Rebels win 1 of 3 at Merrill

MERRILL — As the American Legion season nears the halfway point for the Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels it is becoming clear that depth and minimizing mistakes will be critical to the teams chances when the Class AA regional tournament rolls round.

Both of those aspects were tested this past weekend in Merrill. Rhinelander won only one of three games in the Art Perkins Memorial tournament, defeating Minocqua Post 89 10-7 on Saturday morning. Though the Rebels made late comebacks in their other two games, big innings were too much to overcome in a 10-6 loss to Merrill Post 46 on Friday night and a 9-8 loss to Chippewa Falls Post 77 on Saturday afternoon.

Rhinelander’s top two pitchers from the spring — Conner Rappley and Jackson Waydick — weren’t able to throw over the weekend, putting stress on the rest of the Rebels’ pitching staff. That pressure only amplified when Mason Schmidt left the mound before recording an out against Lakeland with an apparent arm issue. 

Big innings were a theme in the three games — Rhinelander allowed four or more runs in an inning in each of the three contests. The Rebels also committed four errors in each of the games and averaged nine free passes a game via the walk or hit batter. 

“Over the weekend we made too many mistakes defensively and gave other teams too many free runners. We clean that up a little bit, and we’re going to win these close games,” Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said. “It was a good weekend a ball down here. Kids got a lot of experience. Some kids that haven’t played a lot are getting to play a lot and everybody’s giving their 100% out there. We’re going to grow and gel from it.”

Merrill 10, Rhinelander 6

A seven-run fifth inning proved to be the difference Friday Night as the Rebels opened with a 10-6 loss to the hosting Bluejays.

Merrill got to Rhinelander reliever Rowan Wiczek that inning as he struggled with command. Wiczek walked four batters in the inning, hit another and gave up three hits — the last of which was a two-run double by E.J. Weix that made it a 10-1 ball game. 

Rhinelander, serving as the home team by virtue of a coin flip, rallied back for two runs in the bottom of the fifth and three more in the seventh but ran out of time. 

Vince White started and went three innings for the Rebels — pulled before reaching 80 pitches to be eligible to return to the mound in less than four days rest. He gave up two unearned runs and struck out six. Cooper Wendorf walked and scored on a passed ball following a two-out error in the second. Kory Page reached on an error in the third and scored on a single by Isaak Clapper. 

Rhinelander got a run back the bottom half of the inning as Dylan Vanderbunt singled scored on a two-out double by White. Page singled home Ben Thom on a two-out single in the fourth to give Merrill a 3-1 lead. 

Weix went 4 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and striking out seven in the win. Rhinelander’s bats finally came alive once he left the mound. Rappley, available in a first base and designated hitting role for the weekend, greeted Page with a two-run triple in the fifth and the Rebels had five straight batters each safely in the seventh. Wiczek hit an RBI single, Tyler Chariton drew a bases-loaded walk and Parker McCone hit a sacrifice fly that put the tying run in the on-deck circle with two outs for the Rebels, but Josh Willoughby popped out to end the contest. 

“Merrill’s a good squad. They’re starting pitcher through a whale of a game. We didn’t hit him very well. We did make a late rally in that one once they had to pull him due to pitch-count reasons,” Huhnstock noted. 

Merrill outhit Rhinelander 7-5 in the contest. Rappley went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs for Rhinelander. Vanderbunt pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief for the Rebels.

Rhinelander 10, Minocqua 7

Charlie Johnson was the unsuspecting hero for the Rebels in Saturday morning’s game, getting all 21 outs from the bullpen as Rhinelander got past Minocqua 10-7.

Schmidt, who was coming off a complete-game effort in a win five days earlier against Kingsford, Mich., walked three batters and hit two others before leaving the game in the first inning. Cooper Johnson hit a two-run single off Charlie Johnson to make it 4-0 Minocqua but the Rhinelander junior-to be settled in and did not allow an earned run in the contest. He struck out seven and walked two, allowing just three hits in the win.

“He did a whale of a job coming in and giving us a chance to get back in the game,” Huhnstock said.

Rhinelander answered Minocqua’s four-spot with one of its own in the bottom half of the first inning. Rappley singled home Vanderbunt, Sawyer Bishop singled and scored on a passed ball and Chariton added a two-run single that scored Rappley and Wiczek. 

