June 12, 2013 at 5:22 p.m.
Rebels open season with loss
Rebels open season with loss
By By Adam Matyska-
Merrill struck early against the Rebels, putting the leadoff man on base in every inning.
Of the six batters who reached base to begin innings, five would come around to score. Conversely, the Rebels had plenty of baserunners - Rhinelander got eight walks from Merrill starter Seth Collins and one from reliever Alex Cordova - but struggled to get key hits, stranding 11 on base.
Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said Rhinelander has to start to taking advantage of scoring opportunities.
"We just did not come up with the clutch hits," commented the coach. "We have to be better two-strike hitters, and also be better two-out hitters, especially with guys on base. Hopefully, that will come.
Furthermore, it seemed as if, on a windless night, every pop-up was an adventure for the Rebels, whether they ended up falling harmlessly in foul territory or between fielders for bloop hits (as ruled by the official scorer).
"[It was] a little bit of lack of communication and taking bad routes to the ball," said Huhnstock. "It shouldn't be happening."
Merrill scored four in the first inning off of Rebel starter Alec Baumgartner, who was seeing his first action since missing most of the spring baseball season with facial injuries. Cordova led off with a double, and was promptly driven in by David Pophal.
After Alex Klug was hit by a pitch and Mason Reinhardt reached on an infield single, Garrett Pagel lined a two-run double to make it 3-0. Reinhardt tried to score from first on the play but was made an out thanks to a strong relay throw to the plate by Rebels first baseman Lukas Kreger. Tom Zuelsdorf would add an RBI single to make it 4-0 after one.
"I thought Alec gave us a pretty good effort, but he definitely showed a little bit of rust," commented Huhnstock. "We make a few more plays behind him though and we have a chance to win this ball game."
The Rebels battled back in the second inning, scoring three off of Collins.
Derek Mathison was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, followed by a Kreger single. Ben Quade worked a walk to load the bases for Alex Reas, who reached on an RBI fielder's choice groundout. He would later score in the inning as Alec Baumgartner drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-3 Merrill.
Post 46 would add single tallies in both the second and fourth innings to extend the lead to 6-3.
The Rebels rallied in their half of the fifth inning, taking advantage of some Merrill mistakes to score two, but squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the process. With one out, Ben Quade was hit by a pitch, then moved to second on a passed ball and third on a Reas groundout. Lucas Michlig walked and Luke Linsmeyer followed with a single to right field to load the bases. Quade would score on a wild pitch by Collins, who proceeded to walk Trevor Young to load the bags. Baumgartner was the next batter and drew a walk, forcing in Michlig. On the play, ball four had skipped in the dirt and scooted away from the catcher Pagel, and Linsmeyer turned third hard and attempted to score. Pagel, however, corralled the ball quickly and shoveled it to Collins covering to get the out at the plate. Merrill held the lead, 6-5.
"I'll take an aggressive out any time," noted Huhnstock. "I don't know if [third base coach] Andy [Van Dyke] sent him or if he went on his own, but an aggressive out is better than being passive all the time, waiting for something to happen."
Post 46 would score three runs in the fifth inning off of relief pitcher Derek Mathison.
Anderson laced a triple to right, that Rebel right fielder Alex Reas initially thought would go foul, and Cordova followed with a sacrifice fly. Later in the frame, Mason Reinhardt hit what looked like a routine liner to center, that fell to the ground as a two-run single after Linsmeyer lost track of the ball.
"I think the fly ball in center field, Linsmeyer just did not see it off the bat, it got up in the sky and it's a tough sky this time of the night," said Huhnstock. "But, good teams that win games make those plays, and teams that don't make them end up on the short end."
Merrill would tack on one more in the sixth to make it 10-5. The Rebels had two on in the seventh, but relief pitcher Alex Cordova worked out of the jam to seal the victory for Post 46.
The Rebels fall to 0-1 on the season while Merrill improves to 2-0.
The Rebels travel to Antigo today to take on the Typhoon and Huhnstock hopes the team will improve in their second game.
"We have a young squad...and hopefully we learn from our mistakes and get better as the season progresses," he said. "We hope that we can play error-free ball and shore up a few things on the pitching end. There were too many leadoff hitters on for Merrill during the game, I'm sure those are things we're going to stress in our conversations with the kids and hopefully we can play a little cleaner ball."
The game will be carried live on hodagsports.com with pregame scheduled for 6:45 p.m. and first pitch at 7 p.m.
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