July 13, 2015 at 2:31 p.m.
Rebels go 1-3 at Merrill Invite
Post 7 knocks off tourney champ Merrill in final game
Rebels go 1-3 at Merrill Invite
The Rebels knocked off Merrill, who had already clinched the tournament championship, Sunday afternoon to avoid going winless in the three-day American Legion baseball invite.
Rhinelander won the finale 16-11 after dropping a pair of tough games Saturday - 4-3 to Holmen and 10-6 to Jefferson - and losing the opener 20-5 to Rothschild/Schofield/Weston Friday.
"We played some good ball games down here, so it was nice to get a win," Rebels manager Dan Hunstock said following Sunday's victory. "We had some close games in other games that we did not get the W. It's nice to come out of here with a win (and) head toward the latter part of our season on a positive note."
Merrill finished 3-1 in the invite. RSW, Holmen and Jefferson each went 2-2.
Rhinelander 16, Merrill 11
Tyler Blomdahl homered twice and Ben Quade finished a triple short of the cycle as the Rebels salvaged the final game of the tournament.
Blomdahl hit a grand slam as part of a nine-run fourth inning that gave the Rebels the lead for good. He tacked on a three-run bomb in the fifth as part of a seven-RBI day at the plate. In all Rhinelander collected 11 hits, including five for extra bases, off four Merrill pitchers.
"The bats really did get going today with some thunder, too," Huhnstock said. "We do have that capability, you know, we've just got to find it more consistently."
Quade put the Rebels ahead with a two-run shot to left in the second inning, but the lead was short-lived as a leadoff error and three hits allowed Merrill to plate five in the bottom half of the inning and take a 6-2 lead.
The score remained that way until the Rebels' monstrous fourth.
The inning started with walks by Bryce Young and Quade. Young scored on an error on Logan Freund's sacrifice bunt attempt. Quade got to third on the play and later beat a throw home on Matt Rudolph's grounder to short. Nick Spencer singled home a run with the bases loaded. Sedlacek scored on an errant throw following Kurt Zuiker's ground ball, setting the stage for Blomdahl, who belted a 3-1 fastball over the fence in right center.
Merrill got two back in the fourth, but the Rebels loaded the bases again in the fifth with nobody out. Zuiker drove in Scott Sedlacek on a sacrifice fly to left and Blomdahl crushed a 3-2 pitch over the 366-foot sign in straightaway center. Two batters later Quade doubled home Young to give the Rebels a 16-8 advantage.
Spencer logged four innings in the win, allowing eight runs on seven hits. He also hit four batters.
"Nick scuffled a little bit," Huhnstock said. "He hasn't thrown for almost two weeks, maybe even just a hair longer than that with the Fourth of July and a couple of rainouts in there where we lost a couple games. It was maybe a little bit of rust."
Scott Sedlacek pitched the final three innings to earn the save.
Holmen 4, Rhinelander 3
The Rebels seemed destined for their fifth extra-inning game of the summer before a botched grounder and a close play at the plate ended the game in regulation.
Ryan Chapman scored when Young was unable to get an out on a grounder to second with two outs in the bottom of the seventh as Holmen pulled off the 4-3 win in Saturday's first contest.
Chapman led off the inning with a walk, was bunted to second by Owen Gilbertson and was still there when Aden Zimmerman rolled one toward Young. Unable to get the out at first, and with Champan sprinting for home, first baseman Blomdahl picked up the ball and rifled it to the plate. Quade applied the tag, but not until after Chapman touched home with his slide, the umpire deemed.
That proved to be the game-winning play, but the Rebels had plenty of opportunities to pad their lead, stranding nine runners in the contest - including six in scoring position.
"It shouldn't have ended up relying on that at all," Huhnstock said. "We play a little bit cleaner ball, we win that game. We get a clutch hit here or there, we win that game hands down against a very good squad."
Rhinelander struck first with a three-run fourth inning. Young and Quade walked to start the inning. After being bunted along by Freund, both came around to score on a Rudolph single to right. Spencer singled home Rudolph with two out, but he and courtesy runner Cody Sedlacek were left stranded when Zuiker popped out to end the inning.
