June 23, 2022 at 8:19 a.m.
Answering opportunity
Rebels down Merrill, win wild home invite
Answering opportunity
Joe Schneider pushed across the go-ahead run with a single in the top of the sixth as Rhinelander rallied to defeat Merrill 6-5 at Stafford Field.
Rhinelander won the invite as the only 3-1 team in the five-team round robin tournament. Everest, which began Sunday 2-0 and needed to win only once to clinch the title, dropped both of its games, opening the door for Rhinelander.
Everest, Fond du Lac Springs and Clintonville all finished 2-2 while Merrill finished 1-3. Rhinelander would have placed fourth had Merrill won and all five teams finished 2-2, based on the tiebreaker of total runs scored in the tournament.
"That was one heck of a roller coaster today," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "Everything fell in place and, more importantly, we took care of our business. With all the other things that happened gave us a chance to take care of our own business and we did it."
Joe Schneider worked through early command issues to give Rhinelander's depleted pitching staff six key innings and Devyn Orth came on to close things out in the seventh.
Early on, Sunday's game mirrored the 11-3 loss to Everest on Saturday that put the Rebels in a tough position to win their home tournament. A combination of walks, defensive miscues and runners left in scoring position had the Hodags down 5-2 after three innings.
The Rebels got two of those runs back in the fourth as Orth singled and scored on a groundout by Isaac Bixby. Sam Schneider singled home Ryan Jamison with two outs to bring the Rebels within a run. Kolby Ridderbusch then singled to load the bases, but Owen Kurtz grounded out to third as Rhinelander failed to tie the game and stranded its eighth baserunner through four innings.
The Rebels broke through with the top of the order to take the lead in the sixth. Back-to-back doubles by Bixby and Jamison to lead off the inning tied the game and chased pitcher Sam Reimann from the hill. Joe Schneider singled off reliever Michael McRae to score Jamison and put the Rebels ahead.
"All weekend long we could count on the top of the order and anything we got from the lower portion of the order was just a bonus," Huhnstock said.
The Rebels jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-out bases-loaded single by Kurtz. Merrill responded in the bottom of the inning as Joe Schneider walked a batter and hit two others in first four batters he faced. Nathan Brzoznowski tied it on a two-out single and a throwing error a short time later allowed Isaak Clapper to score from third to give Merrill a 3-2 lead.
Clapper reached on a error to lead off the third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mason Johnson. Brzoznowski singled and scored on a passed ball. McRae then drew a walk on a pitch that got away. Jack Hoock tried to score from third but was thrown out at the plate, ending the inning and keeping Merrill's lead at 5-2.
That was one of several key defensive plays for the Hodags that allowed Joe Schneider to get through six innings. Merrill had runners at second and third with one out in the fourth, but Connor Cortright was thrown out trying to get back to third following a ground out by Clapper down the first base line for an inning-ending double play.
McRae singled with one out in the sixth but Bixby, playing second base, sprinted all the way to the right field line to retrieve the ball and throw McRae out at second trying to stretch the play to a double. That was Joe Schneider's 104th pitch of the day. Legion rules allowed him to finish the next at-bat after he reached the 105-pitch daily limit. He struck out E.J. Weix to get out of the sixth.
"It's a team game and we played as a team and won as a team," Huhnstock said. "Can't say enough about the character of our guys. They really stuck with it and believed in themselves."
Joe Schneider labored through his first pitching start of the summer, walking seven over 3 1/3 innings in a 16-4 win at Northwoods June 10 and it was looking like more of the same Sunday. He had five walks and two hit batters as he needed 70 pitches to get through the first three innings. He started to settle in from the fourth inning on as he walked only one and needed only 40 pitches to get through his final three frames.
Overall, Schneider allowed five runs, two earned, on four hits with six walks and 10 strikeouts.
"Joe, he's still coming back from a major injury and nobody works harder than him to get back. It's nice to see some successes, and we'll grow on them," Huhnstock said, referencing the knee injury that sidelined Schneider for much of the spring season.
Though Rhinelander finished 3-1, it would have finished behind Everest had the Evergreens won either of their two games on Sunday. Everest entered the day as the only other team that could have finished above .500 for the weekend and had a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rebels thanks to Saturday's win.
Everest appeared to be cruising to the title until a wild series of events late in the first game of the day against Fond du Lac Springs. Everest led 6-5 after six innings, but Casey Bartelt doubled and scored on a one-out single by Ian Stoffel as the Ledgers tied it in the top of the seventh. The Evergreens put the first two aboard in the bottom of the seventh. After a wild pitch moved both runners in scoring position with one out, Springs elected to intentionally walk Tanner Graham to load the bases. The move paid off as Owen Gartzke grounded into a double play back to the pitcher's mound to send the game to extras.
Neither team threatened in the eight, but Springs broke things open with seven runs in the ninth added by four Everest errors and went on to win 13-7.
Clintonville then jumped out to a 10-1 lead over Everest in the next game and was close to wrapping things up via the 10-run rule, but Everest rallied for six runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it a game and had the tying run at the plate in the sixth. Cuylar Soppe took off from third to home on a ball to the backstop, but the ball caromed hard off a fence post and ricocheted right back to the plate where Clintonville was able to make an easy play for the second out. Everest grounded out to end that threat and left the go-ahead run at the plate in the seventh as Clintonville held on for a 10-7 win.
"I do believe I will be indebted," Huhnstock said. "They done us a huge favor today, both of them knocking off D.C. Everest to give us a chance to be the only 3-1 team in the tournament."
Rhinelander's scheduled games against Mosinee for Wednesday and tonight were postponed due to Mosinee not having enough players. A make-up date(s) for those games is to be determined. Rhinelander instead made up last week's rained out contest against Crandon Thursday night in Crandon, concluding after deadline for today's edition. The Rebels play two against Medford next week.
NOTE: Northwoods informed the Great Northern Legion Conference on Monday that it will withdraw from the remainder of the season due to injuries and low participation. Games played against Northwoods prior to June 19, including Rhinelander's two wins over the Eagles June 8 and June 10, will be considered non-conference contests and statistics from those contests will not count toward league records.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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