Rebels split Saturday games in Merrill

MERRILL — The Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels played two games Saturday that were about as different as the weather conditions they were played in. The only difference was when the weather turned cool and dreary, the Rebels began to heat up. 

Rhinelander salvaged a split of its first two games of the Art Perkins Memorial in Merrill, defeating Chippewa Falls’ 17U squad 10-3 after falling to Wittenberg-Birnamwood 6-3 earlier in the day.

The Rebels were sharper in all three phases of the game in their second contest, and that showed in the box score. 

“It was completely two different outcomes and two different game, energy levels, etc. It makes a difference,” manager Dan Huhnstock said.

The Rebels set the tone early in the second game Saturday, scoring twice in the top of the first to take a lead they would not relinquish. Mason Schmidt allowed one run over five innings, Sam Schneider pitched the final two innings and added four RBIs at the plate as a Rebel team that had just three hits in the first game pounded out 11 in the second contest. 

“Mason filled up the zone nicely, threw a good ball game,” Huhnstock said. “Sam came in and finished it off. We had a lot of hitting going on. They made a few errors and helped us out a little bit.”

Schneider gave the Rebels the lead in the top of the first with an RBI single that scored Seth Nofftz. He later came around and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cody Everson.

After Chippewa Falls answered with a run in the bottom of the first, Rhinelander responded with three runs in the second thanks to back-to-back RBI doubles from Dylan Vanderbunt and Nofftz, and a sacrifice fly by Schneider. 

The Rebels broke things open in the fourth. Barak Rappley reached on and error and scored on a wild pitch. Vanderbunt then singled and Nofftz reached on an error before Schneider smacked a two-run double to right center to make it 8-1 and chase Chippewa Falls starter Ryan Smiskey from the mound. Schneider later scored on a wild pitch to give the Rebels an eight-run lead. 

Rhinelander tacked on one more in the sixth as Schneider singled, stole second and eventually scored on a passed ball.

That was plenty of run support for Schmidt, who settled in after a 25-pitch opening inning in which he allowed an unearned run as Brody Tarbox singled and came around with help from a passed ball and a wild pitch. Schmidt scattered three hits, walked four and struck out four as he improved to 2-0 on the summer.

“He’s really looking good,” Huhnstock said. “His pitch count got up a little bit. I know he wanted to be able to go the whole game but his pitch count ran up a little bit. The first inning it ran up pretty good and that set him behind schedule a little bit.” 

Chippewa Falls got two back in the sixth as Mason Busse reached on a third strike in the dirt and scored on a pinch-hit single by Matthew Scholtz. Isaiah Henrichs also scored on the inning after Schneider was called for a balk with Henrichs on third. Schneider struck out five and allowed two hits over the final two innings of the contest. 

The Rebels got plenty of offensive production in the Chippewa Falls game as Schneider had three hits while Vanderbunt and Nofftz had two hits each. Rhinelander also got two hits out of senior infielder Conner Augustine, who finished with three hits overall between the two games.

“He came to play today. He’s a grinder, you know. He’s been putting out good at-bats throughout the season, even when he hasn’t gotten on,” Huhnstock said.

The Rebels were unable to get the bats going early in Saturday’s first game and too many free passes from the pitching staff proved to be the difference in a 6-3 loss to the Chargers. 

Wittenberg scored four times on bases loaded walks in the game and took a five-run lead to the seventh inning. The Rebels rallied for two in the top half of the inning, but made the final out on the base paths as Vanderbunt was thrown out at home trying to score after a Schneider fly out.

“Not much offense and a couple of errors, a couple of fly balls that could have probably been caught. It could have been a much closer game than what it was,” Huhnstock said.

Vanderbunt and reliever Oscar Hanson struggled with command on Saturday. After the two combined to walk 10 batters in a 12-7 loss at Medford last Tuesday, they walked 11 batters over six innings on Saturday. 

Vanderbunt walked three in the second, including bases-loaded free passes to Zandyr Barke and Nathan Waupenkenay that gave the Chargers a 2-0 lead. Wittenberg-Birnamwood tacked on two more in the fourth as Barke singled and scored on a Hayden Miller base knock. Miller later scored from third after the Rebels caught Waupenkenay in a rundown between first and second.

The Rebels got a run back in fifth as Augustine walked and scored on a Nofftz two-out base hit, but the Chargers added what proved to be two key insurance runs as Hanson walked three straight batters with two outs in the sixth, including bases-loaded free passes to Chris Sippl and Oliver Frazza.

Rhinelander mounted a rally in the seventh as Augustine singled followed by walks from Chandler Servent and Vanderbunt to load the bases with nobody out. Augustine and Servent scored on wild pitches to cut the lead to three. 

Wittenberg-Birnamwood outhit Rhinelander 6-3 in the contest. Vanderbunt took the loss, allowing four runs on six hits with four walks and five strikeouts over four innings. Waupenkenay allowed just two hits over six innings and struck out nine for Wittenberg-Birnamwood. 

The tournament was scheduled to begin Friday night with the Rebels facing Merrill, but persistent rain and mist prompted tournament officials to cancel the first day of the event. That marked the second time this year that Rhinelander and Merrill were rained out. The two teams were also supposed to meet in the final day of the Rebel Invite in Rhinelander.  

Rhinelander faced Altoona Sunday in the final day of the invite in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. The Rebels will have a home-and-home series with Minocqua this week. The Rebels will travel to Minocqua on Wednesday and host the 89ers this coming Friday.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].