July 8, 2019 at 2:23 p.m.
Rebels split games at Merrill Invite
Medford earns chance to share GNLC after beating Rhinelander 1-0 Friday
Rebels split games at Merrill Invite
Rhinelander lost a chance to clinch the Great Northern Legion Conference outright, getting no-hit by Medford's John McMurry in a 1-0 pitchers' duel Friday night during the Merrill Invitational at Athletic Park.
Rhinelander ended up 2-2 overall in the tournament. The Rebels split Saturday's game, edging host Merrill 3-2 before falling 7-0 to Holmen. On Sunday, the Rebels needed extra innings to get past Madison, 9-8.
"This tournament, like I've always said, kind of raises the bar," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "There's good teams, good pitching down there. This tournament, it's held up to be exactly that."
Medford 1, Rhinelander 0
The Rebels saw strong pitching right out of the gate Friday night against Medford as a two-out walk to Jacob Driefuerst in the fifth was the only base runner McMurry allowed in a seven-strikeout gem.
Bryce Schickert pitched nearly as well for the Rebels, but surrendered three hits in the seventh - the last a walkoff double by Ray Zirngible for the game's lone run.
"That was a terrific game on both sides, very well-pitched, as well-pitched of a game as you'll see anywhere," Huhnstock said.
Schickert worked out of a self-inflicted jam in the sixth inning after walking the bases loaded by getting Jon Laher to pop out for the final out, but the 37-pitch inning seemed to take a toll on the Hodag lefty. Blaine Seidl started the seventh inning rally with a single to left before Aiden Gardner hit an infield single to third. After getting Seth Mudgett to ground into a fielder's choice, Zirngible blasted a shot deep to left center for the game-winner.
Schickert allowed a run on four hits with four walks and two strikeouts in defeat.
"Either way, he pitched a whale of a game, deserved to win," Huhnstock said of Schickert, who would have been done on the mound regardless of the outcome of the Zirngible at-bat after reaching the maximum 105-pitch threshold. "We have to put hits on the board and crooked numbers on the board one way or another to give him some run support."
It wasn't for a lack of trying. Martin Hoger in particular had three hard-hit balls that didn't get through. After lining out to second in the first and to left in the fourth, Hoger hit a sharp grounder down the line at third that Seidl stopped with a diving stab before making the long throw across the diamond for the putout.
"We had a bunch of hard-hit balls. We had some exceptional defensive plays but got the short end of the stick today," Huhnstock said.
The win moved Medford to 6-1 in the GNLC, a half game behind Rhinelander for first in the standings. Medford would share the GNLC title with the Rebels if they win at Minocqua Wednesday.
Rhinelander 3, Merrill 2
The Rebels didn't get a ton of offense, but got enough to win the second game of the tournament.
Quinn Lamers walked and scored what proved to be the game-winning run in the sixth as the Rebels edged Merrill Post 46 3-2.
Lamers drew a one-out walk off Payton Becker and advanced on a base hit by Joe Schneider. Lamers came around as Isaac Bixby reached on an error at third.
The Rebels scored twice in the first inning. Abe Laggis singled and scored when Josh Randolph reached on an error. Liam Stevens hit an RBI grounder to score Hoger.
Becker doubled and scored off Piersen Pyan's base hit in the top of the first and Merrill tied it in the second as Jayden Sus walked and scored on Alex Gehrke's two-out double.
That was all starter Walker Hartman would allow for the Rebels. Bouncing back after lasting only two-plus innings last Wednesday at Northwoods, Hartman went 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision. He gave up three hits with six walks and three strikeouts. Stevens worked the final 1 1/3 innings to get the win, working around a Becker one-out double in the seventh.
"Walker threw a very nice game for us and Liam came in and finished it off. We did just enough to win," Huhnstock said. "It was a very well-played game by both teams and we were lucky to get out with a win there."
Holmen 7, Rhinelander 0
Holmen hit Randolph hard in the Rebels' third game of the tournament, collecting seven runs on eight hits over five innings, which was the difference in Saturday afternoon's contest.
