July 18, 2018 at 1:00 p.m.
Baraboo or bust for Rebels
Post 7 has sights on state tourney but Antigo headlines list of familiar foes in regional tournament
Baraboo or bust for Rebels
Antigo headlines a four-team Class AA regional that gets underway tomorrow at Stafford Field and the Rebels won't have to wait long to see how they stack up against last year's regional champs and state runners-up. Rhinelander and Antigo will play tomorrow night in the first round of the double elimination tournament, a rematch of last year's regional title game won by Antigo 14-13.
"In order to be the best, you've got to beat the best and that's the challenge that we have in front of us," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said following Sunday's 7-1 win at Clintonville that ran Rhinelander's record to 17-1 on the season.
The one loss on Rhinelander's resume came July 7 in Merrill when it fell to defending AA state champion Holmen 10-4 in an error-plagued affair.
The offensive woes that haunted the Rhinelander High School baseball team down the stretch appear to be a thing of the past. The Rebels hit a conference-best .403 during the Great Northern Legion Conference season, while scoring 10 runs a game.
Though there will be five days between Rhinelander's regular season finale and the start of the regional, Huhnstock said he has a plan to keep Rhinelander's bats going.
"We'll get together on Thursday and have a nice practice," he said. "The senior leadership just gave the rest of the guys an ultimatum to be down at the cage at 3:30 every day to get some hitting in on their own and just take it from there."
Shawano and Northwoods make up a regional field that's smaller than last year's six-team affair. Merrill bumped up to AAA this season and Minocqua folded its team for the 2018 season, trimming the field by a third.
Shawano and Northwoods will tangle in Friday's first game and either one of those teams has the ability to play the role of spoiler. Shawano beat both Rhinelander and Antigo in last year's regional before settling for third place. Despite a 1-9 conference record, Northwoods had one-run losses this summer to Rhinelander, Medford and Mosinee - three of the top four teams in the GNLC standings.
"Northwoods is a very improved team. Any given night they can beat anybody," Huhnstock said. "Shawano is a very solid team and, of course, we have the history with Antigo. We know what they're all about. It's a very solid four-team region."
The path to the championship game would be made much easier by winning Friday night. The two losers from Friday night will open play on Saturday in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Friday night's winners will play at 4:30 on Saturday. The winner advances through to the championship game while the loser will go right back on the diamond to play the winner of Saturday's first game in another elimination contest.
The championship game(s) will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Huhnstock believes Rhinelander's squad is good enough to make it to Sunday's final round, and through to the state tournament which will be held July 27-31 in Baraboo.
"Playing the kind of ball we've been playing all summer, if we can stay consistent with what we do, we can play with anybody in the state," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.