Rebels fall to Clintonville in regular season finale

A short-handed Rhinelander Post 7 squad limped to the finish line of the regular season on Sunday. The Rebels are hoping they’ll be closer to full strength by this afternoon as they try to defend their Region 2 title and make a return trip to the Wisconsin Class AA state tournament.

A five-run fifth inning proved to be the difference as the Rebels fell to Clintonville 6-1 at Olin Park Sunday. 

“We were playing a little bit short-handed. We were down four starters,” Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said, noting that Ryan Jamison, Cody Everson, Jacksen Smith and Kolby Riddderbusch were all scratched from the lineup card on Sunday. 

Max Ratty was back in the lineup for Rhinelander for the first time since his most recent pitching outing July 8. The senior-to-be had missed four straight games working through a leg issue. Ratty gave up a run on four hits over four innings Sunday as the Rebels limited him to a 68-pitch outing. 

“Max gave us a nice start, did give up one run but he pitched four solid innings for us,” Huhnstock said. “We wanted to get him out on the mound again. His hamstring was feeling better. We wanted to give a nice little opportunity to work the rust off a little bit. That’s exactly what we did. He was leaving some pitches high and was able to work through it and only gave up one run.”

The Rebels trailed 1-0 until the fifth before the Diamond Cats teed off on reliever Kaden Vanney, tagging him for five hits and a walk, all with two out, to break open a 6-0 lead. Owen Kurtz worked a scoreless sixth inning for the Rebels. 

Sam Schneider collected three hits at the plate and drove in the Rebels’ lone run on an RBI single in the top of the seventh. 

Rhinelander and Clintonville finished tied in the hit column at nine apiece, but the Rebels were snake-bitten on the base paths. The team stranded two runners in both the first and second and then were quite until the top of the fifth. Adrian Patrone drew a leadoff walk that inning, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Seth Nofftz, Dylan Vanderbunt and Schneider followed with three straight singles to load the bases, but Ratty popped out and Kurtz struck out to end the threat. 

Nofftz, Vanderbunt and Schneider hit back-to-back-to-back singles again in the seventh, but Connor Augustine lined into a game-ending double play. 

Regionals ahead

Rhinelander (14-5) begins regional play against Eagle River this afternoon in Medford. Rhinelander and Eagle River got the short end of a random draw in the five-team, double elimination bracket and play each other in the extra game to kick off today’s tournament at 1 p.m. The winner of the game will face host Medford at 7 p.m.

Merrill and Minocqua square off on the other side of the bracket. Rhinelander is 6-1 against the teams in the field this weekend, with their only loss coming in a June 18 game against Minocqua. The Rebels committed nine errors in that game and lost 6-5.

Regardless, Huhnstock said he sees the draw as very evenly matched heading into the tournament. 

“Realistically, that is baseball,” he said. “Whoever plays a clean game, gets a little pitching and a clutch hit here or there can beat anybody on any given day. As we’ve proven all summer long, if we don’t play a clean game, we are beatable.”

The only team Rhinelander hasn’t faced this year is Medford, which provides a bit of an unknown. 

“I’m sure Medford will have a very fine squad and will be well-represented there. There’s not any reason not to think that,” Huhnstock said.

The biggest variable entering the tournament could be Rhinelander’s injury report. Huhnstock said he was hopeful to have his team back close to 100%, but a lot would hinge on how well players recuperate this week.

“A whole lot will be in how healthy we are as we go into this weekend. Cody Everson’s on the mend nice. Hopefully he’ll be able to be back to his normal self. Ryan’s healing up and hopefully he’ll be back to his normal self. Max, as long as he’s able to compete for us, we’ll be able to be pretty much at full strength,” he said.

Regional play is guaranteed to last through Sunday, with a winner-take-all championship game on Monday, if necessary.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].