds win a wild one; Trojans get two; Wausau sweeps Medford
DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL
The Whittlesey Reds won a crazy 17-13 slugfest with Merrill on Saturday afternoon, but they weren’t able to complete a weekend sweep of the Rangers on Sunday, falling 10-8 in the rematch.
The results left both teams with three losses in Division B of the Dairyland Baseball League standings and potentially headed for a second-place tie behind the 8-0 Rapids Redhawks. Whittlesey is 8-3 with one league game left at Pittsville on July 24. Merrill is 7-3 with games remaining at Tomahawk Saturday and at Westboro on July 24.
Merrill jumped out to an 8-0 lead through two and a half innings on Saturday at Mike Roiger Stadium, but the Reds got some momentum with a sixrun rally in the bottom of the third with all of the damage coming with two outs. Whittlesey then put up a 10-spot in the bottom of the fourth and added one more in the fifth for 17 unanswered runs, going from a team that looked like it might get 10-run ruled to nearly winning it themselves by 10.
Merrill, however, avoided that by scoring five runs in the seventh and eighth innings and getting within a key hit or two of making things even more interesting.
Merrill got three runs in the first inning, added two in the second and put three more up in the third to build its lead. Ranger starter Chase Bonnell walked two hitters and struck out two to start the bottom of the third. He was a pitch away from getting out of the inning, but Spike Alexander belted a 3-2 pitch to deep center for a two-run double. He scored on an error on a ball hit by Brandon Loertscher. Jeff Kraschnewski walked, then he and Loertscher scored on a double hit to deep rightfield by Ben Meyer. Ryan Kraschnewski singled down the leftfield line to drive in Meyer to make it an 8-6 game. The Reds got two more runners on but left the bases loaded to still trail by two.
They didn’t trail much longer in the fourth. Spike Alexander hit a one-out single, Loertscher singled and Jeff Kraschnewski doubled in Alexander. After Ben Meyer popped out, Merrill again had all kinds of trouble getting the third out.
Ryan Kraschnewski singled in the tying and go-ahead runs. Cade Alexander walked to load the bases for Nick Retterath, who doubled in two. Nick Meyer’s fly ball to right was nearly caught, but fell in for an RBI double that made it 12-8. Jon Laher walked and Spike Alexander hit an RBI single. Loertscher’s double drove in another run, Alexander scored on a wild pitch and Ben Meyer later singled in the final run of the 10-run outburst.
Laher added a sacrifice fly in the fifth to extend the lead to nine.
Spike Alexander got the win in relief of starter Cade Alexander. After entering the game in the second inning, he worked into the eighth. Merrill got two runs in the seventh, but also left the bases loaded, making it 17-10. The Rangers loaded them again with no outs in the eighth. Mike Loertscher took over on the mound and limited the damage, allowing two sacrifice flies and an RBI single to Piersen Pyan. Retterath, playing first base, ended the inning by making a nice catch right up against the dugout fence on a foul pop-up.
Merrill actually outhit Whittlesey 19-15, but nine walks haunted the Rangers. Spike Alexander, Loertscher and Ben Meyer had three hits apiece for the Reds. Pyan had four hits for Merrill.
Merrill held Spencer Schneider from pitching in Saturday’s game and it paid off as he went the distance on Sunday to pick up the victory for the Rangers.
Whittlesey has a 3 p.m. non-league game Saturday at Minocqua.
Westboro wins two
Also in Division B, the Westboro Trojans finally cracked the win column by sweeping a Sunday doubleheader at Pittsville. Westboro won the first seveninning game 4-3 while the second one was shortened by rain. The Trojans won 3-0 in a game halted after five innings.
Westboro did all of its offensive damage in game one in the top of the fourth inning, getting four of its five hits. Tanner Hraby, who had two of the team’s hits in the win, led off with a single. Butch Wiegel was hit by a one-out pitch. Hraby scored on Matt Krueger’s single. With two down, Tucker Kraemer delivered the biggest hit of the game, a two-run single. After an error, Nick Steliga drove in the fourth run of the inning with a base hit.
That rally overturned an early 3-0 deficit. Pittsville got a run in the second on Justin Rayburn’s single and got a tworun single from Brett Rademan.
Colt Logan got the start and the win for Westboro. Pittsville batters had just four hits. They drew eight walks, most of which came early, but the River Bandits were unable to get the hit that broke the game open. They stranded two runners that got on with no outs to start the bottom of the seventh.
Tanner Hraby got the shutout in the shortened second game, working around eight hits. He struck out four and Pittsville stranded nine runners in five innings.
