June 26, 2023 at 1:53 p.m.
Rebels respond against Minocqua
Rebels respond against Minocqua
Ryan Jamison struck out 10 over six innings and the Rebels jumped out to a big lead to defeat the Minocqua 89ers 12-3 on the road.
Four days removed from a sloppy, nine-error effort in a 6-5 loss to Minocqua at the Rebel Invite, the 89ers returned the favor in the defensive department. Minocqua committed nine errors of their own on Wednesday, including four in the first inning, as the Rebels led 6-0 before the 89ers ever came to the plate.
The Rebels led 8-1 after two innings and put up four more runs in the final frame as they moved to 4-3 on the summer.
"I loved the energy we came out with," Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. "I wish it would have carried a little bit more through the middle innings and then we had a little spurt at the end but it is a win and we got a chance to get a lot of players in the game. We'll take that kind of performance every night."
A one-out error on a dropped pop fly off the bat of Jamison opened the door for Rhinelander in the first inning. A single by Sam Schneider and a walk to Dylan Vanderbunt loaded the bases for Seth Nofftz, who cleared them with a two-run single. Vanderbunt scored on the same play as the ball was mishandled in left field.
The hit parade continued as James Heck singled followed by an RBI base knock by Adrian Patrone. The final two runs of the inning scored after AJ Turek reached on a throwing error.
The Rebels added to the lead in the second as Jamison again reached on an error and scored three batters later off an overthrow after Schneider stole second base. Schneider got to third on the play and scored on a ground out by Nofftz.
That was plenty of run support for Jamison, who scattered four hits and gave up a pair of earned runs in the win.
Minocqua got a run back in the bottom of the first as Logan Gray singled and eventually came around on a two-out error as Jamison's throw sailed wide on a tough roller up the third-base line by Will Fortier.
Ashton Bremer singled and scored for Minocqua in the third when Nate Ariola reached on an error. That proved to be the 89ers best chance to get back into the game as they had a run in, two on and nobody out. However, from there, Fortier grounded into a fielder's choice and the Hodags picked Danny Gahler off third after Merrick Trotter went down swinging to end the inning.
Ariola doubled home Gahler in the fifth for Lakeland's only other run.
Jamison was solid on the mound for Rhinelander as he improved to 2-1 on the summer.
"Great pitching by Ryan again. He is our leader in the clubhouse here," Huhnstock said. "Everybody had pretty solid defense throughout and we had some hitting spaced throughout the lineup."
Rhinelander scored four in the seventh. Cody Everson walked and scored an a Schneider sacrifice fly. Jamison doubled to get Everson in scoring position and save around on a single by Vanderbunt. Kaden Vanney scored from second on the play after the ball was bobbled in left. Barak Rappley added a two-run single to right to drive in Vanderbunt and account for the final margin.
The Rebels did most of their damage off Minocqua ace Ben Peterson, who was tagged for eight runs - all unearned - on eight hits with six strikeouts and three walks over six innings. Huhnstock said it helped Rhinelander seeing the top of the 89ers rotation this time around.
"We want to play good, solid pitching. It kind of throws us off our rhythm when you've got somebody those slow, looping curveballs and stuff. It's hard to wait back on them," he said.
Schneider had three hits to lead the Hodags and nine other players collected a hit in the win.
"We can be a very deep lineup. It's very good when we have a chance to see that," Huhnstock said.
Rhinelander and Minocqua were set to play again at Stafford Field Friday night but Mother Nature intervened. A downpour roughly 30 minutes before first pitch forced the game to be canceled.
"It's one of them things. It kind of popped up late on the radar and waited until just about game time and got us," Huhnstock said, as the Rebels were just getting set to take infield warmups when the skies opened.
Rhinelander faced Crandon Monday night in a first of a pair of games this week at Stafford Field between the squads. Crandon will be back in Rhinelander tomorrow night at the Rebels will close out the pre-Fourth of July weekend with a doubleheader against Tomahawk Friday night.
Regional location
announced
Rhinelander learned late last week that its road to a potential repeat trip to the Wisconsin Class AA Legion state tournament will go through Medford, as Post 147 has been selected to host the Region 2 tournament.
Medford last hosted Rhinelander in regional play in 2010, when the Rebels advanced to and won the AA state tournament.
Rhinelander had offered to host the tournament, if none of the other regional teams were interested. The Rebels last hosted regional play two years ago.
"We love hosting tournaments but it does take a lot of work and a lot of volunteer effort," Huhnstock said. "We just came off a weekend of tournament play where we hosted the Rebel Invite. We got a lot of volunteer effort there. I'm sure we would have been able to rally the troops again if we were able to host, but somebody else can do it this time."
Huhnstock said official brackets were not announced but it is believed that Merrill and Antigo will be part of the regional tournament, as they were last year.
"Medford's hosting and that's all right. We haven't played over at Medford at all this year. They've got good facilities over there. We can go over there and play some ball."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at jeremy@
rivernewsonline.com.
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