Teams are starting to find their rhythm in this new Dairyland Collegiate League season. The rosters, hand-picked with players from across the nation, are beginning to gel as the regular season carries on. Most teams have played about 10 games by this point.
Waterloo’s own Maunesha River Rats kicked 2024 off with a solid 2-2 start. The competition seems to be finding its grove, though, as the Rats have lost four of their last five games.
The skid started with a tough 12-2 home loss to the Northshore Bobbers on Thursday, June 13. The Bobbers started hot, scoring three runs in each of the first four innings. In total, Northshore connected on nine hits and capitalized on seven errors from Maunesha.
The River Rats did not score until the bottom of the fifth inning. There, James Love (Eastern Illinois University) scored the team’s first run with an RBI double. He was shoon brought home on an RBI single from Jaiden Jung (Milwaukee Area Tech). This scoring outburst was it for Maunesha, but the bats were overall efficient on the day as the River Rats finished with more hits than the Bobbers with 10.
Maunesha’s offense roared to life to erase the memory of that tough loss the very next day. The River Rats made the trek to Carroll University’s Frame Park on Friday, June 14 to take on the Waukesha Foxes. There, Maunesha utilized 12 hits to survive a shootout, 19-13.
Love stole the show, going 5-7 with a double, a triple, five RBIs, and two runs scored. Jackson Hunley (Lewis University) was no slouch himself, going 2-5 with a triple to push four runs across and set himself up to score three times. Additionally, Seth Koci (Grand Valley State University) brought in three RBIs, Jung scored two, and Noe Marrero (Waubonsee College) and Nick Guidici (Parkland College) contributed one each.
The Rats couldn’t replicate this offensive efficiency in their next game, a trip to take on the Wisconsin Cheese Kings in Janesville on Monday, June 17. Despite striking first in the top of the first inning, the Rats couldn’t hold off the Cheese Kings in a 13-3 loss.
Maunesha got one of its runs in the top of the first inning and two more in the top of the fourth. The Rats got RBIs from Cole Bush (Baldwin Wallace University) and Keli Grennier (McHenry County College) as well as a double from John Hadley VI (UW-Milwaukee). The Cheese Kings scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, four in the fourth, and three more in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach.
The loss turned into a streak on Tuesday, June 18 as Maunesha took on the Bobbers again, this time at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Northshore exacted revenge by way of a 7-5 victory.
It was another good start for the Rats, who scored three runs in the top of the first inning and two more in the top of the second. Guidici led the way with two RBIs while Bradyn Horn (UW-Milwaukee) and Tyler Froland (NIAAC) added one each. Guidici, Koci, and Love all contributed doubles.
Things fell apart for the Rats in the bottom of the eighth inning. Leading 5-3, Maunesha allowed four runs in that half inning alone. Northshore was able to keep the Rats off the board in the top of the ninth inning to steal the victory.
Things got no easier for Maunesha on Monday, June 24 as the Rats took on Lakeside in Lake Mills. The Beach Bums, the reigning league champions, took an 8-0 record and an 18-game winning streak (dating back to last season) into the matchup. That increased to 19 as the Bums took home a 7-3 win.
This recent skid leaves Maunesha with a 4-6 record, putting the Rats in fifth place of the six-team league in the current standings.
Maunesha will look to kick this tough stretch with a return to Frame Park on Wednesday, June 26 to take on Waukesha. The week will wrap up with a home game against Johnson Creek on Thursday, June 27 and another shot at Lakeside, this time at home, on Saturday, June 29.
Dairyland Collegiate League standings
-as of Monday, June 24
1. Lakeside, 9-0
2. Waukesha, 6-5
3. Northsore, 5-6
4. Johnson Creek, 4-5
5. Maunesha, 4-6
6. Cheese Kings, 3-9
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