July 5, 2017 at 3:08 p.m.
Offense carries Rebels past Northwoods
Offense carries Rebels past Northwoods
Jacob DeMeyer pounded out four hits and Tyler Blomdahl hit a home run as Rhinelander scored early and often in a 16-8 win over Northwoods at Northland Pines High School.
It turned out the Rebels needed all of those runs. After jumping out to an 11-2 lead through 4 1/2 innings, Rhinelander surrendered four in the fifth and two more in the sixth to make it a three-run game.
The Rebels (8-2, 6-2 GNLC) batted around in a five-run seventh to give themselves some extra breathing room.
While Rhinelander's offense was sharp, pounding out 16 runs on 16 hits, other aspects of the game were not.
The Rebels committed three errors in the game and gave up a couple of runs on a wild pitch and a passed ball.
"We won in spite of ourselves tonight," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "We made plenty of mistakes - both mental and physical errors. But, a win's a win. That's all you can say. We did battle back. We had a bunch of good at-bats and put a bunch of runs on the board. We needed them."
Dormant through the first three innings, Northwoods' offense came to life in the fourth. Brandon Moravec singled home a run and Nick Edwards wiggled out of a botched rundown attempt at third later in the inning after an Andrew Gill single to cut the lead to 7-2.
After a four-run Rebel fifth, the Eagles answered with a four-spot of their own in the bottom of the inning. Brad Sowinski led off with a triple and scored on Joseph Peterselli's single to right. Spencer Huettl and Tucker Wittkopf both walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch and a passed ball, respectively. Peterselli later scored on a groundout by Moravec.
Rhinelander was held scoreless for the only time in the sixth inning and the Eagles scored twice more to make things interesting. Sowinski and Huettl hit back-to-back singles with two outs to account for a run. Huettl came around on a error off the bat of Wittkoff to trim the gap to 11-8.
"I don't think we let off," Huhnstock said when asked if his team let its guard down after building a big lead against the last-place Eagles (1-7, 1-7 GNLC). "I think they just made some plays and we made some errors. They put the bat on the ball, put some balls in play and we threw in a couple walks again and a couple of errors. They're a ball team. They're going to score runs if you give them opportunity."
The Rebels finally woke up, or at least their bats did, in the top of the seventh. DeMeyer finished off a string of three straight hits with a double that plated Tait Spencer and Easton Senoraske. An error allowed DeMeyer to score following a Brad Quade single and Blomdahl leveled the final blow with a two-run shot to left center.
The offense carried Rhinelander throughout the night. DeMeyer had four hits, a pair of doubles and five RBIs. Brad Comer drove in three, including a two-run single that gave Rhinelander a 6-0 lead in the fourth. Quade and Brandon Hess each had three-hit nights whils Senoraske and Blomdahl both added a pair of hits.
"We had a bunch of good production throughout the order," Huhnstock said. "Brandon Hess comes through with three hits tonight. Tait had a nice hit it the left side, a real good at bat where he took a curveball the opposite way. We had good at-bats and we scored a bunch of runs because of those good at bats."
Comer started and pitched five innings to get the win. He allowed six runs, three earned, on six hits with nine strikeouts. DeMeyer struck out four in two innings of relief to close out the game.
Huettl allowed four runs on five hits over three innings, but the Rebels did most of their damage off reliever Josh Meier who surrendered 12 runs on 11 hits over the final four innings.
The Rebels travel to Chequamegon Wednesday night in a game that concluded after deadline. Rhinelander will take part in the Merrill Invitational beginning Friday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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