Rebels to compete in ‘up for grabs’ regional

By Sunday afternoon, one of four Northwoods area teams will have punched its ticket to the Wisconsin American Legion Class AA state tournament.

The four-team, double-elimination Region 2 tournament gets underway this afternoon when a pair of Northwoods rivals — Rhinelander and Minocqua — meet for the fourth time this summer. Medford and Merrill will square off in tonight’s nightcap.

Considering how their respective high school teams did in the spring, Medford and Merrill might be considered the favorites to meet again on Sunday, when the championship game is played. Medford knocked off Merrill in extra innings in the sectional semifinals, before eventually falling to La Crosse Logan in the sectional finals. 

A Medford-Merrill rematch would also serve as a reprise of last year when Medford — despite a loss to Rhinelander on the first day of the regional tournament — made it all the way back through the losers’ bracket and eventually beat Merrill twice to reach the state tournament. 

However, Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock, says neither his team nor Minocqua can be counted out in the double-elimination format. Rhinelander’s numbers have significantly improved over a one-win spring season and Minocqua played a 10-inning thriller against Merrill Post 46 back in June during the Rebel Invite in Rhinelander, eventually falling 13-12.

“I think this regional is up for grabs, really,” Huhnstock said. “I know Minocqua’s been playing pretty good ball as the summer has progressed. Merrill is always a tough out and Medford, going on their pedigree from recent years and high school ball, is probably the odds-on betting favorite. But we’ve got to play the games and I believe it’s anybody’s tournament to win.”

How things go tonight will help to determine how much baseball each team plays tomorrow. The losers of tonight’s contests will play at noon tomorrow in an elimination game. The winners will play at 2:30, with the winner of that game automatically advancing to Sunday’s championship game. The loser will have to stick around and play the winner of Saturday’s first game to determine the other team that makes it to Sunday.

Championship Sunday will begin at noon. After the that game, if the two remaining teams each have one loss following that game, they will turn around and play again in a winner-take all championship game. 

The winner of the tournament will head to West Salem for the Class AA state tournament Aug. 2-6.

Here’s a closer look at each team in the field:

Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels

2024 Record: 8-12

Last 5 games: 1-4

Record vs. Field: Minocqua 2-1, Merrill 0-0, Medford 0-2

Season synopsis: It’s been an up-and-down summer for the Rebels, who had a four-game winning streak early in the season but have fallen on hard times of late — dropping six of their final seven games. However, tournament play has been where the Rebels seem to shine. They won all three games played in their home tournament and went 2-1 in the Merrill Invite June 28-29. 

Offense: While not as torrid as last year’s .565 average, age-eligible 2023 graduate Sam Schneider continues to put up impressive offensive numbers this summer as he leads the team in batting average (.452), extra base hits (9) and RBIs (19). 

Rhinelander has seen some bats that were cool this spring turn around in the summer. Max Ratty is hitting .385 on the season with nine RBIs while Owen Kurtz finished a home run short of the cycle July 17 vs. Medford and comes in hitting .359 with a home run and 12 RBIs. Adrian Patrone (.320) and Kaden Vanney (.349) also come in hitting over .300 on the summer.

Pitching: A busy summer has meant plenty of arms, as the Rebels have used eight different pitchers this year. Statistically, Vanney has performed the best of those pitchers. He’s gone 1-2 with a 1.75 ERA with 21 strikeouts and 12 walks over 20 innings. Senior-to-be Mason Schmidt started the season strong, and still has decent numbers (2-1, 2.96 ERA, 28 K, 19 BB, 23.2 IP) despite walking eight batters over 4 1/3 innings in his last two outings. Ratty leads the team in innings pitched (28.1) and strikeouts (32) while Schneider (1-0, 3.20 ERA, 25 K, 10 BB, 15.1 IP) has been an arm the team has turned to down the stretch for late-inning relief.

Notable: As Huhnstock said after a 3-1 loss to Everest to close out the regular season, how far the Rebels play may come down to how well they execute.

“When we bring our A game where we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot too often, we can play with anybody,” he said. 

Minocqua Post 89 89ers

2024 Record: 5-9

Last 5 Games: 2-3

Record vs. Field: Rhinelander 1-2, Merrill 0-1, Medford 0-0

Season synopsis: Minocqua has been no stranger to close games this summer, with eight of their 14 game decided by either one or two runs. That includes a barn-burner against Merrill June 14 in Rhinelander in which it led 10-3 in the third inning but eventually lost 13-12. That wasn’t the only time the 89ers experienced a walk-off loss in Rhinelander. The Rebels rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat the 89ers 6-5 when the teams met July 5. 

Offense: Catcher Ashton Bremer has had one of the hottest bats for the 89ers this summer, hitting .372 with a home run and an RBI, according to data the team has posted on to the GameChanger scoring service. Bremer is also a threat when he gets on the bases, as he has been successful in 21 of his 24 stolen base attempts on the summer. Cooper Johnson is hitting .308 with 5 RBIs while Ben Peterson is .297 with 5 RBIs.

