Merrill’s American Legion Post 46 baseball team suffered through a rough week, dropping four games in a seven-day span.
Post 46 fell 17-6 at Plover last Tuesday and 12-4 to Wausau on Wednesday before getting edged 7-6 in 8 innings on Thursday by RSW.
Rhinelander pulled out Monday’s game at Athletic Park by a 10-7 tally.
A 6-run 5th for Rhinelander provided a 10-3 lead, but Merrill didn’t quit. The locals scored 4 in the 6th to cut it to 10-7 and put the tying run at the plate in the 7th before Rhinelander shut the door.
“We just needed a key hit in some spots,” Merrill manager Rob Klug said. “We left the bases loaded in the first and then again in the sixth.”
A catcher interference call aided an Alex Cordova score in the 1st and Merrill pulled within 4-3 in the 3rd with Jordan Burton and Michael Detert runs that scored on wild pitches.
The visitors scored 6 in the 5th, but Post 46 cut it to a manageable size with Detert’s RBI single and run-scoring walks from Jack Osness and Matt Woller. An error and Luke Golisch walk gave Merrill a 7th-inning chance, but a strike-out and grounder killed it.
Tim Jahnke (6 H, 5 W, 1 K, 7 R in 4 I) and Alex Cordova (5 H, 5 W, 2 K, 3 R in 3 I) shared mound duties.
Cordova (2-4) and Golisch (3 W) led the offense.
RSW nailbiter
Merrill bounced back from a 3-0 deficit on Thursday with 5 runs in the 2nd, and knotted it in the 7th on Detert’s solo home run. But RSW used a pair of singles and an error to steal the win.
“Defensively, we were quite a bit better than Wednesday, but for the second half of the game our bats didn’t show up,” Klug said.
Dylan Burkam and Cordova each sacrificed a run home and Osness ripped an RBI double. Golisch (2-4, 2B), and Corova (2-4) came up with half the hits.
Golsich 10 H, 6 W, 10 K 7 R, 5 ER in 7-2/3 I) took the loss and Cordova finished.
The big boot
Just 4 of 12 runs were earned in Wednesday’s 12-4 loss. Wausau tallied 3 in the 1st, 5 in the 4th and 3 in the 6th for most of the damage.
“That was an ugly game,” Klug said. “They had us for 10 errors but I think it was closer to 12.”
Golisch (3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI) pounded a 2-run tater in the 3rd and he doubled another run home in the 7th. Jahnke (2-3) helped Merrill reach 8 hits.
Burkam (10 H, 2 W, 2 K, 12 R, 4 ER in 5 I) lost, and Jahnke (0 H, 0 W, 2 K, 0 R in 1 I) finished.
Plover flight
Plover jumped out to a 9-1 lead after two at-bats on Tuesday. Back-to-back doubles by Cordova and Golisch cut it to 9-2, but Plover answered with 4 runs. Cordova’s 2-run double in the 4th and Golisch’s 2-run two-bagger in the 6th couldn’t overcome the onslaught.
Cordova (3-4, 2-2B, 2 RBI), Golisch (2-4, 2-2B, 3 RBI) and Detert (2B) had 2/3rds of the Post 46 hits.
Osness (11 H, 0 W, 0 K, 9 R, 8 ER in 1/1-3 I) lost, and Kyle Rajek (10 H, 3 W, 2 K, 8 R, 6 ER in 4-2/3 I) relieved.