Rebels split with Tomahawk, snap 3-game skid

TOMAHAWK — Last week was one the Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels would probably like to forget. However, after dropping three straight games — including two in lopsided fashion — it ended on a more positive note Friday night as the Rebels get set for a busy final week of the regular season.

    Rhinelander’s Tyler Chariton and Sam Schneider react after Schneider made a play deep in the hole at shortstop to record an out during the seventh inning of the second game of an American Legion baseball doubleheader at Tomahawk Friday, July 12. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Everyone in the Rebels’ starting nine recorded a hit as they outslugged Tomahawk 15-4 in five innings in a nightcap of a doubleheader at Kahle Field in Tomahawk. It was a needed bounce back for Rhinelander (8-9) after dropping the first game to the Cubs, 10-2, coming off the heels of a 16-0 shellacking at home against D.C. Everest on Wednesday.

“It was a rough, long week — including the first game tonight here,” Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. “Things didn’t go our way, but the guys are resilient and they came out and played real hard the second game and we got a nice W.”

The Rebels finally got some big innings of their own in Friday night’s second game, scoring three or more runs in four of the five innings against the Cubs. Rhinelander allowed all 10 of Tomahawk’s runs in the third inning in the first game off the heels of a contest in which they allowed six in the first and seven in the seventh against the Evergreens.

After collecting just four hits in Friday night’s first game, the Rebels came out swinging against Tomahawk’s Logan Norman in the second game as they jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. They also got some help from a Cubs’ defense that committed four errors in the first. 

Three of those errors led to the first run as John Turek had an infield hit, got to second when Sam Schneider reached on an error and third on a botched pickoff attempt before scoring as Kaden Vanney reached on an ball misplayed at first. Schneider scored from third as Vanney was thrown out attempting to steal second. Adrian Patrone walked and scored on a Tyler Chariton single while Max Ratty singled and eventually scored on a passed ball. 

Tomahawk got two runs back in the bottom of the first before the Rebels answered with four more in the second. Schneider singled home Conner Augustine, who walked to begin the inning. Ratty added a two-run single to left with the bases loaded and one out in the inning. Tomahawk plunked back-to-back hitters after that, forcing in another run. 

    Rhinelander’s Tyler Chariton slides around a tag attempt by Tomahawk’s Drew Tollefson during the first inning of the second game of an American Legion baseball doubleheader at Tomahawk Friday, July 12. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander added three in the third as Vanney hit an RBI double, Ratty walked with the bases loaded and Everson hit a two-out RBI single. Four more runs crossed in the fifth after the Rebels loaded the bases with nobody out. RBI singles by Chariton and Augustine bookended a run-scoring fielder’s choice from Everson. Turek added an RBI groundout later in the inning. 

“We could have used it in both games,” Huhnstock said of the Rebels’ 13 hits in Game 2. “It was definitely a tale of two games here, completely different games, completely different outcomes.”

Rhinelander needed that run support as Vanderbunt labored through 4 1/3 innings on the mound before reaching the pitch limit. He allowed six hits, including an RBI double from Cooper Hetzel and an RBI single from Brayden Larson in the first; an RBI single from Drew Tollefson in the second and an RBI double by Larson in the fourth. While Vanderbunt struck out four, he walked seven and hit a pair of batters as he struggled with command much of the evening.

“We needed to get him innings on the mound and he needs to keep working on being able to struggle through when he doesn’t have his greatest command,” Huhnstock said. “We know that he is on, he’s a great pitcher. He just has to mature enough to know how to work through the tough games.”

Even with an 11-run lead, the bottom of the fifth was somewhat stressful with Vanderbunt reaching the limit and very little depth remaining in the bullpen following a long week. Schneider made a great play deep in the hole at shortstop to throw out Nick Esselman for the first out of the inning. Vanderbunt reached the limit after walking Wally Horabik. Turek entered the game and hit Tyler Jablonski with an pitch and walked Tollefson to load the bases, but Hetzel grounded to short for a game-ending double play.

Vanderbunt was not the only pitch who struggled with command last week. Mason Schmidt had his first rough outing of the summer as he lost the zone in the third inning Friday night, leading to a monstrous inning for the Cubs. Schmidt walked four and hit two batters in the inning. That, coupled with a pair of singles, put Tomahawk up 7-1 by the time the Rebels went to the bullpen with two out in the inning. Vanney eventually put out the fire, but not before allowing an RBI single to Esselman and a two-run single to Horabik that made it 10-1.

“It was a real ugly inning there. Mason wasn’t as sharp as he has been most of the summer. Things really snowballed, as it’s had a habit of happening,” Huhnstock said.

Rhinelander jumped out of the gates strong as doubles by Vanderbunt and Schneider made it a 1-0 game in the first. The Rebels didn’t score again until the sixth when Schneider reached on a dropped fly ball to left and scored on a sacrifice fly by Adrian Patrone. 

Schneider pitched the final three innings for Rhinelander scoreless, but the damage had been done at that point. Meanwhile, despite not striking out in the game, the Rebels managed just four hits thanks to a series of hard-hit balls right to Tomahawk defenders. 

“They made a couple of plays and that really took the momentum away from us,” Huhnstock said.

    Rhinelander’s Barak Rappley stretches to receive a throw to first to retire D.C. Everest’s Nate Langbehn during the first inning of an American Legion baseball game at Stafford Field Wednesday, July 10. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Rebel staff struggled with command Wednesday at home against D.C. Everest, issuing 13 walks and hitting three batters. Ratty wasn’t immune from the issues as he walked five batters, including two with the bases loaded as part of Everest’s six-run first. Oscar Hanson walked six over an inning-plus of work as he allowed two runs in the sixth and three without recording an out in the seventh. Things devolved from there as there were two walks, two hit batters, two errors and a sacrifice fly among the seven batters Turek faced before Schneider eventually came on to put out the fire.

By the time it was all said and done, the Evergreens had 16 runs on only seven hits.

“It was not a pretty game tonight,” Huhnstock said. “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.”

The Rebels kicked off the final week of the regular season at home against Marathon on Monday in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander plays host to Medford on Wednesday, travels to Everest Friday and will close out the regular season with a home doubleheader against Clintonville on Saturday. 

“We’ve got a busy week, that’s for sure. It will be very interesting to see how it plays out,” Huhnstock said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].