Rhinelander jumped ahead in the second on a sacrifice fly by Bishop and an RBI single by White. The 89ers tied it with two runs off a misplayed fly ball to left with two outs in the third, but Rhinelander took the lead for good with four runs in the fourth. Walks by Vanderbunt and White bookended a Bishop single to load the bases with one out for the Rebels. Vanderbunt scored when Rappley reached on an error, Wiczek followed with an RBI single, Chariton was hit by a pitch to force in a run and Charlie Johnson had an RBI groundout to make it 10-6. 

Charlie Johnson sat down 10 straight from the third to sixth innings. Minocqua tried to rally in the seventh at Ben Peterson walked and scored on a Merick Trotter grounder but, after Cooper Johnson was hit by a pitch, Charlie Johnson induced a game-ending double play ball off the bat of Matthew Marocco. 

Rhinelander outhit Minocqua 9-3 in the contest with both Bishop and Chariton recording two hits for the Rebels. 

“I think the pitching matchup was pretty good for us, and we were able to work enough walks and get enough timely base hits, hit some hard hit balls, and was able to pull away in that one,” Huhnstock said.

Chippewa Falls 9, Rhinelander 8

    Rhinelander’s Tyler Chariton catches a line drive and prepares to step on second to turn a double play during the third inning of an American Legion baseball game against Chippewa Falls in Merrill Saturday, June 28. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Bishop struggled with command in a relief apparence, allowing six runs over two innings, which proved to be the difference in the Rebels loss to Chippewa Falls in Saturday afternoon’s finale. 

Bishop took the mound in the sixth with the score tied at 3-all, but walked four that inning and hit a batter as Chippewa Falls scored five runs on only one hit. 

Wiczek hit a bases-clearing, three-run double in the sixth to cut the margin to 8-6, but Chippewa Falls scored one key insurance run in the top of the seventh. Eli Burmeister walked and stole second when the Rebels couldn’t secure a throw to the bag that appeared to be delivered in time to get an out. Burmeister scored what proved to be the winning run from second after Willoughby was unable to locate a wild pitch that had gone all the way to the backstop as Matt Frenette drew a one-out walk. 

The Rebels loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh. Bishop had an RBI fielder’s choice and, following a strikeout by White, Rappley singled to right to make it a one-run game. Wiczek then laced a 3-1 offering right to Luke Thompson at third base, who caught the rocket line drive for the final out of the game. 

“He really smoked that ball and they make a play where we didn’t make a couple plays earlier in the game, you know, (otherwise) we win that game,” Huhnstock said. “But that’s baseball.”

Willoughby gave the Rebels the early lead on a two-out base hit the second that scored Wiczek. Chippewa Falls answered with two in the top of the third but Rhinelander retook the lead in the bottom of the third as Rappley hit an RBI double and scored when Chariton reached on a two-out error. 

Chippewa Falls tied in the fifth as Austin Frenette singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Isaiah Toylen. 

Vanderbunt went five innings in a no-decision for Rhinelander, allowing three runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. 

Rhinelander outhit Chippewa Falls 12-5 in the contest. Rappley and Willoughby each had three hits for Rhinelander while White and Wiczek had two each. The Rebels stranded 12 base runners in the loss. 

“That’s been kind of the theme all year long as we just haven’t been able to get to clutch hit when we absolutely need it. Hopefully we’re getting a little bit better at that. If we’re going to make any kind of run in the regional tournament, we’re going to have to get better at it,” Huhnstock said.

Regional matchups determined

Rhinelander will get another look at Merrill Post 46 to open up the regional tournament later this month, the Rebels learned late last week. 

“It all depends what the pitching matchup is. We can play with them. We just have to, you know, hit the ball off their good pitchers, and I’m sure starting to regional tournament, we’re going to see probably the same pitcher again. We’ve just got to be ready for them,” Huhnstock said.

It will be part of an All-Great Northern six-team regional in Minocqua that will also feature Antigo, Northwoods and Medford. The regionals are slated to run July 25-29, though the exact regional schedule has not yet been announced. 

Rhinelander (4-5) played Wittenberg at home Tuesday and Medford at home Wednesday in games that concluded after press time for today’s edition. The Rebels will return to action this coming Monday against Northwoods in Eagle River. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].