Holmen responded with three in the fifth after loading the bases with one out. Drake Walensky hit a sacrifice fly to left and Kyle Knudtson hit a two-run ground rule double down the left field line.
Brandon Hess took the tough luck loss for Rhinelander, scattering five hits over 6 2/3 innings. He also collected a pair of hits at the plate.
"Brandon pitched a whale of a game for us," Huhnstock said. "You couldn't ask for more. He kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win. That's all you can ever ask out of a starting pitcher."
Jefferson 10, Rhinelander 6
Jefferson collected five runs in the first inning and Rhinelander could never recover as the Rebels fell 10-6 in Saturday's second game.
Ian Drays and Tyler Graf both hit three-run homers off Rudolph, who was tagged for 10 runs on 12 hits over five innings.
"Matt left a few balls up in the zone and they capitalized on them," Huhnstock said. "They're a very good team and they got guys than can make you pay for mistakes."
Christian Ott hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the first, setting the stage for Drays, who took an 0-1 fastball over the fence in left. Grant Johnson doubled home Evan Drays later in the inning.
The Rebels nibbled away at the deficit. Rudolph plated Blomdahl on a sacrifice fly in the second and Hess singled and scored on a wild pitch in the third. But Jefferson restored the five-run advantage with single runs in the third and fourth.
Rhinelander made a big rally in the fifth as Hess singled and Spencer and Zuiker both walked to load the bases with nobody out. Jefferson made a pitching change at that point, replacing Evan Drays with Johnson. Blomdahl followed with a hard-hit grounder back to the mound that caromed off Johnson and trickled toward short. That proved to be the only hit Johnson allowed in three innings of relief.
Young and Quade hit back-to-back sacrifice flies and Spencer scored on a passed ball to pull Rhinelander within 7-6, but Graf's three-run shot to right in the bottom of the inning concluded the scoring for the afternoon.
"We kept working at it, trying to chip away, but they'd have an answer whenever we made a little bit of noise," Huhnstock said.
RSW 20, Rhinelander 5
The weekend started with a rematch of Wednesday's wild 11-10 extra inning victory for the Rebels over RSW. Apparently that loss was still simmering for Post 492. RSW scored in every inning - including five runs in the first and seven in the fifth - to rout the Rebels 20-5 in a game that ended early via the 10-run rule.
RSW touched up Zuiker for 13 runs (eight earned) on nine hits over four innings. Though Zuiker struck out seven, he also walked nine batters.
"He wasn't real sharp and he didn't make adjustments early enough on the way the strike zone was getting called," Huhnstock said. "Once he made some adjustments things got a little bit better, but the cart was well in front of the horse by then."
Zuiker, who fell to 3-2 on the season with a loss, had not pitched in competition since June 21. Huhnstock said, like Spencer Sunday, the rust was evident during Zuiker's outing.
"We just talked about that, getting down (to the park) for a bullpen session if we're going to be extended (in the tournament)," he said. "I think that hit us a little bit in the first game with Kurt also. He had a little bit of layoff."
Rhinelander tried to keep pace with RSW early. After Post 492's five-run opening salvo, the Rebels responded with three runs in the bottom of the first. Blomdahl, Bradley Comer and Rudolph drove in runs in three consecutive at-bats. A pair of singles and a fielders' choice plated Spencer, Zuiker and Blomdahl.
The teams traded runs in the second. Brady Uekert singled home Jordan Steinagel for RSW. Spencer's two-out base hit plated Cody Sedlacek for the Rebels.
Scott Sedlacek scored on an error in the third but, otherwise, it was all RSW, which tacked on four in the third and three in the fourth. Young pitched the fifth for Rhinelander. He allowed five hits in RSW's seven-run frame.
Huhnstock said there was not much for his team to do except move on from the loss.
"We told the kids to wipe that out of their minds," he said.
Final push
The Rebels (8-8) have three games remaining before the start of the AA tournament. Rhinelander hosts Mosinee Wednesday, Merrill Friday and will round out the regular season next Monday at Tomahawk.
Huhnstock said the key is to get as many guys playing opportunities as possible to prepare for the AA regional, which begins July 22 at Stafford Field.
"(We want to) get everybody a lot of at bats and make sure we get the pitchers some work," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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