August 7, 2015 at 1:14 p.m.
Review: Wild summer for Post 7
Entertaining Rebels finish one game below .500
Review: Wild summer for Post 7
Those words, uttered by manager Dan Huhnstock shortly after Rhinelander Post 7 saw its American Legion baseball season come to an end in dramatic fashion July 23 against Merrill, perfectly sum up the 2015 campaign for the Rebels.
"I think we ended up about .500, but you know it was an up-and-down summer," Huhnstock said. "I think we were about .500 the year we won state. We just didn't quite gel and get hot at the right time."
It was definitely an improvement for the Rebels, who went 10-11 in 2015 after a 7-14 showing a year ago, but it was also a wild ride. Rhinelander won some games it had no business winning following some crazy finishes. The Rebels also lost a couple of games they should have never lost, including the July 23 game against Merrill where Post 7 squandered a 6-0 lead in an error-filled performance and lost 7-6 on a walkoff hit in the bottom of the seventh.
That loss meant the Rebels were the first team eliminated in the four-team Wisconsin AA District 2 regionals, which it hosted for the first time since 2011.
"It wasn't our best ball game and ball games are going to go that way sometimes," Huhnstock said immediately following the loss. "Unfortunately for us and for our seniors, it went that way tonight."
It was a streaky summer for the Rebels, who were 3-5 on the season following their home invite June 20-22. Rhinelander reeled off four straight wins after that, then lost four of its next five. The Rebels won their final two games before the playoffs, but then went 0-2 in the regional tournament to finish a game below .500.
Many of the players on the roster were part of the Rhinelander High School varsity baseball team in the spring. Like the Hodags earlier in the season, the Rebels found themselves in an unusually high number of extra-inning games. Five of Rhinelander's 21 games went to extras this summer.
The Rebels went 2-3 in those games, including a 10-inning loss to Mosinee and two of their crazier wins of the season.
On July 1, the Rebels forced extra innings against eventual regional champion Antigo thanks to a balk call in the bottom of the seventh and won the game on a walk-off error in the eighth.
One week later, Rhinelander found itself trailing 10-7 after allowing three runs in the top of the ninth inning. They scored four in the bottom half of the inning, the last three of which scored on a Bradley Comer hit and subsequent error in the outfield as Rhinelander walked off 11-10 winners.
"Sometimes you catch a couple breaks and you end up on the right side of them," Huhnstock said following the July 1 win over Antigo - the Rebels only triumph in three tries against the Typhoon. "We've had plenty of breaks go against us throughout the season, so we'll definitely take them when the ball bounces our way."
One promising aspect for the Rebels is that some of their best statistical performers from this summer will be back in a Rhinelander uniform next year.
Comer, a junior-to-be, hit .485 over the summer with 14 runs batted in. Tyler Blomdahl, who is also entering his junior year, hit .323 with a team-high five home runs and 23 RBIs. Other offensive performers of note who are slated to return include Easton Senoraske (.455 in 11 at bats), Brandon Hess (.357, 7 RBIs) and Jacob DeMeyer (.313, 2 RBIs).
As a team, the Rebels had little difficulty swinging the bat. They hit .280 as a team and averaged 6.3 runs per game.
"The bats really did get going today with some thunder, too," Huhnstock said following a 16-11 win at Merrill in which the Rebels hit three home runs. "We do have that capability, you know, we've just got to find it more consistently."
On the mound senior-to-be Kurt Zuiker is showing signs of an ace-in-waiting. The lefty logged a team-high 40 innings this summer, going 4-3 with a 2.45 ERA that included a team-high 41 strikeouts.
"He's really taking ownership of getting his chance to pitch for us this summer, which is going to be real good for us both the rest of this summer and for seasons to come," Huhnstock said after Zuiker shut out Medford early in the season.
Brandon Hess (2-2, 3.73 ERA) and Matt Rudolph (1-2, 5.81 ERA) also saw plenty of time on the hill this summer as they emerged as the team's Nos. 4 and 5 options on the mound.
One glaring weakness for Rhinelander was defense. The Rebels fielding percentage was .908 this summer, which roughly translates to one error in every 10 chances.
The summer also marked the final time in a Rhinelander uniform for a number of seniors - including Trevor Young, Kent Mathews, Nick Spencer, Ben Quade and Scott Sedlacek.
Mathews was a workhorse this summer, going 2-2 with a 4.03 ERA against some of the team's toughest opponents, but the team sometimes struggled to provide him run support. Rhinelander scored three or fewer runs in four of his starts this summer. Spencer was a valuable utility player and the team's third option on the mound. Quade has been a three-year starter at catcher and Young and Sedlacek made up both halves of Rhinelander's middle infield.
"Them guys gave their heart and soul to the program and you can't thank them enough," Huhnstock said.
Rhinelander did not have its full complement of players at times during the summer, due to committents to work and other sports. A number of the underclassmen also played Babe Ruth baseball, and five players who played for the Rebels this summer were also part of the Northwoods Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-Star team, which played in the Ohio Valley Regional tournament the same weekend as Legion regionals.
While the final record indicates an up-and-down summer for the Post 7 Rebels, the team is hoping that given the number of players set to return the overall trend for 2015 and beyond is upward.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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