The MHS baseball team rode the see-saw last week, winning then losing twice in a row.
The Jays dropped Wis. Rapids 10-5 in Tuesday’s road game, before falling 14-4 to the state’s second-ranked SPASH (16-2) at home on Friday.
Merrill headed north to Minocqua on Saturday, and knocked off third-rated Chequamegon (D3) 3-0 in the opener before getting edged 5-4 by Lakeland.
“They’re a decent team,” MHS coach Brian Artac said of Chequamegon. “(Brian) Stockowitz threw a four-hit shut-out and had two hits. That’s not a bad game.”
The game remained scoreless for five innings until an Adam Messerschmidt walk, Brad Juhlke sacrifice and an error gave the Jays a run. A David Pophal walk, Alex Klug single, an error and Juhlke hit plated two in the seventh.
Merrill– 000 001 2–3.
Chequamegon– 000 000 0–0.
MP: Stockowitz 7 I, 4 H, 3 W, 6 K, 0 R, 0 ER. MH: 6 H, 5 W; Stockowitz 2-4, 2B.
Merrill grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first against Lakeland on Klug’s three-run blast, but the T-Birds immediately matched them. Alex Zettler singled and scored on a Pophal double in the fourth, but the hosts came up with a two-run homer in the sixth for the win.
“It was a roller-coaster week,” Artac said. “Lakeland threw a curve-baller and we did not take advantage. He threw slow junk and lulled us to sleep. We play better against the better teams.”
Merrill– 300 100 0–4.
Rhinelander– 300 020 x–5.
MP: Justin Pyan 7 I, 4 H, 4 W, 2 K, 3 R, 2 ER. MH: 8 H, 1 W; David Pophal 3-4, 2B; Messerschmidt 2-3; Klug 1-4, HR, 3 RBI.
Negotiating the Rapids
Merrill scored in all but one inning to pull a half-game ahead of the Raiders.
“We had some clutch hitting and we scored runs on ground balls,” Artac said. “We scored on potential double-play balls where we hustled to beat out play at first. We played well.”
The Jays built a 3-0 lead, watched the Raiders tie it up, then out-scored their hosts 6-1 over the next three innings. Cole Gustke drove in runs in consecutive innings.
Merrill– 210 123 1–10.
Wis. Rapids– 003 010 1–5.
MP: Pophal 7 I, 3 H, 3 W, 4 K, 5 R, 0 ER. MH: 12 H, 6 W; Reinhardt 3-3, 2B, 2 W; Gustke 2-3; Zettler 2-4, 2 RBI; Messerschmidt 1-3, 2B, 2 R.
Prime Panther
Point broke free with 13 hits and eight walks off four MHS pitchers, while Aaron Nickel minimized the Bluejay damage.
“Where we ran into problems was our errors,” Artac said. “We hit their pitcher well. We had seven hits and must have hit five other balls hard. We prepared them for better pitchers. They were throwing their #3, but he was throwing 85 (mph).”
Ty Grunenwald broke the Bluejay scoring ice with a two-run homer in the fifth. Messerschmidt singled and scored on Gustke’s grounder in the sixth.
SPASH– 215 110 4–14.
Merrill– 001 021 0–4.
MP: Juhlke 2-1/3 I, 5 H, 6 W, 2 K, 8 R, 6 ER; Pyan 2/3 I, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K, ) R; Seth Collins 3 I, 4 H, 0 W, 2 K, 2 R, 1 ER; Zettler 1 I, 4 H, 1 W, 0 K, 4 R, 2 ER. MH: 7 H, 3 W; Grunenwald 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Messerschmidt 2-3; Klug 1-3, 2B..