July 26, 2022 at 10:56 a.m.
Finally back at state
Rebels looking to make run in first Legion state tourney trip since 2012
Finally back at state
"It's been a wild ride from starting with these guys at eight, nine years old. It's been a helluva ride," ace pitcher Isaac Bixby said after the Rebels defeated Antigo 2-0 on Sunday to clinch a state tournament berth. "It's a huge relief breaking that wall, finally getting to where we got to go. The job's not done."
One can't blame Bixby, or a number of these Rebels players, for taking a moment to think back on all the near misses that led to this point. Bixby and Joe Schneider were young contributors on the 2019 squad that pushed Antigo to 10 innings, trying to force a winner-take-all title game, only to come up short.
A number of these players were on the 2021 high school squad that got to within five outs of the WIAA state tournament before falling to eventual Division 2 state champion Denmark.
Bixby, working through elbow soreness that cost him a number of games last summer, was able to pitch only three innings in last year's winner-take-all title game. Yet the Rebels held a 5-0 leading going to the sixth against Medford before it all unraveled against Rhinelander's depleted bullpen in an 11-run frame.
If anything, those setbacks have made the Rebels (21-3) hungrier as they begin tournament play against River Falls.
"It's a very tight group and they have an absolute drive and love of baseball," said Dan Huhnstock, who will be skippering the Rebels at state for the third time in his career. "You don't have to beg them to come to practice. They ask you to set up more practices. It's just that kind of group of kids. It's one of the more talented groups of kids I've ever coached."
Joe Schneider, who delivered what proved to be the state-clinching two run single against Antigo on Sunday, said a bit of confidence doesn't hurt, either.
"You can just look at the win column, it's so high," he said. "We just expect to win every game and we think we beat any team we can play against. We've got to keep that mentality going into state."
"The camaraderie with this team is different," added standout pitcher and infielder Ryan Jamison. "We've been playing together since we were young enough to barely remember. It's come full circle. We're brothers at this point and we're looking forward to what's ahead."
What the Rebels hope lies ahead is a five-day march toward the state title, but a lot of baseball and seven other teams stand in the way in the double-elimination tournament.
Among those squads is top-ranked Holmen, which plays host Fort Atkinson in the final game of today's quadrupleheader. The winners of the Rhinelander-River Falls and Holman-Fort Atkinson games will meet tomorrow night in the semifinals of the winners' bracket while the losers will face each other tomorrow afternoon in an elimination game.
Potentially, it would be the third meeting of the season between No. 1 Holmen and No. 2 Rhinelander. The Vikings took the first two meetings, 2-0 and 13-7, on back-to-back days earlier this month to win the Merrill Invite.
"They're a very quality team. They have good pitching and, up and down the lineup, they're very good hitters," Huhnstock said. "They're very experienced hitters. It's hard to make them look bad with off-speed pitches. They're very disciplined at the plate.
"In order to win this state tournament, we're going to have to play the best teams in the state. It doesn't really matter if you play them early in the tournament or late in the tournament. To win, you're going to have to beat them at some point in time."
Otherwise, the Rebels' recipe for success this weekend remains the same as it's been all year - strong starting pitching, solid defense and timely hitting.
Rhinelander rode pitching and defense to the regional title last weekend, allowing only four runs over three games. Offense was the issue, though, as the team scored only nine runs in the tournament. While the team hit .260 overall for the weekend (20 of 77), most of that production came from the top four in the lineup -Bixby, Jamison, Joe Schneider and Sam Schneider, who went a combined 14 of 36 (.389) and had all seven of the team's RBIs.
"We've got to get the bats going," Joe Schneider said. "They were a little quiet this weekend. We only had nine runs. We've got to rake at state because that's not going to win state games. We've got to get the bats rolling a little better."
One aspect of the state tournament that is different from the last two times the Rebels were involved is the Legion pitch count regulations. Those are more restrictive than high school play, which allows pitchers to come back on three-days rest, regardless of how many pitches they threw in the their previous start.
In Legion play, pitchers are required to observe four days of rest if they throw more than 80 pitches in a game. That means if today's starter throws in excess of 80 pitches, he will be ineligible to pitch the remainder of the tournament, provided it finishes on schedule Tuesday.
Huhnstock said trying to get four games out of the team's top three pitchers - Bixby, Jamison and Joe Schneider - is something he'll consider, but not at the risk of taking a loss and have to play extra games in the loser's bracket.
"It's going to have to be dictated by game situation," he said. "Our top three are definitely our top three for a reason, but we do go relatively deep with guys that I definitely trust with the ball in their hand."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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