MONROE - Monroe baseball coach Dustin Huffman usually spends some time with his squad after each game, using the moments immediately after the heat of competition to touch on some teaching points.
Huffman broke from the norm on Tuesday.
The coach had just watched his team drop a 9-4 decision to a Fort Atkinson team that was previously winless in the Badger South Conference, and he had a simple - and quick - message for the Cheesemakers.
"We try to preach hustle and if we go out and get beat but we hustle and do the right things, I can live with that," Huffman said. "But when we go out and we walk to balls and don't hustle on and off the field, we just don't show any excitement toward the game of baseball, then as coaches we have to be upset and we have to be mad.
"I tried my best to convey that as a coach."
His parting words before grabbing a rake to do some groundskeeping on the mound?
"I just told them that (today) rain or shine, we'll be up here practicing and getting back at it. I said show up with a better effort than you showed up with tonight. They have to make the decision as 16-, 17- and 18-year-old kids if they want to show up and have a better work ethic and get better as a group. If they can do that, then we can compete and we can battle."
Monroe (2-9, 1-5 Badger South) suffered its sixth consecutive loss while Fort Atkinson (6-9, 1-5) snapped a six-game skid of its own.
The Blackhawks collected 11 hits, drew six walks and had two batters hit by pitches against Monroe starter Cody Pivonka and reliever Trent Wyssbrod.
Fort Atkinson's Nos. 8 and 9 hitters - first baseman Brady Schoenherr and pitcher Tyler Sexton - gave the Cheesemakers fits, Sexton going 2-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored and Schoenherr going 2-for-2 with an RBI double and a two-run home run to right-center field while scoring three runs.
The Blackhawks scored twice in the second after a the Cheesemakers dropped a pop foul and added four runs on three hits and two walks in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead.
"We just can't come out like we should. We've had that problem all year," Monroe senior first baseman Austin Burandt said.
"We need to do something to get ready more."
Meanwhile, Sexton didn't allow a hit until Dusty Burkhalter's single in the fourth inning and limited the Cheesemakers to five hits total.
"We've been battling and having our challenges, but the games we've been losing, it's not like we've been getting blown out," said Blackhawks coach Mark Rowley, whose team had two-, four-, three- and four-run losses in its last four league setbacks.
"We finally finished a game, and that's been our challenge this year. Guys are learning the game and hopefully some things are going in the right direction."
Monroe scored its runs on sophomore Isaiah Siemers' fielder's choice and junior Ryan Erickson's RBI single in the fourth, on an error in the fifth and on Burandt's sacrifice fly in the seventh that plated junior Mitch Riese. Riese tripled for the Cheesemakers' lone extra-base hit.
"It's going to be a learning experience throughout the rest of the year," Huffman said. "They have to learn from this and they have to get better from this and (the coaches) have to make sure they understand that because we still have a long ways to go.
"If we can do that, we can be competitive toward the end of this year and in the playoffs."
Huffman broke from the norm on Tuesday.
The coach had just watched his team drop a 9-4 decision to a Fort Atkinson team that was previously winless in the Badger South Conference, and he had a simple - and quick - message for the Cheesemakers.
"We try to preach hustle and if we go out and get beat but we hustle and do the right things, I can live with that," Huffman said. "But when we go out and we walk to balls and don't hustle on and off the field, we just don't show any excitement toward the game of baseball, then as coaches we have to be upset and we have to be mad.
"I tried my best to convey that as a coach."
His parting words before grabbing a rake to do some groundskeeping on the mound?
"I just told them that (today) rain or shine, we'll be up here practicing and getting back at it. I said show up with a better effort than you showed up with tonight. They have to make the decision as 16-, 17- and 18-year-old kids if they want to show up and have a better work ethic and get better as a group. If they can do that, then we can compete and we can battle."
Monroe (2-9, 1-5 Badger South) suffered its sixth consecutive loss while Fort Atkinson (6-9, 1-5) snapped a six-game skid of its own.
The Blackhawks collected 11 hits, drew six walks and had two batters hit by pitches against Monroe starter Cody Pivonka and reliever Trent Wyssbrod.
Fort Atkinson's Nos. 8 and 9 hitters - first baseman Brady Schoenherr and pitcher Tyler Sexton - gave the Cheesemakers fits, Sexton going 2-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored and Schoenherr going 2-for-2 with an RBI double and a two-run home run to right-center field while scoring three runs.
The Blackhawks scored twice in the second after a the Cheesemakers dropped a pop foul and added four runs on three hits and two walks in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead.
"We just can't come out like we should. We've had that problem all year," Monroe senior first baseman Austin Burandt said.
"We need to do something to get ready more."
Meanwhile, Sexton didn't allow a hit until Dusty Burkhalter's single in the fourth inning and limited the Cheesemakers to five hits total.
"We've been battling and having our challenges, but the games we've been losing, it's not like we've been getting blown out," said Blackhawks coach Mark Rowley, whose team had two-, four-, three- and four-run losses in its last four league setbacks.
"We finally finished a game, and that's been our challenge this year. Guys are learning the game and hopefully some things are going in the right direction."
Monroe scored its runs on sophomore Isaiah Siemers' fielder's choice and junior Ryan Erickson's RBI single in the fourth, on an error in the fifth and on Burandt's sacrifice fly in the seventh that plated junior Mitch Riese. Riese tripled for the Cheesemakers' lone extra-base hit.
"It's going to be a learning experience throughout the rest of the year," Huffman said. "They have to learn from this and they have to get better from this and (the coaches) have to make sure they understand that because we still have a long ways to go.
"If we can do that, we can be competitive toward the end of this year and in the playoffs."
