June 20, 2022 at 8:54 a.m.
Rebels take 2 of 3 to open home invite
Rebels take 2 of 3 to open home invite
The Rebels sat 2-1 and in second place in their home five-team invite through Saturday's play in the three-day Fathers' Day Weekend tournament.
Rhinelander opened played with a 4-0 victory Friday night against Fond du Lac Springs, but struggled in all phases Saturday morning in an 11-3 loss to Everest. The Rebels were back on point Saturday night behind ace Isaac Bixby in a 6-1 victory over Clintonville.
"That's what baseball boils down to, if you're not playing excellent defense, pitch counts go up and it changes everything in the rotations," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said.
Everest sat at 2-0 entering Sunday's play, which concluded after deadline for today's edition, but lost both games Sunday, while Rhinelander edged Merrill 6-5 to finish as the only 3-1 team and win the invite. A full report of Sunday's action will be published in Friday's River News.
Rhinelander 4, Fondy Springs 0
Joe Schneider had three hits, including a bases-clearing double in the seventh inning that broke open a scoreless game and propelled the Rebels to a 4-0 victory over Fond du Lac Springs Friday night.
Ryan Jamison scattered three hits over 6 2/3 innings and Bixby fanned Jacob Holmes to end it after Springs loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh.
The Rebels had six hits but stranded eight base runners over the first six innings against Ledgers' lefty Will Krupp but, with Krupp up against his pitch count limit, Rhinelander took advantage of the Fondy bullpen in the seventh.
Jacksen Smith drew a leadoff walk against Jake Flitter and Bixby was hit with a 1-2 pitch to put two on with nobody out. Jamison then dropped a bunt down the third base line and reached safely as both corner infielders charged the play. Joe Schneider took Flitter's next offering deep to left to give Rhinelander a three-run lead. Sam Schneider singled behind that and, following an Owen Kurtz strikeout, the Schneider brothers executed a double steal of second and home to extend the lead to four.
"That was a very well-played game by both teams, well pitched. We missed a couple opportunities early but, again, just like earlier in the year, a big bunt made everything go in motion," Huhnstock said. "Jamo got the bunt and Joe's base knock pretty much sealed it for us."
The Ledgers did not get a runner past first base against Jamison until the seventh. Ian Stoffel reached on a one-out infield hit before Ian Wagner drew a walk. Jamison then sat down Nate Mueller for his ninth strikeout of the game before walking Max Bauer to load the bases.
With the tying run at the plate, and Jamison one pitch shy of the daily 105-pitch limit, the Rebels made the call to Bixby, who needed four pitches to earn the save.
"We had total confidence in Bixby being able to come in and close the door. That was a no-brainer move on my part to have him come in and finish it," Huhnstock said.
The Rebels left the bases loaded in the first inning, and also stranded runners in scoring position in the second, third and sixth innings. Bixby and Jamison had two hits each as the top four in Rhinelander's order went a combined 8-for-12 on the night.
"We're real solid on top and we can be really dangerous if we start getting a little production out of the bottom," Huhnstock said.
Everest 11, Rebels 3
The Rebels had a myriad of struggles Saturday morning in a loss to Everest. Rhinelander committed four errors, three pitchers combined to issue 12 walks and the offense was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position in an eight-run loss to the Evergreens.
Everest struck first in an error-aided four-run second. Rhinelander got to within 5-3 after four innings but the Evergreens put things away with a six-run seventh inning.
"We did not play well this morning. We did not give our pitchers much defensive support, or enough run support," Huhnstock said.
Braxton Olson got Everest on the board with a two-run double in the second following a hit and an error. Andrew Cotter punched a bases-loaded single up the middle with two out to give Everest a 4-0 advantage.
A pair of errors aided the Rebels as they got one back in the third. AJ Turek reached on a misfire from short and scored when the Everest defense had difficulty handling a Joe Schneider grounder. Rhinelander had the based loaded with one out in the inning, but Sam Schneider flew out to shallow center and Ian Miller struck out to end the threat.
After Everest tacked on a run in the fourth, Kolby Ridderbusch walked and scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the inning while Tyler Morrison singled and came around on a fielder's choice by Smith. Rhinelander again had two on with less than two out in the inning, but could not draw any closer as Jamison struck out and Joe Schneider flew out to end the inning.
The score remained 5-3 until the seventh when Miller, in his fourth inning of relief, allowed the first five batters to reach with three walks, a hit and an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt. He was relieved by Kolby Ridderbusch, who gave up a pair of bases-loaded walks and a run-scoring fielder's choice.
Smith started for Rhinelander and allowed four runs, but only one earned, as he needed 73 pitches to get through three innings.
With the Rebels wanting to keep Bixby and Joe Schneider in reserve for later games in the tournament, and Max Ratty out of the lineup after tweaking a knee in Friday night's game, Rhinelander found itself stretched thin at pitcher Saturday morning.
"With Max being hurt, that definitely took a big arm out of our rotation, somebody that we can count on five, six innings out of," Huhnstock noted. "Ian hasn't thrown very much any time recently, but did a great job of eating a bunch of innings for us and actually kind of kept us where, if we could have got the bats rolling, we could have made a game of it. That was huge for us."
Rebels 6, Clintonville 1
The pitching and defense were back on for Saturday night as Bixby scattered five hits over seven innings and the Rebels got six hits from the top four in the order in a five-run win over the Diamond Cats.
"Tonight, a very solid outing, what we've really come to expect from Isaac," Huhnstock said. "We got the bats going a little bit and forced the issue with some steals and stuff. It turned out to be a very good baseball game tonight."
The Rebels jumped on Clintonville right away with a lead off single by Bixby in the first before Jamison was called safe at first on an appeal of a close play. Sam Schneider lifted a sacrifice fly to right two batters later before Ridderbusch delivered a single to left to make it 2-0.
Bixby drove in Miller on a two-out base knock in the second and the Rebels tacked on three in the fifth, thanks to a two-run triple by Sam Schneider and a two-out base hit by Cody Everson.
"Our top of the order, when they're clicking, they put together good at-bats, they get bats on the ball and they're hard to beat, our top four or five," Huhnstock noted.
That was plenty of run support for Bixby, who needed 92 pitches for a complete-game effort. He didn't allow a run until the seventh when Braden Behnke hit a two-run single to right to score Kaleb Rath, who doubled earlier in the inning.
Up next
The Rebels (7-1, 3-0 GNLC) will be back home Wednesday to take on Mosinee in Great Northern Legion Conference play.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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