June 15, 2018 at 12:46 p.m.
Rebels rally in the sixth, beat Northwoods 3-2
Rebels rally in the sixth, beat Northwoods 3-2
The Eagles nearly delivered.
Rhinelander scored twice in the sixth inning and the Rebel pitching staff combined to strike out 15 batters to defeat Northwoods 3-2 at Northland Pines High School.
The Eagles - with players from Northland Pines, Three Lakes and Crandon high schools - got a strong six-inning performance on the mound from Josh Meier, committed no errors defensively and kept the Rebels on the ropes until late in the game.
"We made the plays, got the clutch hits and made the plays when we needed to make them," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "Their pitcher, Meier, threw a heck of a game against us, kept us off balance. They made all their routine plays and I think we made just about all of ours."
The Rebels got what proved to be the winning rally going in the sixth with a one-out single by Brad Quade past second base. Quade stole second and came around to tie the game on an RBI single to right by Bryce Schickert.
Two batters later, the Rebels got a stroke of good fortune when Abe Laggis hit a sharp ground ball between first and second that Northwoods first baseman Nick Edwards deflected with his glove on a diving attempt but could not snag. Schickert came around from second to score on the infield hit.
"It was just what we needed right there at that time, to put together a little run and score them two," Huhnstock said.
Schickert shut down Northwoods from there, pitching two perfect innings with four strikeouts to earn the save. Brad Comer (1-0) got the win in relief, tossing three innings of one-hit ball with six strikeouts. Jacob DeMeyer started and allowed a run on two hits and fanned five over two innings.
"The pitchers did a whale of a job and I expect that they will, because they are all three very good pitchers," Huhnstock said. "They could all be No. 1s on a lot of teams."
The short pitching outings were by design for the Rebels. All three hurlers stayed under 45 pitches, which made them all eligible to pitch again Friday when the three-day Rebel Invite was scheduled to begin at Stafford Field.
"It was going to be a bullpen game," Huhnstock said. "We would have liked to have had a little more of a cushion and ran a few more guys in there, but we got accomplished what we needed to."
The Hodag pitchers walked only two batters in the contest, but Northwoods was able to score on both occasions. Stetson Flannery singled home Nate Hopkins to tie the game 1-1 in the second inning. The Eagles took the lead an inning later when Brad Sowinski and Zach Ciran executed a double-steal of home and second.
Rhinelander's lone run through the first five innings came in the second on an RBI double by Jacob Dreifuerst that scored Quade.
Though not the offensive production the Rebels had in the GNLC opener at Tomahawk last Friday, when they pounded out 19 runs on 19 hits, they had eight hits on Wednesday night by seven different players. Quade led the way with a 2-for-2 effort at the dish.
"We need everybody in our line up to contribute," Huhnstock said. "In Tomahawk everybody did. Here tonight different guys picked their spots and came up clutch."
Meier allowed all eight hits and struck out six over six innings of work for Northwoods. Ciran pitched a perfect seventh for the Eagles.
Rhinelander is home this weekend for its home invite. The team was scheduled to take on Clintonville last night to open the tournament, though a rainy forecast put that game in jeopardy.
The Hodags will host Tomahawk and Chequamegon today and conclude the tournament tomorrow.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.