By Nick Beversdorf
Reporter
Although they were off to a promising start, Merrill Post 46 lost to Marshfield this past Tuesday (June 28) with a final score of 3-14. Merrill generated nine hits and committed three errors.
Merrill got a run off in the first with Jared Schmeltzer batting in Drew Hoff with a line drive to left, but in the bottom frame Marshfield got three runs, two off a home-run hit and another off a line drive. Marshfield got another run in the second off a passed ball and another in the third off a walk.
Marshfield then got two more runs in the fourth, one from a line drive and another off a sacrifice fly before Merrill would get their next run at the top of the fifth, this time with Ty Belfiori batting in Trevor Asmundsen with a hard grounder to short stop. Marshfield would continue to get runs, with four more in the bottom of the fifth and one more in the bottom of the sixth before Merrill would get their last run in the seventh, courtesy of Belfiori batting in Drew Hoff with a hard grounder to first.
Top hitters for Merrill include Schmeltzer (2H, 1RBI), Belfiori (1H, 1SB, 2RBI), Keenan Stellingworth (2H), Hoff (1H, 2R, 1BB) and Asmundsen (1H, 1R). Justin Pyan pitched the first four innings, striking out one, walking two, allowing 14 hits and ten runs-nine earned. Hoff took over for the rest of the game, striking out one, walking two, allowing three hits and four runs-two earned.
Top fielders include Adam Messerschmidt and Dylan Anderson with five putouts each; Anderson also had a double play. Other top fielders include Trey Seubert (4PO), Stellingworth (2PO), Schmeltzer (1PO, 1A) and Ryan Golisch (1PO).
Loss to Lakeland (Minocqua)
Despite a tightly played game, Merrill fell to Lakeland this past Monday (June 27) with a final score of 5-4 with Merrill generating nine hits and committing three errors.
Again, Merrill got off to a great start, securing a run in the first and second innings. The first run came courtesy of Schmeltzer batting in Hoff with a line drive to center. In the second inning, Asmundsen batted in Trey Seubert with a powerful fly to right.
After a run-less third and fourth inning, Merrill widened the lead in the fifth with Schmeltzer hitting a sacrifice fly, batting in Hoff. However, Lakeland was able to tie the game in the bottom with a walk and a popup to center, good for three runs. Merrill took back the lead in the sixth with Anderson batting in Messerschmidt with a line drive to center.
The game seemed to be in the bag until the bottom of the seventh when Lakeland tied the game and then got the extra run needed to win. Both runs were scored off of errors.
Top hitters for Merrill include Asmundsen (3H, 1RBI, double), Schmeltzer (1H, 2RBI), Messerschmidt (1H, 1R, 1SB), Anderson (1H, 1RBI), Hoff (2R, 3BB). The game cycled through four pitchers, starting with Trey Seubert. Trey pitched for four innings, striking out none, walking none, allowing five hits and no runs. After that, Belfiori pitched for one inning, striking out none, walking four, allowing four hits and three runs-all earned. Brett Seubert subbed for Belfiori for the rest of the sixth inning, getting zeros across the board, and Nick Bowe rounded out the game, striking out two, walking two, allowing one hit and two runs-one earned.
It was a pretty uniform defensive effort out on the field. Top fielders for Merrill include Golisch (4PO, 2DP), Stellingworth (3PO, 1A, 1DP), Anderson and Hoff (3PO each), Asmundsen (2PO, 2A, 1DP), Schmeltzer (2PO, 1A, 1DP), and Seubert, Bowe and Belfiori with a putout each.
Stats provided by GameChanger.
The Wausau game scheduled at home for Thursday, June 30, was postponed due to weather.