Schmidt shuts down Kingsford in Rebels win

Mason Schmidt delivered his best outing of the year thus far Monday night for the Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels. The senior righty struck out five and scattered three hits over seven innings of work as the Rebels knocked off Kingsford, Mich. 4-1 at Stafford Field.

The win got the Rebels (3-3) back to .500 on the season following a 4-2 setback last Friday night at Wittenberg-Birnamwood. Rhinelander scored single runs in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings on Monday to get past the Greens.

“I thought it was a heck of a nice, pretty well-played game, clean on both sides,” Rebels manager Dan Huhnstock said.

Schmidt faced only four batters over the minimum thanks in part to some defensive help that erased a few threats by the Greens. That started right away in the first inning when Jack Kriesel was thrown out at home trying to score off a Brad Bottesi fly to right. 

After a leadoff walk in the second, Schmidt sat down nine in a row before Kingsford got its only run in the fifth. Mason Koski walked and moved to second on a bunt single by Jack Spreen before scoring following an errant throw on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Luke Rice. 

The Greens continued to try to play small ball as Jacob Deuter laid down a bunt single along the third base line, but Spreen overran third on the play and was thrown out a rundown. Schmidt struck out Nolan Hendrickson and got Kriesel to pop out to end the threat with no further damage. 

Bottesi had a lead off single in the sixth, but he was promptly erased trying to steal second. Schmidt sat down the last five batters, and finished the game with his fifth strikeout, getting Rice to go down looking. 

“Mason threw a heck of a nice game for us, kept them off balance, got strikeouts when he needed strikeouts,” Huhnstock said. 

Rhinelander meanwhile chipped away at the Greens defense. Jackson Waydick started things off with a bloop single for the Rebels in the first inning and scored on a Sawyer Bishop base hit. Dylan Vanderbunt singled to lead off the third, advanced to third on a Bishop single down the right field line and scored on a fielder’s choice by Conner Rappley. 

    Rhinelander’s Rowan Wiczek hits an RBI double during the fifth inning of an American Legion baseball game against Kingsford, Mich. at Stafford Field Monday, June 23. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander again cashed in on leadoff base runners in the fourth and fifth. Abe Gretzinger walked in the fourth and scored when he and Vanderbunt executed a double steal of home and second. Rappley led off the fifth with a base knock and scored two batters later on a Rowan Wiczek double. 

Though that proved to be enough offense for the Rebels, they left eight runners on base and were just 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position on the evening. 

“We left too many runners on base,” Huhnstock said. “We should have been able to score a few more runs, I thought. One or two well-placed hits, I thought we could have blown this thing wide open, but it just didn’t quite get them when we needed them.” 

Wiczek and Bishop both had two hits in the contest as Rhinelander outhit Kingsford 8-3. Trent McLain took the loss for the Greens, allowing two runs on five hits over three innings. Kriesel worked three innings of relief, allowing two runs on three hits with three strikeouts. 

Wittenberg-Birnamwood 4, Rhinelander 2

The Rebels didn’t find any offense until late Friday night in a 4-2 road loss at Wittenberg-Birnamwood. 

Connor Meverden allowed just one hit and struck out nine over six-plus innings. It wasn’t until back-to-back walks chased Meverden from the mound in the seventh inning that the Rebel offense finally got going. 

The Rebels greeted reliever Carson Meronk with three straight singles. Charlie Johnson drove in Wiczek, Josh Willoughby added a base hit and Parker McCone added an RBI single that made it 4-2 with the bases loaded and nobody out. Hoyt Dantoin lined into a double play to short, however, and Waydick went down swinging to end the Rebels’ rally. 

“We were able to keep clawing at them and, you know, I think we actually had the tying run on base when it ended,” Huhnstock said. “We did not hit the ball well until later in the game. We did make a lot of loud outs, but, I think we were still zero in the hit column into the sixth. Even though we had loud outs, we just weren’t putting anything together.”

Rhinelander was charged with five errors in the contest as only two of the four runs Waydick allowed on the mound were earned. 

Wittenberg got on the board in the third as Chris Sippl singled and scored when Colby Wincentsen reached on an error to first. Wincentsen and Owen Dickman both scored later in the inning on a single by Oliver Fraaza. Wittenberg tacked on one more in the fourth as Hudson Miller singled, advanced when Carson Meverden reached on an error and scored on a Sippl sacrifice fly.

Waydick struck out two, walked three and allowed four hits in the loss. Wiczek struck out the side in the Wittenberg sixth.

“We gave him a few unearned runs, had a couple misplayed balls in the outfield that hurt us,” Huhnstock said. “Jackson went five solid, ended up being a real nice game. Rowan came in and finished the game, and, held him at bay, you know. It was a good played game against a real quality team.”

Both teams finished the game with four hits. Bishop broke up Connor Meverden’s no-hit bid with a one-out single in the sixth. 

The Rebels will have a rematch with Wittenberg this coming Tuesday at Stafford Field.

Up next

The Rebels were slated to host Minocqua Wednesday in Stafford Field but the game was canceled due to rain. Rhinelander will see the 89ers this weekend as part of the Art Perkins Memorial Tournament in Merrill. 

The Rebels will face hosting Merrill Post 46 this evening and will play Minocqua and Chippewa Falls on Saturday.

“We just play a lot of ball and hopefully we only get better as we’re doing it,” Huhnstock said.  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].