Holmen tagged Randolph for two runs right away in the first inning, he allowed three more runs in the fourth and two in the fifth. Rhinelander's defense committed four errors, but none of those mistakes led to a Holmen run.
"They had a good-hitting ball club and we gave them too many outs a couple innings there," Huhnstock said. "A good-hitting ball club and you give them extra outs in an inning, that's a combination for losing baseball."
Just as was the case against Medford, Rhinelander struggled to find holes against Dylan Wescott and the Holmen defense. The Rebels tallied only four hits and never advanced a runner beyond second base.
"We had some decent hit balls but they weren't falling," Huhnstock said. "They were playing us fairly shallow and taking away a lot of potential base hits. We did nothing to force them to give us a little more respect and play deeper."
Hartman, Laggis, Hoger and Randolph had the hits in defeat for Rhinelander.
With Randolph out of pitches after five innings, Huhnstock went to the bullpen and brought in Teagan Guckenberg for his first pitching appearance of the summer. The righty retired Holmen in order in the sixth.
"It was nice to see him back on the mound and throwing strikes," Huhnstock said. "We made some plays behind him. He's going have to throw in the future so we might as well get him out there and see what he can do."
Rhinelander 9, Madison 8, 8 innings
After blowing a 5-0 lead, the Rebels had to fight back in both the seventh and eighth innings to defeat a pesky Madison team 9-8 Sunday in the final game of the tournament.
Guckenberg scored the game-tying run in the seventh on a wild pitch and the Rebels won it in the eighth on Hoger's walkoff double.
"It just showed what kind of character our team has," Huhnstock said. "There was some adversity. I thought we should have put that team away early when we had them on the ropes. They're a good team. They fought back and it took everything we had to fight back and beat them."
Down 5-0 after four innings, Madison chipped away with two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to chase Hoger off the mound. Stevens walked the first two batters of the seventh before giving way to Quinn Lamers. Following a sacrifice bunt that got runners to second and third, Jack Haufle hit a grounder to first that got by Jacob Dreifuerst and allowed both runs to score to tie the game. After Jaden Nix reached on a fielder's choice, Carson Tomony hit a double to left center that put the Moose ahead.
Guckenberg doubled to lead off the Rebels' half of the seventh, went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Laggis and scored on a wild pitch moments later.
RBI doubles by Connor Handel and Bryce Beecher put Madison ahead 8-6 in the eighth before the Rebels rallied back. Lamers started the charge with a one-out single up the middle and was safe at second when Madison botched a throw on Isaac Bixby's grounder to first. Guckenberg walked to load the bases and chase Handel from the mound.
Laggis greeted new pitcher Trenton Herber with a single to right to score Lamers. With the outfield playing shallow in an effort to cut down the tying run, Hoger launched a 1-1 fastball over the head of the left fielder to win the game.
"Good, quality at-bats and good hustle, that's what it boiled down to. We really pushed the pitch count, took strikes and got the pitcher who was baffling us out of the game," Huhnstock said.
The Rebels seemed in control early, scoring three in the first inning and two in the second but the team stranded multiple base runners in every inning - 17 overall for the contest.
"We should have won that game going away early in the game. That's where we let them back in the game. A couple of clutch hits early, we're not talking about extra innings," Huhnstock said.
Lamers got the win in relief, despite allowing three runs on four hits in two innings. Hoger struck out seven and allowed three runs on seven hits in a six-inning no decision.
Up next
The Rebels close out regular season play with a trio of non-conference games this week. Rhinelander heads to Tomahawk to take on the Cubs Wednesday evening in a rematch of a rain-shortened contest won by the Rebels 8-0 back on June 24. Rhinelander's final home game of the summer takes place Thursday against Merrill and the Rebels close out the regular season this Sunday at Clintonville.
Regional play begins July 19 as Rhinelander takes on Pulaski in Antigo.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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