July 7, 2022 at 9:08 a.m.
Schneider tosses no-hitter as Rebels sweep Cubs
Schneider tosses no-hitter as Rebels sweep Cubs
Schneider faced one batter over the minimum and struck out 13 in a five-inning no-hitter as the Rhinelander Rebels defeated the Tomahawk Cubs 12-0 in the first game of a doubleheader at Kahle Field. The Rebels used a seven-strikeout effort from Max Ratty to take the nightcap, 8-1.
Rhinelander moved to 6-0 in the Great Northern Legion Conference and clinched a share of the conference title with the victories.
"Big picture, that was one of our goals," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "Not our ultimate goal, but that was one of our goals was to win conference. That set us up in the catbird seat for that."
Conference title or not, the story of Friday night was Schneider, who was simply untouchable for the Tomahawk lineup. After walking Tyler Jablonski to lead off the second inning, Schneider mowed down the final 12 batters he faced all via the strikeout. Half of them went down looking between Schneider's overpowering fastball and pin-point accurate curve.
"That's the best I've seen Joe throw, command-wise, in a long, long time," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "He's been working his way back off his knee surgery. Tonight, if nothing else, really has to bolster his confidence going forward."
"He had great command of his pitches and he was throwing hard, but he was throwing within himself."
There also wasn't a ton of pressure, as Rhinelander jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and kept adding to it in subsequent innings. The Rebels pounded out 16 hits in the game and six different players had multiple hits as Rhinelander never looked back.
"It was a good effort up and down the lineup and it was nice we were able to go deep into our bench and get good, quality innings for a number of kids," Huhnstock noted.
Isaac Bixby and Ryan Jamison led off with singles to start the first inning. Sam Schneider delivered the first run on an RBI single. Jamison and Schneider both scored when Ratty reached on an error to short.
Joe Schneider helped his own cause with a two-run single in the second and AJ Turek drove in a pair in the third to make it 7-0. Turek added another RBI with a bases-loaded walk in the fourth. Cody Everson followed with a pinch-hit two-run single and the Schneider brothers hit back-to-back RBI singles with two out to give Rhinelander a 12-0 lead.
Jamison and Devyn Orth both had three hits in the game while Joe Schneider and Turek each had two hits and drove in three runs.
Rhinelander served as the home team for Game 2, which was scheduled for five innings by mutual agreement of both teams. The Rebels took the lead for good, scoring four runs in the bottom of the second without the aid of a hit.
Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases with nobody out for Owen Kurtz, who produced a run-scoring fielder's choice. Bixby was hit by a pitch to reload the bases before Jamison drew an RBI walk. Joe Schneider then hit a sacrifice fly to center before Bixby stole third and scored on a throwing error to make it 5-1.
Adrian Patrone had a sacrifice fly and Tyler Morrison had an RBI single to make it 7-1 in the third. Jamison singled and scored off a throwing error in the fourth.
Rhinelander was aggressive on the base paths all night, finishing the doubleheader 13 of 14 in stolen base attempts.
"We were aggressive on the bases, forced the issue a little bit. That way when we did get a hit, it scored runs. We tried getting runners into scoring position as often as possible," Huhnstock said.
Rhinelander led 1-0 after one as Bixby walked and scored on a Ratty groundout. The Cubs came back to tie it off Ratty in the second as Jacob Towle hit a two-run single to plate Payton Bunce.
Ratty settled in from there. After a leadoff hit to Brady Marten in the third, the junior-to-be retired the final nine batters he faced to get his first win of the summer. He struck out seven, scattered four hits and walked only one over five innings.
"A little rust to start with and then he got dialed in an he was throwing very well," Huhnstock said. "Once he got dialed in again, it was a very good effort from him. I'm looking forward to a lot more of that from him."
Rhinelander picked up a non-conference game against Crandon at home Wednesday that concluded after deadline for today's edition. Huhnstock said he planned to treat that as a bullpen game to get several arms some work ahead of this weekend's Merrill Invite, which begins this afternoon.
The Rebels (12-1, 6-0 GNLC) face Everest today at 5 p.m., looking to avenge their lone loss of the summer thus far. Tomorrow Rhinelander takes on Holmen in the battle of the top two teams in the Wisconsin Legion Baseball Class AA state rankings. Holmen remained No. 1 when the newest rankings came out Monday. Rhinelander moved up one spot to No. 2 after beating previously-fourth-ranked Medford twice last week. Medford dropped one spot to No. 5.
The Rebels will also face Merrill tomorrow evening before playing a placement game on Sunday.
"The Merrill tournament always is excellent competition," Huhnstock said. "It's a fun place to play ball. We really like going down there and competing and there's good teams down there. Obviously, the No. 1 ranked team in the state will be down there. We do get to play them, so we'll see if we're worth our ranking."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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