Legion season provided uptick for Rhinelander baseball

While the 2024 campaign did not live up to the last few seasons for the Rhinelander Post 7 American Legion baseball team, there were some bright spots along the way.

The Rebels went 9-14 for the summer. That served as a big improvement from the 1-19 record many of the same players posted during the spring for the Rhinelander High School baseball team. For the upperclassmen, it served as a more positive ending to their youth baseball careers and for the underclassmen, it served as a building block as both the Hodags and Rebels seek to turn things around in 2025.

“We definitely found out, some younger guys got an opportunity to play and they performed well,” Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said after the Rebels bowed out of their four-team Class AA regional tournament in third place. “They know what they need to work on between now and next year to push for varsity spots and to make next year’s Hodag season much more successful than this season was.” 

Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.

Highlights

One of the big reasons for the difference in the win totals between the Hodags in the spring and the Rebels in the summer came down to how each team performed in close games. Rhinelander was 1-7 this spring in games in which it led, tied or was down by one run at some point during or after the fifth inning.

The Rebels bucked that trend in a tone-setting opening win of the summer.

Down 8-4 in the sixth against Fond du Lac Springs in the opening game of the Rebel Invite, Rhinelander responded with four runs in the bottom of the sixth and then walked it off on a Sam Schneider RBI double to stun the Ledgers 9-8.

The Rebels got three strong innings of relief from Oscar Hanson to stay close in that game and then, after tying the game in the sixth, got arguably the defensive play of the year from Schneider — one of two Class of 2023 age-eligible players on the Rebels’ roster this summer.

With the leadoff runner at first, Schneider charged and made a leaping grab on a sacrifice bunt attempt down the third base line and then fired to first to turn a momentum-changing double play. 

“That’s something to build on for our whole season. Hopefully that gets them a little swagger, a little momentum going for the rest of the season,” Huhnstock said after the win.

That sparked a four-game winning streak for Rhinelander and the Rebels ultimately finished out the month of June above .500 at 6-5. But the Rebels weren’t done with dramatic victories, saving one more for their closest rival.

Two days after dropping a 3-2 decision at Minocqua, the Rebels turned the tables on their neighbors to the north, scoring four times in the seventh inning to stun the 89ers at Stafford Field, 6-5. Tyler Chariton delivered the game-winning hit that night as Rhinelander wound up taking three of four during the summer against Minocqua.

“That was absolutely awesome. I feel great for him. He’s been putting together good at bats all summer long. To come through in the clutch is absolutely great,” Huhnstock said afterward. “You’ve got to believe right until the last out is made. I asked them for three to make sure we could keep playing. They overachieved and got us four.”

Lowlights

Unfortunately for the Rebels, things cooled down from that point forward. They finished the season dropping eight of their final 10 games. That included some close loses, like a 6-5 loss to Crandon at Stafford Field. It also included some blowouts, like a 16-0 loss to Everest and a 10-2 loss at Tomahawk where the team was plagued by a combination of errors and erratic pitching.

“It was not a pretty game tonight,” Huhnstock said following an Everest loss in which Rhinelander pitchers combined to walk 13 batters. “We just told the kids to flush this one out of their memory bank. We’ve got to regroup and play with a lot more energy, a lot fewer errors and just play a whole better ball game the rest of the season.”

Regional run

Though the Rebels dropped their final three games going into the playoffs, competitive two-run losses in rematches to Everest and Medford had the team optimistic that it would be competitive in the regional tournament. 

That proved true at least for one day. The Rebels got an 11-strikeout performance from Kaden Vanney and a go-ahead pinch-hit RBI single from Conner Augustine in a 5-2 victory over Minocqua to open the tournament. However the Rebels lost Vanney to an arm injury in that game and lacked the same firepower the following day.

Eventual regional champion Medford tagged starter Max Ratty for 11 hits over 5 1/3 innings as the Rebels lost 12-1 to the Raiders in the winner’s bracket and then managed only four hits in an elimination game against Merrill, falling 8-1.

“They’re both very good teams,” Huhnstock said. “We played three or four good innings in each game and then we did not hit the ball real good today. We pitched the ball well three, four innings each game and then the score started getting away from us and we weren’t able to mount much of an offensive threat after that.”

Statbook

    In this June 30, 2024 file photo, Rhinelander’s Sam Schneider hits an RBI double during the first inning of an American Legion baseball game against Altoona in Merrill. Schneider, an age-eligible 2023 graduate, led the Rebels in batting average, extra base hits and RBIs this summer. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

A good deal of Rhinelander’s success this summer could be traced back to the spark that Schneider brought to the team. His impact was evident in the team’s numbers during the year. 

Schneider led the team with a .443 batting average, 10 extra base hits and 20 RBIs. Defensively, he solidified third base — a position that had seen a host of players during the spring — and he was effective on the mound. Seldom-used in high school play while serving as the primary catcher, Schneider posted the third-best ERA on the team (3.17) among those who pitched at least 10 innings. He found a niche as a reliever as he went 1-0 and recorded 29 strikeouts over 17 2/3 innings. 

“Sam Schneider, he was realistically the heart and soul of our team this year,” Huhnstock said. “You can’t say enough good things about him — as a person or as a ball player.” 

As a team, Rhinelander’s offensive numbers picked up significantly from the spring to the summer. The Rebels hit .266 on the summer and .276 with runners in scoring position, compared to .207/.161 splits in the spring. Some hitters who struggled during the spring appeared to find their strokes again. Owen Kurtz finished third on the team with a .356 batting average with a home run and 12 RBIs. Max Ratty was fourth, hitting .355 with 16 RBIs. Even Vanney, who was the Hodags’ second-leading hitter in the spring (.283), saw his average jump to .356 as he recorded 11 RBIs.

By the numbers, Vanney was also Rhinelander’s top pitcher this summer. Though he went just 1-2 on the season, he had a staff-best 1.70 ERA and recorded 32 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings of work. Second on the team in ERA was senior-to-be Mason Schmidt, who went 3-1 with a 2.69 ERS and 31 strikeouts over 26 innings. Ratty (1-5, 4.78 ERA, 38 K, 33.1 IP) and Dylan Vanderbunt (2-5, 5.66 ERA, 26 K, 29.2 IP) rounded out the starting rotation this summer.

What’s next

There will be plenty of turnover in Rhinelander baseball going into next year. Of the 15 players on the Rebels’ roster, eight graduated from RHS either in 2023 or 2024. 

That doesn’t necessarily mean the cupboard will be bare going into next year. Five underclassmen appeared in at least three-fourths of the Rebels games this summer, including Vanderbunt, Chariton, everyday shortstop Seth Nofftz, outfielder John Turek and catcher Chandler Servent. Vanderbunt and Schmidt will be back from the pitching front and Huhnstock said he is optimistic, given what he saw from a number of underclassmen while coaching the RHS JV squad this spring.

“We had a fantastic JV squad this year. We did not get to see any of them during legion ball, but they’re going to be some real good ball players coming through that who will be playing legion ball next summer,” he said. “Good things should be happening. We’ve got a couple of real good classes of ball players coming through back-to-back-to-back the way it looks. That should be nothing but good news for those folks interested in Hodag and Rebel baseball.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].