Rebels rocky in summer debut

Rhinelander Post 7 manager Dan Huhnstock summed things up succinctly Monday night after hardly anything seemed to go right for his Rebels in the American Legion baseball season opener.

“We got our first game under our belt,” he said. “There’s no place to go but up from here.”

Antigo scored multiple runs in every inning except the fifth and Tyler Chariton’s infield single with two outs in the bottom of the fifth broke up the Typhoon’s no-hit bid as Rhinelander fell 13-2 at Stafford Field.

Max Ratty labored through three innings for Rhinelander. He needed 93 pitches to get through his short outing. Meanwhile, the Rebels could not take advantage of some erratic Antigo pitching. They stranded 10 runners in the contest and failed to collect an RBI. 

Monday’s game looked like a continuation of the spring for a roster that featured many of the same players who were on a Rhinelander High School baseball team that scuffled to a 1-19 mark. 

“We left a lot of runners on base. We had opportunities, could have made it a much closer game with a key hit or two here or there,” Huhnstock said. 

“We didn’t come up with any clutch hits. We made a couple of errors, had a few too many walks,” Huhnstock added. “We’ll get it figured out and we’ll end up getting the ship righted.”

Antigo jumped on Ratty with two out in the opening inning as Gordon Lucht walked to load the bases before a two-run single to right by Trevor Tarras and an RBI single by Wyatt Krause made it a 3-0 game. 

Defense cost the Rebels in the second. A throwing error by Kaden Vanney at third allowed Gunnar Roth to score and a passed ball against catcher Chandler Servent brought Alec Knapkavage home, making it 5-0. 

Ratty walked Alec Knapkavage with the bases loaded to force in a run in the third, Mason Gray added an RBI groundout and Preston Knapkavage scored on a wild pitch to give the Typhoon an 8-0 lead. Ratty finished just 12 pitches shy of the Legion daily limit of 105 pitches, allowing eight runs on six hits with six walks and four strikeouts. 

“Max, it was a lot of stuff like earlier in the high school season, kind of tough-luck behind him — a couple of errors and a lot of runners left on base and no run support,” Huhnstock said. “He’ll get it figured out. He’ll pitch a lot of innings for us this summer. I’m totally confident in that.”

Rhinelander got on the board without the aid of a hit in the third. Sam Schneider, one of two age-eligible Class of 2023 players on the roster, scored on a wild pitch after two walks and a hit batter allowed the Rebels to load the bases. 

Things further unraveled for the Rebels in the fourth behind reliever Oscar Hanson. He walked four batters and misplayed a grounder up the middle by Tarras. A passed ball, an RBI single by Javon Bussey and a two-run single by Mason Gray made it 12-1 before Hanson was relieved by senior-to-be Mason Schmidt, who made his varsity-level debut. 

Schmidt hit Lucht with the bases loaded to force in another run before getting a fielder’s choice to get out of the inning. Schmidt then worked a scoreless fifth. He worked around a single and a walk by getting Alec Knapkavage to strikeout to end the inning. 

“Mason Schmidt came in and threw a very productive couple of innings there toward the end of the game. Put the only goose egg up on the board for us,” Huhnstock said. “I wanted to see how Mason would keep on throwing the ball for us, but he’ll get more chances as we get into the next week of a lot of baseball.”

Walks by Schmidt and Owen Kurtz kept the fifth alive for Chariton who hit a hard grounder to third. Bussey made a diving stop to keep the ball in the infield, but his throw to first was late and high, allowing Schmidt to score on the play. Kurtz moved to third on the play and Chariton, representing the game-extending run, moved to second but Barak Rappley struck out to end the contest. 

The Rebels were just 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position on Monday. Rappley lined out to first to end a bases loaded threat in the second while Kurtz went down swinging with the bases loaded in the third. 

Preston Knapkavage pitched three innings of hitless ball for Antigo, working around six walks and a pair of hit batsmen thanks to three strikeouts. Alec Knapkavage pitched the final two innings, allowing an unearned run with two walks and two strikeouts. 

The Rebels (0-1) were scheduled to travel to Eagle River Wednesday evening to face Northwoods in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander will open its annual Rebel Invite at Stafford Field this evening. Five teams will take part in the 10-game round robin tournament. 

The Rebels will face Fond du Lac Springs in tonight’s nightcap at approximately 8 p.m. Rhinelander will start out tomorrow’s five-game slate against Marquette at 10 a.m. and close it against Minocqua at approximately 6 p.m. Rhinelander will round out tournament play Sunday against Merrill at approximately 2 p.m.

Five games in five days will serve as a trial by fire for the team, but one Huhnstock said will hopefully pay dividends later in the season. 

“I think it’s going to be all hands on deck all summer. We’ve got a lot of things to figure out, a lot of things to work on,” he said. “It’s going to be an interesting summer. Hopefully, we’re a whole lot better team at the end of the summer than we are starting out.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].