Pitching: Peterson is also Minocqua’s top option on the hill, sporting three wins and a 2.35 ERA. He’s struck out 33 and walked 16 over 30 2/3 innings of work. Junior-to-be Max Keuer has impressed during the summer, and has logged the second-most innings on the team at 25.2. His 2.10 ERA is a staff-best. Keuer’s big game came in a seven-strikeout performance July 3 against Rhinelander. He pitched five innings that day and hit the go-ahead RBI in the fifth as the 89ers won, 3-2.

Notable: Rhinelander leads the series between the teams 2-1 this summer. The first meeting between the teams proved to be an anomaly as Rhinelander won 14-0 in rainy conditions June 15 in the Rebel Invite. Huhnstock said the two, one-run games the teams played in July are likely going to be indicative of the game the teams play tonight.

“I think we have no secrets anymore between us and them after these last couple games,” he said following the July 5 win. “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.”

Medford Post 147 Raiders

    In this July 17, 2024 file photo, Medford’s Blake Bargender swings at a pitch during an American Legion baseball game against Rhinelander at Stafford Field. Bargender is one of several Abbotsford players who are playing for Medford this summer. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Team record: 8-3

Last 5 games: 5-0

Record vs. Field: Rhinelander 2-0, Merrill 0-0, Minocqua 0-0

Season synopsis: Medford has not had a lot of sample size to judge from this summer, playing just 11 games, but they come into the tournament strong, having won their last five games. That included a 8-2 victory over Everest en rout to winning the Antigo Invite July 12-14. The Raiders fortified what was already a strong high school team by rostering a few players from a Colby/Abbotsford team that won 20 games during the spring and made a regional final. All of those additions were from Abbotsford, allowing Medford to stay under the enrollment threshold to compete in the second-tier Class AA.

Offense: One of those Abbotsford additions, Blake Bargender, has produced at the plate, hitting .400 with seven RBIs. He drove in two of those runs in a July 17 game against Rhinelander in which he went 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles. Parker Lissner (.556, 9 RBIs) and Tanner Hraby (.516, HR, 11 RBIs) have also been staples at the top of the Raiders’ lineup. 

Pitching: Another Abbotsford pick-up, JV Castillo, has bolstered Medford’s rotation. He comes in 3-1 on the summer with a 0.98 ERA over 14 1/3 innings. He allowed one hit in four scoreless innings with five strikeouts when Rhinelander played the Raiders in Whittlesey June 25. Hraby (2-1, 2.14 ERA, 16.1 IP) and Nick Steliga (1-1, 4.70 ERA, 19.1 IP) have helped to shoulder the bulk of the innings.

Notable: Rhinelander has likely yet to see Medford’s best nine this summer. Both teams were down a handful of key starters in the June 25 contest at Whittlesey. The Raiders, very short on players due to a football camp, actually borrowed brothers Landyn and Brody Hoeft from Northwoods to field a starting nine when the rematch took place in Rhinelander. With a repeat trip to state on the line, Huhnstock said he expects the Raiders to have all of their front-line players ready to roll this weekend. 

“Once we get to regionals, I’m sure they’ll have all of their troops there,” he said. “They’ll have a much stronger-looking team than what they had here. They will definitely be a tough out.” 

Merrill Post 46

Record: 9-10

Last 5 Games: 1-4

Record vs. Field: Minocqua 1-0, Medford 0-0, Rhinelander 0-0.

Season synopsis: Arguably, Merrill played the toughest regular season schedule as they posted a 4-9 record in the Wisconsin Valley Legion League. They split with Plover, Wausau, Antigo and Marshfield in league play. Merrill also won its home invite thanks in part to a 8-7 walk-off win over Wittenberg-Birnamwood. 

Offense: Merrill has plenty of offensive firepower, sporting five players hitting .300 or better. Brady Kanitz (.406, 11 RBIs) leads that charge, followed by Ben Thom (.393, 8 RBIs), Brady Norton (.390, 17 RBIs) and Connor Cortright (.333, HR, 9 RBIs). Norton is also a threat on the base paths, as he’s 9 for 9 in stolen base attempts on the summer.

Pitching: Merrill may sport the most pitching depth of any team in the tournament — a necessity considering the busy summer schedule it has played. Merrill had seven different players log at least 10 innings on the mound during the regular season. Isaak Clapper leads that platoon, sporting a 0.45 ERA over 15 2/3 innings with 18 strikeouts. EJ Weix (1-0, 2.33 ERA, 19 K, 5 BB, 12 IP) and Dawson Schultz (1-0, 1.97 ERA, 10 K, 2 BB, 10.2 IP) have also posted strong numbers over the summer.

Notable: Blame Mother Nature for the fact that Rhinelander and Merrill have yet to face each other this summer, despite both teams playing in the other’s home tournament. Merrill and Rhinelander would have likely squared off in the championship game of the Rebel Invite June 16, had morning rains not washed that game away. The teams were supposed to meet again June 28 to kick off the Merrill Invite, but Mother Nature intervened again, raining out that contest.

“The games that we lost due to weather, two of them happened to be against Merrill and both of them happened to be in tournaments. It’s been kind of a funny summer that way,” Huhnstock said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].