Rebels drop two going into postseason

The Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels were more competitive in their final regular season contests of the season late last week, but were unable to break out of their recent losing streak.

A late rally fell short Wednesday night as the Rebels fell to Medford 6-4 at Stafford Field and the team did not get enough offense at the right time Friday night in a 3-1 loss at D.C. Everest. A doubleheader against Clintonville that was scheduled for Saturday at Stafford Field was canceled after Clintonville was unable to field enough players to make the trip north. 

That leaves Rhinelander at 8-12 entering the Class AA regionals, which get underway Friday in Merrill. The Rebels will come into the tournament having lost six of their last seven games. However, manager Dan Huhnstock said the team can take some solace in the fact it played better baseball than it did in its first meetings of the year against Medford and Everest. 

Rhinelander trailed 12-0 at Medford before making a late rally and losing 12-7 back on June 25. Nothing went right for the Rebels in a 16-0 loss to Everest at home July 10.

“When we bring our A game where we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot too often, we can play with anybody,” Huhnstock said following Friday night’s loss. “One well-placed clutch hit and we probably win that game.”

The same could have been said on Wednesday night, as the Rebels fell to Medford despite taking the hit column 12-5. Free bases ultimately ended up being Rhinelander’s undoing on Wednesday night as five of Medford six runs either reached via the walk or being hit by a pitch.

Dylan Vanderbunt worked 3 1/3 innings in the Medford game as the goal was to keep him under 60 pitches in order to be eligible to throw again on Saturday. 

He left after giving up a single to Carson Carbaugh and a walk to Landyn Hoeft — one of two players Medford borrowed from Northwoods in order to field a team on Wednesday. 

Mason Schmidt came on in relief and, after allowing a sacrifice fly to Jack Wojick, walked four straight batters. Brody Hoeft’s bases-loaded free pass forced in a run and a wild pitch scored Michael Borchardt to make it 3-0.

Sam Schneider wasn’t immune to the control issues when he came on in the sixth. He was one strike away from getting out of the inning in order, up 0-2 in the count on Brody Hoeft. Hoeft worked the count back to even before getting plunked with a 2-2 pitch. Schneider then hit Tanner Hraby and walked Nick Stella to load the bases. Hoeft scored on a wild pitch before Blake Bargender doubled to left to put Medford up 6-0.

    Rhinelander’s Dylan Vanderbunt pitches during the first inning of an American Legion baseball game against Medford at Stafford Field Wednesday, July 17. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

“Our pitchers struggled a little bit with control tonight and gave them some free base runners. They were able to push across enough to get the win,” Huhnstock said.

Rhinelander was unable to get anything on seven hits through the first five innings before finally getting some offense late. Owen Kurtz reached on a single and scored on a Conner Augustine grounder in the sixth. The Rebels then strung together a rally in the seventh as Vanderbunt singled to lead off the inning. Kaden Vanney singled and Max Ratty drew a walk to load the bases with two outs for Kurtz, who cleared the bases with a triple to the right-center gap. 

That brought the tying run to the plate in Tyler Chariton, but he grounded out to third to end the contest. 

“We had opportunities early in the game and we couldn’t come up with the clutch hit,” Huhnstock said. “We put some runs on them right at the end of the game. Owen came up with a real big hit for us, it just wasn’t quite enough. We squandered too many opportunities early in the game.”

Kurtz led the offense for Rhinelander, going 3 for 4 and finishing a home run short of the cycle. Sam Schneider and Vanney added two hits each. Steliga went the distance in the win for Medford. He was able to work around 12 hits as he walked only one batter in the contest. 

It was a similar story for Rhinelander Friday night at Everest. The Rebels had at least one runner in scoring position in every inning except the fourth, but had only one run to show for it as Adrian Patrone doubled in the sixth and scored when Augustine reached on an error.

Everest took the lead in the first inning on a two-out RBI single by Pierson MacDonald. Jonathan Lewis walked and scored twice later in the game. He scored on an RBI double by Nevin Poppy in the fourth and again when Colin Ebersold drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth.

“We played a real quality team in Everest and they did have several of the Mosinee connections there,” Huhnstock said. “A real quality team that they put on the field and we played them very tight, close. It was a well-played game, well-pitched on both sides. We hung right with them.”

Vanney went 5 1/3 innings in the loss for Rhinelander. He allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits with five walks and four strikeouts. Schneider walked two and struck out two in two-thirds of an inning of relief. 

Rhinelander will face Minocqua at 5 p.m. Friday to begin the Class AA Region 2 tournament in Merrill. Medford and Merrill are the two other teams in the double-elimination tournament that will run through Sunday. The winner will advance to the AA state tournament Aug. 2-6 in West Salem.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].