MONROE - The three fundamentals in baseball are throwing, catching and hitting. Unfortunately for the Cheesemakers, fundamentals are hard to come by these days.
"We played like it was two days after prom," Monroe head coach Steve Christensen said after Monday's 10-1 loss to Reedsburg. "Some guys have to make the play."
Monroe had seven errors, four wild pitches and allowed six unearned runs.
"We just haven't made a play in the infield in the last few games," Christensen said. "Our pitching to start wasn't the greatest, either, but the defense didn't help any."
Senior righty Mike Rear took the mound for the Cheesemakers, allowing six runs, four earned, seven hits, three walks, a wild pitch and two strikeouts in two-plus innings of work, facing 17 batters.
Monroe had three errors in the first inning, which led to three runs. The Cheesemakers looked to tie the score in the bottom half of the inning, but could only get a single runner to cross the plate.
Sophomore catcher Mitch Marty led off with a walk and Mike Demianiuk hit an infield single two batters later. Cleanup hitter Taylor Weckerly then laced a single up the middle to score the run. Kris Rieder walked to load the bases with only one out.
"We should have had a couple more runs early. We just haven't hit the ball," Christensen said.
Matt Whipple hit into a fielder's choice and Cory Kundert struck out to end the threat.
In the second inning, Reedsburg loaded the bases with one out after a pair of walks and a bunt for a hit. Rear then walked in a run on four questionable balls, and Christensen was none too happy about the calls.
The home plate umpire gave multiple lectures to the Cheesemakers' coaching staff and dugout on how balls and strikes were called. Later in the game, the same umpire called a "strike-3" on a batter on a 3-0 count.
Reedsburg opened the third with back-to-back doubles down each line, after which Rear was pulled for Rieder.
"Kris Rieder did a good job in relief. He's a positive from tonight," Christensen said. Rieder allowed four runs (none earned) in five innings of work, striking out two, and walking two against 23 batters.
Only three times after the first inning did Monroe have a runner reach second - Drew Geissbuhler was picked off on third base by the catcher on another questionable call.
"Two weeks ago we played two really good games on a Friday and Saturday. Then we get one-hit by Stoughton and it'd kind of fallen from there. Reedsburg's a good team - they only have one loss - but we didn't play near as well as we can play, and we have to get better than that," Christensen said.
Asked what he could say to his players to help them defensively, Christensen said, "If I knew I would have told them. It's in their heads right now."
Five of Monroe's errors came on both fielding and throwing errors, the other two were throwing errors by the pitchers on pickoff attempts.
Monroe had been scheduled to travel to Milton tonight for another game, but because of a probable case of the swine flu in a student there the game has been postponed until May 20. Milton High School was closed Monday and today.
"We played like it was two days after prom," Monroe head coach Steve Christensen said after Monday's 10-1 loss to Reedsburg. "Some guys have to make the play."
Monroe had seven errors, four wild pitches and allowed six unearned runs.
"We just haven't made a play in the infield in the last few games," Christensen said. "Our pitching to start wasn't the greatest, either, but the defense didn't help any."
Senior righty Mike Rear took the mound for the Cheesemakers, allowing six runs, four earned, seven hits, three walks, a wild pitch and two strikeouts in two-plus innings of work, facing 17 batters.
Monroe had three errors in the first inning, which led to three runs. The Cheesemakers looked to tie the score in the bottom half of the inning, but could only get a single runner to cross the plate.
Sophomore catcher Mitch Marty led off with a walk and Mike Demianiuk hit an infield single two batters later. Cleanup hitter Taylor Weckerly then laced a single up the middle to score the run. Kris Rieder walked to load the bases with only one out.
"We should have had a couple more runs early. We just haven't hit the ball," Christensen said.
Matt Whipple hit into a fielder's choice and Cory Kundert struck out to end the threat.
In the second inning, Reedsburg loaded the bases with one out after a pair of walks and a bunt for a hit. Rear then walked in a run on four questionable balls, and Christensen was none too happy about the calls.
The home plate umpire gave multiple lectures to the Cheesemakers' coaching staff and dugout on how balls and strikes were called. Later in the game, the same umpire called a "strike-3" on a batter on a 3-0 count.
Reedsburg opened the third with back-to-back doubles down each line, after which Rear was pulled for Rieder.
"Kris Rieder did a good job in relief. He's a positive from tonight," Christensen said. Rieder allowed four runs (none earned) in five innings of work, striking out two, and walking two against 23 batters.
Only three times after the first inning did Monroe have a runner reach second - Drew Geissbuhler was picked off on third base by the catcher on another questionable call.
"Two weeks ago we played two really good games on a Friday and Saturday. Then we get one-hit by Stoughton and it'd kind of fallen from there. Reedsburg's a good team - they only have one loss - but we didn't play near as well as we can play, and we have to get better than that," Christensen said.
Asked what he could say to his players to help them defensively, Christensen said, "If I knew I would have told them. It's in their heads right now."
Five of Monroe's errors came on both fielding and throwing errors, the other two were throwing errors by the pitchers on pickoff attempts.
Monroe had been scheduled to travel to Milton tonight for another game, but because of a probable case of the swine flu in a student there the game has been postponed until May 20. Milton High School was closed Monday and today.