Westboro started first, getting singles by JV Castillo and Dayne Marlenga to start the first inning. Hraby’s base hit scored Castillo. Walks to Krueger and Kraemer forced in a run. Castillo walked in the fourth and scored on Hraby’s single.
Hraby again had two of Westboro’s five hits.
Dawson Luther, Sawyer Ladick and Logan Zickert had two hits apiece for Pittsville (2-8).
Westboro (2-8) is at Wisconsin Rapids for a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.
Minocqua takes two
The Minocqua Wood Ducks took two games over the weekend from local teams to get back to .500 in Division A.
On Friday, Minocqua shut out the host Rib Lake Osprey 2-0 behind the pitching of left-handers Zach Peterson and Alex Fortier. Peterson struck out eight, walked two and allowed just two hits in six innings of work. Fortier struck out three and allowed one hit in three innings to pick up the save.
Rib Lake never had more than one base runner in an inning and only got one runner to third base. That happened in the ninth when Austin Edwards singled with one out and worked his way to third with two down. Joe Frombach hit a leadoff double in the fifth but went no further after two strikeouts and a ground ball. Scott Hueckman had Rib Lake’s other hit, singling in the second inning.
Minocqua scored on Logan Hissom’s RBI double in the second and Martin Hoger’s RBI single in the fifth.
Jeff Ziembo pitched the first two innings for Rib Lake, allowing a run on four hits. Bryant Konieczny covered the next six innings, striking out seven, walking two and allowing a run on four hits. Edwards pitched a scoreless ninth.
On Sunday, Minocqua took care of visiting Interwald 9-1 behind eight strong innings from pitcher Trevor Roszczewski. The Wood Ducks broke open a 1-0 game in the fifth. Peter Aerts hit a two-run homer as the Wood Ducks pulled even with Interwald in the division standings at 5-5. They are now tied for fourth place in the division. Interwald is at 7-0 Everest Friday for a 7 p.m. first pitch.
Rib Lake fell to 6-3 and sits in third place in the division. The Osprey head to second-place Wausau (5-2) for a 1:30 p.m. game on Sunday at Wausau West High School. Wausau also hosts winless Spirit at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Wausau sweeps
Speaking of Wausau, the River Hawks swept the Medford Moondogs in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader held at JC Field.
A two-run home run pulled to rightfi eld by John Roberts in the third inning was the difference in Wausau’s 4-2 win in the first seven-inning game. It erased a 2-1 Medford lead and was really the only blemish for Moondogs pitcher Brett Paul, who struck out nine batters, walked none and hit two while allowing eight hits.
Ty Cook tripled to lead off the game and scored on an error, but Medford took its lone lead in the bottom of the first when Trenton Woebbeking was hit by a two-out pitch from Ryan Schaefer and stole second, Max Dietzman walked and moved to second on a wild pitch and both scored on Paul’s bloop hit to right-center.
It stayed 3-2 until Wausau scored an unearned run in the seventh. Schaefer struck out nine Moondogs and allowed just four hits, two of which came from Paul. A diving catch by leftfielder Brandon Bobert in the bottom of the third robbed Trent Klemm of a run-scoring hit and the sacrifice fly was lost on a disputed call as it was ruled Woebbeking had left third base early and was doubled off to end the inning.
Playing as the home team, Wausau took game two 7-3 to complete the sweep. The River Hawks stayed two games behind Everest in the division standings. Everest’s game at Spirit Sunday was postponed.
Whittlesey first baseman Nick Retterath grabs a throw from third baseman Cade Alexander and tries to tag Merrill’s Brad Kanitz during the fourth inning of Saturday’s 17-13 slugfest won by the host Reds. Retterath actually missed the initial tag, but Kanitz also missed the base as he ran by it and Retterath wound up getting the out anyway.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
Whittlesey leftfielder Nick Meyer barehands a ball hit by Merrill’s Spencer Schneider that fell just over the head of shortstop Brandon Loertscher. Meyer’s quick grab allowed him to force runner Piersen Pyan at third base for the second out of the third inning in Whittlesey’s 17-13 win Saturday afternoon.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
Hank Beard (l.) lines an RBI double and Ethan Melvin throws out a Wisconsin Rapids runner at first base during the first inning of the team’s win Saturday night in the final game of its five-team 9U two-day tournament held at JC Field. Medford went 4-0 to win the tournament, which also included teams from Wausau East, Merrill and Phillips.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
Medford third baseman Joey Bartolone gets up after making a diving stop on a ground ball hit by Wausau’s Mike Doescher and throws him out during the fifth inning of the Moondogs’ 4-2 game-one loss Saturday.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
