Rebels make it to regional championship game

MINOCQUA — The odds were stacked against Rhinelander entering the final day of the Class AA Region 2 tournament but, following a dominant Saturday in the loser’s bracket, the Rebels were one of the final two teams standing in the six-team regional.

Rhinelander bounced back from a stunning 3-1 loss to Northwoods Friday in which it allowed all three runs in the top of the seventh. The Rebels knocked off Minocqua 11-2 Saturday morning before exacting some revenge on the Eagles Saturday afternoon — blasting Northwoods 13-0 in an elimination game. 

“We’re in position where we want it to be, a chance to go to state,” Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said following Saturday’s wins. “It just shows the character of these guys. They’re ball players and, you know, we just move on.” 

Rhinelander (9-8) began the tournament with a 10-6 win over Merrill and entered Sunday facing the daunting task of having to beat defending state runner-up Medford twice on Sunday in the championship series to advance to next weekend’s state tournament in New London. Sunday’s play concluded after press time for today’s edition. 

“All we got to do is go out there and play one at-bat at a time,” Huhnstock said.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Rhinelander lost to Medford 11-0 on Sunday, a full report will be published in Friday's River News.)

Rhinelander found itself in a must-win predicament on Saturday after things unraveled in the last inning against Northwoods Friday night. 

Vince White had allowed just two hits through six innings of shutout baseball, but Jonathan Miller and Landyn Hoeft had soft singles off the sophomore-to-be to start of the seventh, setting forth a chain of events that ultimately proved to be the Rebels’ undoing. 

    Rhinelander’s Abe Gretzinger flips to Josh Willoughby (10) in an attempt to turn a double play during the seventh inning of a Wisconsin AA American Legion regional tournament game against Northwoods in Minocqua Friday, July 25. The Rebels committed errors on two double play attempts in the seventh inning as they gave up three runs and fell to Northwoods, 3-1. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Jason Linn followed with a ground ball to short, but second baseman Josh Willoughby threw wildly to first in an effort to complete a double play, allowing Jonathan Miller to score and the Eagles to tie the game. It appeared as though the Rebels would get another double-play ball to get out of the inning with no further damage, but Abe Gretzinger mishandled Willoughby’s flip to second on a grounder by Ethan Miller, keeping the inning alive. After Davis Beyer singled to right, Sam Koshuta drew a bases loaded walk, and Ethan Miller scored on a wild pitch to give Northwoods a 3-1 lead. 

“It’s a game that both teams deserved to win. We made a few more mistakes, and they ended up taking advantage right when it counted,” Huhnstock said.

Rhinelander went down in order against Landyn Hoeft in the seventh. The left-handed, Class of 2024 graduate struck out 11 over seven innings in a complete-game effort for the Eagles. The Rebels’ lone damage off him came in the second inning when Rowan Wiczek reached on an error and scored on a bloop single to right by Gretzinger. 

Rhinelander breezed through Saturday morning’s elimination game against Minocqua, clinching that game with six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. 

Charlie Johnson had three hits in the game and drove in a pair of runs. Sawyer Bishop, White and Wiczek had two hits each. Vanderbunt had one hit, a game-clinching two-run double in the fifth inning, and added a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Rhinelander scored twice in the second inning and three more times in the fourth inning. Minocqua scored twice in the top of the fifth inning. 

An error on the scoreboard gave Rhinelander one extra run in the fifth inning, and the game ended with the teams mistakenly thinking the score was 12-2 when Vanderbunt hit his double in the fifth inning. An audit of the scorebooks and an online broadcast of the event confirmed the score was in fact 11-2 after the teams left the field. For record-keeping purposes, the score will show a final of 11-2 with Minocqua surrendering with one out in the fifth. 

Vanderbunt went five innings in the win, scattering three hits with two walks and three strikeouts. 

“We got their pitcher timed up a little bit and, of course later in the tournament, we’re not facing No. 1s anymore,” Huhnstock said. “It makes a big difference. We got good bats, and they’re able to make adjustments and take care of their business.”

After Northwoods fell to Medford 6-2 for a spot in the championship game, the Rebels got their chance at redemption against the Eagles — and it came to the tune of a 10-run fourth inning turned a tight game into a cakewalk. 

White had four hits and three RBIs in the game, including run-scoring singles in the first and third that plated the first two Rebel runs. He made it 3-0 later in the third on a heads-up base-running move, scoring from third after Conner Rappley got caught in a rundown. 

The floodgates opened against the Eagles in the fourth, who committed four of their five errors in that inning alone. White and Jackson Waydick had RBI hits, Vanderbunt added a two-run single and Wiczek and Johnson each hit sacrifice flies. The other four runs in the inning scored as the result of three separate errors and a bases-loaded balk. 

    Rhinelander’s Conner Rappley pitches during the second inning of a Wisconsin AA American Legion regional tournament game against Northwoods in Minocqua Saturday, July 26. Rappley pitched three shutouts innings in the Rebels’ 13-0 win. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rappley, who had not pitched for the Rebels all summer due to arm issues, logged three innings in Saturday afternoon’s win. Rappley allowed three hits, no walks and struck out four in what was a 50-pitch effort for Rhinelander’s ace during the high school season. 

“They were super valuable. And then with the way the bats came around, it was just awesome, you know. We were able to save enough pitching for at least one full game tomorrow,” Huhnstock said.

Sawyer Bishop worked two scoreless innings to close out the contest.

The Rebels opened the tournament with a 10-6 victory over Merrill. Rhinelander pounded out 13 hits over six innings. Rappley hit two doubles in the game, drove in four runs, and had a solo home run in the third inning. 

“Conner really scorched the ball today. Home run, and two doubles, really hit the ball like we know he can,” Huhnstock said.

    Rhinelander’s Sawyer Bishop is waved around third by coach Joe Patrone during the sixth inning of a Wisconsin AA American Legion regional tournament game against Merrill in Minocqua Thursday, July 24. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Bishop added three this for the Rebels while Waydick and Willoughby had two this each. Rhinelander jumped on Merrill right away for four runs in the first inning, had Rappley’s solo shot in the third, scored twice more in the fourth and scored three times in the sixth. 

Waydick went six innings for Rhinelander, giving up single runs in the second and fifth. He allowed six hits, walked two and struck out eight in the win. 

“Jackson threw a whale of a ball game. We had enough timely hitting and played pretty clean baseball out in the field,” Huhnstock said.

In a precursor to Friday’s seventh-inning woes, the Rebels had a hard time getting the final three outs Thursday against Merrill. Bishop gave up six hits — mostly of the seeing-eye variety — and the Rhinelander Rebels added three errors as the Bluejays got the tying run to the on-deck circle before Bishop got Cam Wallin to ground out to finally end it. 

“We were able to have a bit of a cushion there. You know, it didn’t have to burn more than Sawyer for pitching. But, it was getting a little hairy there towards the end,” Huhnstock said. “I was thinking about making a move, but we got enough done that we’re able to get out of it.” 

Because Rhinelander entered Sunday with one loss to Medford’s none, the Rebels needed to win twice to advance to their first state tournament since 2022. A full report from the championship game(s) will be published in Friday’s River News. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].