July 18, 2022 at 9:37 a.m.
Rebels sweep 89ers, finish unbeaten in GNLC
Rebels sweep 89ers, finish unbeaten in GNLC
Rhinelander scored eight runs with two outs in the sixth inning Wednesday to blow open a close game and defeat the 89ers 10-0 in Minocqua. A five-run third inning Friday night was just enough cushion for the Rebels to finish the sweep of the 89ers with a 10-5 victory at Stafford Field.
Rhinelander went 8-0 in the GNLC and was 17-3 overall pending Sunday night's regular season finale at Clintonville, which concluded after deadline.
"That was a very nice way to end the conference season, going undefeated," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "It was one of our goals we set at the beginning of the year. We got that taken care of."
Now Rhinelander is gearing up for the postseason as Class AA Region 2 play begins Friday night in Merrill. The Rebels have finished second in the regional in each of the last three seasons and are still looking for their first trip to the state tournament since 2012.
"They're hungry. They're ready. They're very confident," Huhnstock said. "They're hungry and they want to make a trip to the state tournament this year. They're playing good ball at the right time of the year. I think we're in good shape, but we still have to go out and execute because the other teams want it too."
Rebels 10, Minocqua 0
Ryan Jamison had a monster game for the Rebels with two home runs and four RBIs, but the complexion of Wednesday's contest turned completely following one mistake in the sixth inning.
Cody Everson reached base on a dropped third strike with two outs in the inning and the Rebels poured it on from there en route to a 10-0 victory.
Everson chased a 3-2 breaking ball that hit the dirt, went through catcher Brandon Zajac's legs and to the backstop. Jamison scored on the passed ball and the Rebels teed off from there. Devyn Orth singled to load the bases before a two-run infield hit by Jacksen Smith.
A double steal by Smith and Orth allowed Orth to score from third. Smith scored on a throwing error after AJ Turek reached on an infield hit to short. Isaac Bixby kept the inning alive, reaching on an error before Jamison delivered the coup de grâce, a three-run blast to left center that gave Rhinelander a 9-0 lead.
"We really took advantage of a small opening and blew the game wide open there," Huhnstock said. "Their pitcher was on his game and so was ours. It had the all the makings of a 1-0 game."
Until the offensive explosion in sixth the game's lone run was a Jamison solo shot to left in the first. The Rhinelander senior had a big game with three hits at the plate. He also pitched five shutout innings at the plate with eight strikeouts and helped preserve the shutout with a stellar defensive play in the sixth.
Jamison, playing his first inning of the summer in center field, fired a strike to the plate to cut down Danny Gahler trying to score on a James McCormack fly out to end the sixth inning.
"Ryan is an excellent, all-around ball player and he can play any position on the field," Huhnstock said. "He's been great for us in the infield, but if we need him to go out and play outfield, we have guys that can play anywhere."
Rhinelander tacked on one more insurance run in the seventh as Sam Schneider singled and came around on a double by Everson.
Smith pitched the final two innings for Rhinelander to preserve the shutout. He struck out the side in the seventh, working around a walk and an error.
"That's kind of what our game plan was, to get Jacksen some innings tonight," Huhnstock said. "We are constantly looking to keep our pitching staff a little bit rested and everybody getting some throwing in because once we get into tournament time, we're gonna need it."
Rebels 10, Minocqua 5
The Rebels went with the same pitching philosophy on Friday night, and it nearly came back to bite them. Minocqua scored four times after a pitching change in the fifth inning to get to within two runs before Orth put to the fire and earned a save in a 10-5 victory.
Bixby allowed one run on three hits over four innings and the Rebels were comfortable ahead 7-1 when the team went to the pen for Ridderbusch, who had been touched up in his only other pitching outing of the summer, walking four batters in an inning in an 11-3 loss to Everest June 18.
Things didn't go much better this time around as he plunked Leonard Chosa with his first pitch. After striking out Zajac, Ridderbusch loaded the bases with a single to Gahler, a RBI single to Zach Seehafer and a walk to Landyn Hoeft.
Rhinelander threw the ball around on the next pitch, trying to pick Gahler off third. Two runs crossed on a pair of throwing errors and the Rebels went to Orth with the lead down to 7-4.
Will Fortier greeted Orth with a RBI double to left on his first pitch, but Fortier was cut down after over-running second base and Ridderbusch, back in center field, made a ranging play on a McCormack fly ball to get the Rebels out of the inning.
"We gave up a few more runs tonight than would have liked to have, but that's part of baseball. You give another team extra outs and they're going to make things interesting," Huhnstock said.
Joe Schneider steadied the ship for Rhinelander with a bases-loaded two-run single with two out in the bottom of the fifth to make it 9-4 and the Rebels tacked on one more in the sixth as Everson doubled and came around on a sacrifice fly by Orth.
Rhinelander took advantage of a couple of Minocqua mistakes to get out to an early lead. Bixby and Joe Schneider both reached on errors and scored on sacrifice flies by Jamison and Sam Schneider. The Rebels appeared to blow the game open with a five-run fifth inning. Owen Kurtz had an infield hit to bring in Joe Schneider. After a Ridderbusch single, Orth drove in a run with a base knock, Adrian Patrone added a two-run single and Turek dropped down a sacrifice bunt that allowed Orth to score from third.
"We battled all night at the plate, had a lot of good at-bats and had some hitting up and down the lineup again, which is a very nice thing to see," Huhnstock said. "AJ Turek came up with a nice bunt, we got a run in with that, just a lot of good baseball tonight."
Orth allowed no runs and two hits over the final 2 2/3 innings.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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