July 21, 2022 at 8:09 a.m.
Rebels ready for regionals
Post 7 clubs Clintonville 14-1, seeks first state berth since 2012
Rebels ready for regionals
The Rebels enter the four-team legion regional in exceptional form. They closed the regular season out Sunday by clobbering Clintonville on the road 14-1.
Second-ranked Rhinelander pounded out 16 hits - including eight for extra bases - in Sunday's win as the team upped its record to 18-3.
A third meeting with fourth-ranked and defending regional champion Medford will greet Rhinelander tonight to kick off the regional tournament in Merrill and the Rebels are as few as three wins away from getting back to the state tournament for the first time since 2012.
"We've just been playing really good, confident baseball. Hitting is contagious. Winning is contagious," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "We've got to remember to stay hungry. Once we get into the tournament it's a whole new season and we will be getting everybody's best shot there."
Though the two other teams in the field - Merrill and Antigo - have been competitive this summer, Rhinelander and Medford figure to be the favorites entering this weekend's double-elimination tournament and the winner of today's contest could have a significant edge the rest of the weekend.
The winner of tonight's game has to win only once tomorrow to make it to the championship round. The loser will have to win four straight - two tomorrow and two Sunday - to win the regional title.
Rhinelander is a combined 5-0 against the three other teams in the tournament. Rhinelander swept Medford 5-1 and 12-2 in Great Northern Legion Conference play. The Rebels also beat Antigo 4-0 back on June 9 and have wins of 6-5 and 13-3 over Merrill when the teams met in each other's respective invites.
"We've just got to play the games and take each game one at a time," Huhnstock said. "There is no gimme in this tournament. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day in this tournament. They're all very good ball teams."
To get a leg up in the tournament, the Rebels will likely have to knock off Medford ace Logan Baumgartner, who comes in 4-1 on the summer with 0.54 ERA. His lone loss came in a 5-1 decision to Rhinelander back on June 27. In that game, the Rebels used a four-run fourth inning to take control.
"It's going to take a very well-pitched game and we're going to have to play error-free and put a couple of runs across the plate because it could be a very low-scoring game," Huhnstock said.
Rhinelander last made the AA State tournament in 2012, but has had several near misses since. The Rebels finished second in the regional in 2017, 2019 and 2021.
"It would be awesome to get back to state but, we first have to win the regional. We'll take this one game at a time," Huhnstock said. "We're deep in pitching and I really like our chances in this tournament."
Coincidentally, Merrill hosted the regional tournament when Rhinelander last advanced to state 10 years ago.
Rebels 14, Clintonville 1
The Rebels certainly appeared ready for the postseason after drubbing the Diamond Cats on Sunday. Rhinelander's first four batters of the game all reached base and scored and the Rebels pounded out eight runs on eight hits in the fourth to make short work of Clintonville.
"We really got the bats going today," Huhnstock said. "I think everybody pretty much up and down the lineup got on base and lots of shots in the alleys and stuff, lot of hard-hit balls."
Isaac Bixby singled to start the game. A walk by Ryan Jamison and a single by Joe Schneider loaded the bases. Sam Schneider and Max Ratty followed with back-to-back two-run doubles and Owen Kurtz drew a walk to chase starter Jordan Wegner from the hill before he recorded a single out.
The top of the order produced again in the second as Bixby walked and scored on a wild pitch. Joe Schneider singled and came around on a base-knock by Ratty.
The Rebels then tagged a pair of Clintonville pitchers for five extra-base hits as part of an eight-run fourth.
Jamison started things off with a double and scored on Joe Schneider's 1-2 slicer down the right field line. Kurtz added an RBI double and Kolby Ridderbusch drove in a run on an infield hit to short. Cody Everson came up with a pinch-hit two-run single before Bixby smashed a 1-2 curveball over the left field fence for his first homer of the summer, putting Rhinelander ahead 13-1.
"He can hit home runs. He has a real good swing and you don't have to be big to hit home runs," Huhnstock said of Bixby. "It's all about timing and getting it on the barrel of the bat. He's had a lot of hard-hit balls this year. This one he got elevated a little bit and it carried out for him."
Jamison added his second double of the inning and scored the game's final run on another double by Joe Schneider.
The top five hitters in Rhinelander's order - Bixby, Jamison, Joe Schneider, Sam Schneider and Ratty - were a combined 13-for-17 Sunday with nine RBIs and seven extra-base hits.
Joe Schneider gave up an unearned run on three hits - two slow-rollers in the infield and a bloop single to right - all in the third inning. He struck out six over four innings and had plenty of run support.
"He threw a very nice game," Huhnstock said. "Once he got used to the mound a little bit, he was dominant. He had a great curveball working and good fastball."
Ratty pitched a perfect fifth for Rhinelander, striking out one.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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