June 27, 2016 at 1:45 p.m.
RSW rallies by Rebels 7-6
Down to final strike, Rhinelander can't close it out
RSW rallies by Rebels 7-6
Leading by two runs and one strike away from victory, the Rebels couldn't close the deal as Rothschild/Schofield/Weston Post 492 rallied for three runs to take a non-conference American Legion baseball contest 7-6 at Simon Field.
After a passed ball on 0-2 allowed Nate Jagodzinski to score, Matt Schmidt smacked a double over Owen White's head in left to tie the game and scored the winning run on a Sam Nielsen single.
"This one kind of hurts," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said after his team's six-game winning streak came to a sudden end.
Jagodzinski hit a leadoff single to get the rally going in the seventh and the Rebels pulled Brandon Hess in favor of Jacob DeMeyer. He induced a Andrew Baranowski pop out, gave up a single to Ben Bosi and got Brady Uekert to ground into a fielder's choice to put runners at first and third with two out for Schmidt. After getting ahead 0-2, DeMeyer tried to get Schmidt to chase a high fastball, but missed high and the pitch made its way to the backstop, allowing Jagodzinski to cross. Schmidt then turned around DeMeyer's next offering.
"It wasn't a real good pitch selection on him and (DeMeyer) left it hanging over the middle of the play and he put the ball in play," Huhnstock said.
Nielsen was also behind in the count 0-2 when he went the other way for a base hit to right. Schmidt beat out Brad Quade's throw, which was up the line.
"We played better ball than they did the whole game, but we also made too many mistakes - and it wasn't all just errors, physical errors," Huhnstock said. "It was a lot of mental stuff - poor pitch selection, watching third strikes, base running blunders - those kinds of mistakes hurt just as bas as the actual physical errors."
The Rebels should have had two runs in and the top of the order up in the second after a Jordan Steinagel error on a DeMeyer grounder to third allowed Hess and Owen White to cross, but White was called out on appeal for missing third base to end the inning. Tait Spencer gave Rhinelander a 4-0 lead on a two-run single in the fourth, but was thrown out trying to take second following a play at the plate.
RSW rallied for three in the bottom of the inning with three straight hits off starter Easton Senoraske. John Breske singled home Uekert and Steinagel brought home Breske on a fielder's choice. Two errors by Hess at shortstop in the inning allowed Nielsen to cross and cut the lead ot a run.
Quade singled to score Kurt Zuiker - who went 3-for-4 in the contest - in the Rhinelander fifth. RSW answered in the sixth as Tanner Cywinski walked, took second on a wild pitch and scored on a Steinagel single. Brad Comer hit a sacrifice fly to score Zuiker in the seventh to put the Rebels ahead 6-4.
Steinagel earned the win for RSW, pitching three innings of relief. He allowed two unearned runs on three hits and struck out three - all looking.
Senoraske worked four innings in a no decision for the Rebels, allowing eight hits in a 63-pitch effort.
"We're going to get him stretched out here," Huhnstock said of the senior-to-be pitcher. "He's going to be a very important pitcher here for us down the road this year and next year for the high school season. He didn't throw a whole lot of innings in the spring so we're going to get him stretched out."
Quade and White each recorded two hits for the Rebels. Hess and Spencer had the others.
"I think Tait Spencer played one of his more focused and best games of the year, other than one at-bat, both in the field and at the plate," Huhnstock noted. "Hopefully he can take that positive and run with it the rest of the season."
The Rebels hopped back into Great Northern Legion Conference play Monday night against Mosinee in a game that concluded after deadline. Rhinelander travels to Minocqua Wednesday and concludes the week Friday at Tomahawk.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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