Saturday blowouts, Sunday rain give Rebels title in home invite

The Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels took advantage of a couple of teams managing their pitching staffs on Saturday as they rolled to a pair of blowout wins. That ended up being good enough to give Rhinelander the title in its home invite, as heavy rains Sunday morning washed away a potential championship game.

The Rebels were patient at the plate and cashed in on some erratic pitching as they defeated Marquette 14-4 and Minocqua 14-0 Saturday in the Rebel Invite.

Three teams still remained in contention for the title entering Sunday morning’s play, but it never got off the ground. After overnight rains, a large cell parked over the field right as Marquette (Mich.) and Fond du Lac Springs were moments from getting ready to begin Sunday’s first game. By the time it passed nearly an hour later, the field was rendered unplayable until late afternoon. 

That spared Rhinelander a potential winner-take-all championship game against Merrill (2-1) later in the day if Fond du Lac Springs would have stumbled. The Ledgers, who beat Minocqua and Merrill on Saturday, were still in the running to win the title via a tiebreaker if they and Merrill had both won Sunday, resulting in three teams at 3-1. 

Regardless, Saturday’s games kept the momentum going for Rhinelander (3-2) after it rallied from down four runs to beat Fond du Lac Springs 9-8 Friday night in the opening day of the tournament. 

    Rhinelander’s Mason Schmidt pitches during the second inning of an American Legion baseball game against Minocqua at Stafford Field Saturday, June 15. Schmidt struck out eight for the Rebels in a 14-0 victory. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

Both Rhinelander starting pitchers Saturday — Max Ratty against Marquette and Mason Schmidt against Lakeland — had almost run up against the 105-pitch daily limit by the time they finished the fifth innings, but got enough support to run-rule both teams and save any additional burden on the Rebel pitching staff. 

“We played some really good ball today,” Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said after Saturday’s games. “Pitchers pitched very well today. We got two complete games, one out of Max, one out of Mason. It was really, really quite a nice pitching performance, a whole team performance. We played pretty clean ball and got some timely hitting.”

After exploding for four runs the night before in the opening inning against Fond du Lac Springs, the Rebels did the same thing Saturday morning against Marquette. A pair of walks and a passed ball set the stage for the middle of the order with two outs. Max Ratty delivered with a two-run single to left center and Adrian Patrone followed with a double to left to make it 3-0. Patrone made it 4-0 as he stole third and came home on an overthrow.

The run parade didn’t stop there. Conner Augustine walked and scored on a wild pitch in the second. After the Reds scored one when Halen McCullom was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, the Rebels answered with six runs in the third. An error, a wild pitch and a passed ball yielded three of the runs. Owen Kurtz added an RBI groundout, Dylan Vanderbunt had an RBI single and scored on Seth Nofftz’s RBI groundout. 

Patrone added a run in the top of the fourth as he walked and scored on a wild pitch to make it 12-1. The Reds got the game out of the run-rule threshold with three runs in the bottom of the inning, thanks to a bases loaded hit-by-pitch, an RBI fielder’s choice and a throwing error.

The Rebels responded and got back to the 10-run margin in the top of the fifth as Vanderbunt doubled and scored on a Sam Schneider groundout. Kaden Vanney was hit by a wild pitch and came home on a wild pitch with two outs. 

“We done some extra base running today, got some free bases, got some free stuff and took advantage of what were dealt,” Huhnstock said.

Ratty worked around a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth to finish the game on 101 pitches. He walked five, struck out five and allowed three hits in the game. 

Marquette used five different pitchers in the contest. None lasted more than an inning and a third and all five walked a pair of batters.

Saturday evening’s game against Minocqua was played in steady rain, which appeared to effect the 89ers more than the Rebels. Minocqua pitchers combined for nine walks, five wild pitches and four hit batters in the game while Schmidt walked only one and worked around of pair of wild pitches when Minocqua mounted a rally in the third. 

Schmidt struck out eight in the game, and scattered three hits, as he picked up his first varsity-level win.

“He’s been showing that since the second half of JV ball,” Huhnstock said. “In his three appearances so far for Legion this summer, he’s showing that he can be a real strong pitcher for the Rebels the rest of the summer and the Hodags next spring.”

The Rebels scored without the aid of a hit in the first as Vanderbunt, Nofftz and Vanney all walked and later scored thanks to two wild pitches and a passed ball. 

Sam Schneider blooped a two-run double into shallow right-center in the second and later scored on a wild pitch as the Rebels made it 6-0. Owen Kurtz and Tyler Chariton both scored on passed balls in the third and the Rebels tacked on six more runs in the fourth, keyed by two-run singles by Kurtz and Vanderbunt. Max Ratty was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded that inning and Schmidt scored when Nofftz reached on a two-out error.

Kurtz had three hits for Rhinelander as the Rebels outhit the 89ers 7-3. Mitch Fulton pitched three-plus innings in the loss for Minocqua while Cooper Johnson pitched the final two innings. 

The Rebels were slated to face Northwoods Wednesday at Stafford Field in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander wraps up a five-game homestand this evening against Everest and will hit the road Monday to take on Crandon. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].