Rebels rally to split with Minocqua

After two tough tussles with Minocqua last week, the Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels know they’ll have their hands full later this month when they see their rivals to the north again in the Legion regional tournament. 

At least Rhinelander will go into that meeting with some confidence following some last-inning heroics Friday night. 

Tyler Chariton smacked a single to left with one out in the seventh to cap a four-run rally as the Rebels stunned the 89ers in dramatic fashion 6-5 at Stafford Field. The win allowed Rhinelander to salvage a split of their home-and-home series with the 89ers after losing the opener 3-2 on Wednesday in Minocqua.

Rhinelander won the regular season series over Minocqua two games to one thanks to a 14-0 rout of the 89ers during last month’s Rebel Invite. However, the teams found out last week that they will have at least one more meeting at the end of the month when they are set to face off as part of the four-team Class AA Region 2 tournament in Merrill.

“I think we have no secrets anymore between us and them after these last couple games,” Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. “All I know is they’ve been playing really good ball and we’re going to have to play really good ball to beat them in the regionals.”

The Rebels didn’t play their best ball last week and Minocqua was opportunistic, parlaying Rebels errors into a couple of big innings. That ultimately cost Rhinelander Wednesday’s game and would have been the difference on Friday if not for the late rally. 

Trailing 5-2 in the seventh, the Rebels got an infield hit from Conner Augustine to lead off the inning before Dylan Vanderbunt struck out looking in a seven-pitch at bat that pushed Minocqua starter Ben Peterson to Legion’s daily 105-pitch limit.

The Rebels teed off on reliever Danny Gahler. Seth Nofftz greeted him with a double before Sam Schneider singled to left to score Augustine and make it a 5-3 game. From there Adrian Patrone walked to load the bases and Owen Kurtz hit a roller up the third base line that Peterson couldn’t handle, allowing Nofftz to score and cut the lead to one. Cody Everson then drew a four pitch walk to score Schneider, tie the game and set the stage for Chariton. 

The senior-to-be lined a 2-1 offering from Gahler past a drawn-in infield to give the Rebels the victory.

“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. “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.”

Rhinelander overcame being down four runs on two separate occasions in the contest. Aided by a line shot from Logan Gray Ives that popped in and out of Schneider’s glove at third, the 89ers used the free out and cashed in thanks to a pair of two-out, two-run bloop singles to left by Ashton Bremer and Cooper Johnson to go up 4-0 in the second.  

The Rebels answered on a Barak Rappley RBI groundout in the bottom of the inning, but the 89ers restored their four-run cushion thanks to some timely hitting and aggressive base running in the fourth. Gahler moved from first to third on the hit-and-run courtesy of a Ashton Bremer single to right. The two then executed a double steal of second and home to make it 5-1 Minocqua.

Rhinelander got nothing else off Peterson until the sixth. Adrian Patrone was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, advanced on a wild pitch and then scored on an overthrow after stealing third. That occurred during a long at-bat by Chariton, who ended up drawing an eight-pitch walk with two outs in the inning, which helped to drive up Peterson’s pitch count.

Peterson struck out seven and scattered four hits over 6 1/3 innings for Minocqua but left with a no-decision.

“It did help when Ben ended up reaching pitch count so that we got a different look up there,” Huhnstock said. “Ben really pitched a whale of a game against us until that point. Just a different look and our guys put together some good ABs there.”

Mason Schmidt lasted four innings for Rhinelander, allowing five runs, but just one earned, on four hits with four walks and three strikeouts. Schneider pitched the final three innings hitless to earn the win. He walked five and struck out eight as Minocqua failed to put a single ball in play against him.

“That’s unusual. A couple of pickoff moves and just real good,” Huhnstock said of Schneider’s accomplishment. 

The Rebels squandered another strong pitching effort on Wednesday as Max Ratty struck out nine and scattered just four hits over six innings.

    Rhinelander’s Max Ratty pitches during the first inning of an American Legion baseball game at Minocqua Wednesday, July 3. Ratty struck out nine over six innings Wednesday, but ended up taking a tough-luck loss in a 3-2 loss to the 89ers. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

“Max done a whale of a job pitching, complete game, 94 pitches. He was in control the whole game,” Huhnstock said. “I think there was only really one hard-hit ball off of him. The rest of them were pretty much soft contact. We’ve just got to play a little bit better defense and we win that game 3-1, 3-0.”

It was all for naught as the 89ers strung together a rally in the fourth. With Minocqua trailing 2-0, Merick Trotter doubled down the left field line to lead off the inning and then got to third when Patrone couldn’t handle a hot shot to first by Johnson. Peterson singled to left scoring Trotter. After Logan Gray Ives reached on a fielder’s choice and Mitch Fulton flew out to right, a wild pitch allowed Johnson to score from third to tie the game before Max Keuer singled up the middle to give the 89ers the lead. 

Keuer struck out seven over five innings for Minocqua on Wednesday. He allowed only two hits — RBI singles by Ratty in the first and Chariton in the third — that gave Rhinelander the lead. Gahler faced the minimum over the final two innings, striking out three to earn the save. The only blemish was a two-out walk to Everson in the sixth, but that was quickly erased as Gahler got Everson leaning off of first, which led to an inning-ending rundown. 

The Rebels (6-6) remained at .500 on the summer thanks to the split with Minocqua. Rhinelander was set to host Crandon Monday night in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition and will be back in action Friday night as it plays a doubleheader at Tomahawk.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].