July 20, 2016 at 2:46 p.m.
Made it to the top
Rebels sweep Eagle River, clinch inaugural GNLC title
Made it to the top
The Rebels closed out a stirring late-season rally Monday, sweeping Eagle River 13-0 and 12-2 in a doubleheader at Stafford Field. The victories ran Rhinelander's winning streak to seven games overall (14-5) and put the Rebels at 8-4 in the GNLC standings, clinching at least a share of the conference title.
"It was a great idea to form the league," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said afterward. "It was a competitive league and it gave the players something to play for. It meant a lot to the players."
Minocqua had a chance to join Rhinelander as conference champs, but lost 10-6 at Chequamegon Monday to finish 7-5 in the league, a game behind the Rebels. Mosinee currently sits second in the GNLC at 7-4 but was unable to make up a game against Eagle River Tuesday. The teams could potentially reschedule for after this week's legion regional tournaments but if that game is not played, or if Mosinee loses to the last-place Eagles, Rhinelander would win the conference title outright.
Following a 25-15 loss at Medford on July 6, the Rebels sat at 4-4 in the GNLC, two games behind Mosinee and 1 1/2 behind Medford. Mosinee lost to Minocqua and Medford lost back-to-back conference games to Chequamegon and Mosinee, giving the Rebels a glimmer of hope.
Rhinelander entered last Wednesday's play needing to run the table over its final four conference games to earn a share of the crown. After a 7-3 win over Chequamegon, the Rebels went on the road and knocked off first-place Mosinee 8-3 Friday evening. All Rhinelander had to do was take care of Eagle River Monday.
The first game was anti-climatic enough. The Rebels scored five in the second and four in the third to take control and finished off the proceedings with a four-run fifth.
The only tense moments came in the second inning of Game 2 when the Eagles parlayed an error and a walk to start the inning into a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead.
Rhinelander tied the game with a run in the bottom of the inning and erased all doubt with an eight-run third.
"You're not going to hold Eagle River to nothing all night long," Huhnstock said, noting he was not particularly nervous went the Eagles took their lone lead of the night. "They're out there playing the game too and we made a couple mistakes. But, it was early in the game and I felt we should be able to overcome them. I would have been disappointed if we didn't overcome their early lead."
Tait Spencer tied Game 2, scoring on a wild pitch. The Rebels could have added more in the inning, but Cole Spaulding was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a Jacob DeMeyer flyout to left to end the inning.
Undeterred, Rhinelander used a patient approach at the plate to break the game open in the third. Seven of the first eight batters reached base, five of them walking. Brandon Hess and Tait Spencer, who each went 2-for-4 in the second game, hit back-to-back RBI singles to put the Rebels in front. The two then executed a double steal of second and home to make it a 5-2 cushion. Spencer scored after Easton Senoraske drew a bases-loaded walk. Spaulding scored on an error, Brad Comer singled home Owen White, Senoraske scored on a wild pitch and Brad Quade hit a double to plate Comer for the final run of the onslaught.
Neither team scored in the fourth or the fifth. Brandon Hess singled home Nick Spencer in the sixth and scored the game-clinching run on a two-out error.
"It was real business-like," Huhnstock said. "We just methodically kept on putting the runs on them - nothing fancy, just taking our walks, taking extra bases on passed balls, lot of hustle. It ended up giving us the margin of victory we ended up having."
Hess, Tait Spencer and Comer all has two hits in the contest. Hess worked six innings, scattering four hits, walking two and striking out four. Kurt Zuiker earned the win in Game 1, tossing a two-hit shutout over five innings. Like Hess in the second game, Zuiker helped his own cause in Game 1, going 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored.
Spaulding started the scoring for the Rebels in the first game, hitting a single to right that scored Nick Spencer in the second. Spaulding scored off a Senoraske sacrifice fly two batters later. Tyler Blomdahl added a two-run single and Hess was hit by a pitch to cap off a five-run frame.
Five straight batters reached with two outs in the third for the Rebels. Walks by Senoraske and Zuiker were followed by singles by Comer, Blomdahl and Quade as Rhinelander raced out to a 9-0 lead. Comer doubled home Zuiker in the fifth and scored on a wild pitch. Nick Spencer hit an RBI single to score Quade and Spaulding's grounder drove in White.
Zuiker, Comer, Blomdahl and Nick Spencer all had two hits in the first game as Rhinelander pounded out 11 hits in all.
Any thoughts of an Eagle River comeback were vanquished in the bottom of the inning - Eagle River served as the home team in Game 1 - when Senoraske fielded a sharply-hit ground ball to short and turned it into a game-ending double play.
"I thought we played very solid ball tonight overall," Huhnstock said. "We had good at-bats. We had good pitching and that's pretty much our motto ever since we've been on our little win streak. That's what we did tonight and that what we're going to need to continue to do as we go into the regional."
Regional play began Wednesday night at Athletic Park in Merrill. Antigo was the opponent. That game concluded after deadline. The regional was whittled to four teams earlier in the week due when Minocqua withdrew due to a lack of available players.
Rhinelander will face either Merrill or Eagle River Thursday, depending on Wednesday's results. The double-elimination tournament is scheduled to run through Saturday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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