July 28, 2017 at 12:24 p.m.
Championship capper
Rebels sweep Medford to clinch GNLC title, 20-win season
Championship capper
Rhinelander took any drama out of the Great Northern Legion Conference race, routing a depleted Medford squad 12-0 and 19-0 in a doubleheader at Stafford Field. Rhinelander entered the night tied with Mosinee and needed to win both games to secure a second straight conference crown.
That proved to be a nice consolation prize for the Rebels, who would not have played the games, and would have been playing at the AA State Tournament in Merrill Wednesday, if they had not lost the regional championship game to Antigo 14-13 last Saturday.
"We'd definitely rather be playing down in the state tournament," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "But winning the conference two years in a row is something to be very proud of for the program, definitely something that was one of our goals at the beginning of our Legion season."
The games themselves were pretty one-sided. Jacob DeMeyer pitched a five-inning no-hitter in Game 1. Matt Rudolph tossed a seven-hit shutout in the second game and the Rebels generated plenty of offense, scoring in all but one of the 10 innings played Wednesday.
"Both pitchers did an excellent job for us tonight," Huhnstock said. "We brought the bats and took care of our business. I'm really glad we didn't have a letdown after the Antigo game. We came here and we played ball."
The Rebels scored two runs following a dropped two-out fly ball in the first inning of Game 1 and then blasted Medford for seven runs in the second, keyed by back-to-back two-run doubles by Easton Senoraske and DeMeyer. Senoraske added a two-run single in the fourth, capping off a four-RBI performance.
Senoraske, Kurt Zuiker and Tyler Blomdahl each had two hits in Game 1 while DeMeyer walked three and struck out seven over five innings of work.
The Rebels kept hitting in the second game with Brad Quade sparking a two-out rally with an RBI single up the middle in the first. Josh Randolph followed with a two-run single to put Rhinelander ahead 3-0. The Rebels proceeded to tack on a run in the second, five in the third, three in the fourth and seven in the fifth.
Senoraske and Randolph each had three hits in the nightcap, as Rhinelander collected 19 hits in all off Medford hurlers Trenton Woebbeking and Bryant Konieczny. DeMeyer, Comer, Zuiker and Tait Spencer had two hits each.
Rudolph added an RBI double, helping his own cause as part of the Rebels' big fifth inning. Before that, he wiggled out of games in each of the first four innings to keep Medford off the board. He struck out Austin Davies to end the first with runners at the corner, got out of a second-and-third, one-out spot in the second, worked around two, two-out base hits in the third and got a double play ball to end the fourth with runners at the corners.
Rhinelander finishes the summer 20-5.
"The team came together and matured as a team together," Huhnstock said. "I would take our team up against any team in the state and I know we'd give them a dogfight. We still remember (the loss to Antigo) last Saturday night but it is definitely nice to have the kids go out and win the last game, for some of them their career; for others their season. It's always great to finish a season on a winning note."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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