July 8, 2021 at 8:28 a.m.
Rebels trip up against Tomahawk
Rebels trip up against Tomahawk
Though the Rebels snapped out of their funk in time last Friday night at Northwoods, they were not so lucky Monday night at home against Tomahawk.
The winless Cubs handed the undefeated Rebels their first loss of the season, taking advantage of a myriad of Rhinelander errors to jump out to an early six-run lead and hold on for a 7-6 win Monday at Stafford Field.
The result came following a 3-1 win for Rhinelander which struggled offensively against Northwoods ace Mitch McCanles last Friday night.
The good news for Rhinelander is it has done enough to secure a first-round bye for next week's Great Northern Legion Conference tournament. The bad news is that the team will need to break out of its recent funk to have a chance to win it.
That certainly was evident on Monday as the Rebels committed seven errors defensively and made a couple of key outs on the base paths. Rhinelander had five errors in the first two innings alone as the Cubs raced out to a 7-1 lead.
"We made our fair share of mistakes and were not ready to play this game. It showed right from the get-go," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "Overall, it was a bad team effort. It was a little bit of everybody. We have up five or six unearned runs in the first inning. We had base running mistakes. We had missed signs. We had other errors. It was just a very long night."
Ultimately, a six-run first inning for the Cubs was enough to do in Rhinelander as things went south quickly for Walker Hartman - making his first varsity-level pitching appearance in nearly two full years.
Hartman got the first two batters of the first, but following a Nick Kahle single, Garrett Nelson and Payton Bunch both walked to load the bases. That's where the defensive troubles started.
Marcus Matti's infield hit plated a run. Then a throwing error by Quinn Lamers at short off a Brady Marten grounder brought in two more runs. A wild pitch scored Matti before the inning continued on a ground ball by Brayden Jones that was misplayed by Caleb Shefveland at first.
Tyler Jablonski singled home Marten after that and another error at short allowed Jones to score and give Tomahawk at 6-0 lead.
Tomahawk got one more unearned run in the second as Kahle reached on a throwing error by Devyn Orth and then scored on a two-out bases-loaded walk drawn by Jones after Shefveland dropped what would have been an inning-ending pop out in foul territory earlier in the at-bat.
The walk - Hartman's third in only 1 2/3 innings - ended his time on the mound. He allowed seven runs, but only one earned.
"We've got to make plays behind him. I don't think he threw that bad, but we've got to make plays behind whoever's pitching," Huhnstock said. "We should have got out of the inning in a lot better shape that we did. It's just unfortunate that that's the way some nights go."
While Ryan Jamison put out the fire on the mound, pitching 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, the Hodag offense floundered. Lamers led off the bottom of the first with a triple and scored on Joe Schneider's ground out, but the Rebels weren't able to score again until mounting a last-ditch effort in the seventh.
The first four batters of the inning reached, capped off by Ian Miller's two-round double that appeared to get lost in the lights in center field. Tomahawk brought Kahle into pitch after that and he struck out Tim Fox and Jamison. Jacksen Smith walked to extend the game and Orth hit a two-run single to make it 7-6. He then stole second to get into scoring position as the tying run, but Logan Schmoeger struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.
"We did stabilize ourselves but never really going offensively until the very last inning and we came up one short," Huhnstock said.
Rhinelander stranded nine in the contest and let a few other strong scoring chances slip away. Joe Schneider got to third with nobody out in the third, but was unable to tag and score on a Miller fly ball to center. He wound up stranded after Jamison flew out to end the inning. Schneider was then thrown out trying to stretch a leadoff double into a triple in the fifth. The Hodags would get two aboard via walks later in the inning but Jamison hit a hard line out to third to end the threat.
After singling to lead off the sixth, Smith was doubled off first base following a diving catch in center field off a fly ball by Isaac Bixby to end the inning.
"We should win this game most of the time," Huhnstock said. "Hindsight, you can always say maybe you could of did this, could have done that but, basically, we just need to make all the routine plays in the field and we're going to win this game."
Rhinelander 3, Northwoods 1
The main difference between Monday night and Friday night is the Rebels had stronger pitching and defense. Lamers and Orth combined to toss a one-hitter and the Hodags had only two errors in a 3-1 victory over the Eagles in Eagle River.
Joe Schneider had three hits and drove in two on key RBI singles in the fifth and seventh innings. He also scored on a passed ball in the fifth, which was just enough offense for the Rebels to secure the win.
"We had to claw, fight and scratch for everything we got," Huhnstock said. "We played a very clean game, defensively. Quinn threw exceptional and we were lucky to come out with a win."
After Bixby reached on an error to lead off the fifth, Schneider broke a scoreless deadlock with a two-out single to right, that turned into a three-base play after the ball was misplayed in the outfield.
In the seventh, after Smith drew a pinch-hit walk, Schneider delivered again with a two-out, two-strike base hit to right.
"Joe is a very good two-strike hitter," Huhnstock said. "He's been doing that all spring. He has the ability to take a pitcher deep in the count, get a pitch and work with it."
That was enough run support for the Hodag pitching staff. Lamers, who struck out 10 in the game, took a perfect game into the fourth until misjudging and dropping a two-out pop-up. Lamers still had a no-hitter going until the sixth when Sam Johnson singled to lead off the inning. After stealing second, Johnson scored Northwoods' lone run on a groundout by Matt Szafranski.
That was all Lamers allowed the Eagles' offense.
"He had excellent command of his curveball early, got a lot of strikeouts with that and just kept them off balance," Huhnstock said.
Orth worked around an error and a one-out walk in the seventh to earn the save as Aiden Lifschutz grounded into a game-ending double play.
Merrill tournament ahead
Rhinelander is set to play four games this weekend in the Merrill Invite. The Rebels were scheduled to face Medford tonight to kick off the tournament, but Medford backed out of the event due to a scheduling conflict. Who Rhinelander will play in Medford's place, and what impact it would have on the GNLC standings, had not been determined as of press time for today's edition. Rhinelander and Medford both sat at 3-1 in GNLC play following Monday's games.
Holmen, Everest and Merrill are the other teams slated to take part in this weekend's tournament.
"It's always what I like to call a raise-the-bar tournament, seeing some quality teams from out of the area," Huhnstock said. "We'll be using up a lot of pitching this weekend. In fact, I'm sure we'll use up every bit of pitching that we have."
Bixby named Legion All-Star
Huhnstock informed the team last Friday that Isaac Bixby has been nominated and selected to play in the 49th annual Wisconsin American Legion Baseball All-Star Game that will be held Sunday, Aug. 8 at American Family Insurance Field in Milwaukee.
Bixby has made only one pitching appearance for the Rebels this summer, tossing a complete-game one-hitter against Minocqua June 30, but was 7-1 this spring for the Rhinelander High School baseball team with a 1.67 ERA with 65 strikeouts and only 12 walks over 56 1/3 innings.
"It's something that is very well-earned," Huhnstock said. "He's getting recognition for all his hard work. He has really put in a lot of effort in the last couple of years and made himself into an excellent ball player. I'm sure him and his family will have a great time down there."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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