Abby-Colby ends five-game win streak, closes in on title

RIB LAKE BASEBALL

The Rib Lake Redmen went into Tuesday still holding hopes of claiming the Marawood North championship, but two big innings instead put Abbotsford-Colby on the verge of its second straight undisputed league title.

Abbotsford-Colby’s four-run second and four-run seventh inning rallies gave it the margin it needed to leave Rib Lake with a 10-5 win and an 8-0 North record that clinched at least a share of this year’s title.

The Falcons can seal the deal today, Thursday, by beating Rib Lake in the rematch at Abbotsford or by winning at Chequamegon Friday. Rib Lake, now 5-2 in league play, needs to win today, sweep Phillips next week and hope Chequamegon upsets Abbotsford-Colby Friday to win a title share.

After falling behind 6-0 just two and a half innings in Tuesday, Rib Lake made a game of it with a four-run rally in the bottom of the third. But the pitching and defense from both teams settled in from there, until the seventh when the Falcons got four runs on three hits to put it away.

“I said going into this we can’t give them any free bases and we did,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said. “We gave up eight free bases and I think six of them scored.”

Rib Lake pitcher Michael Borchardt got off to a shaky start by walking JV Castillo and hitting Evan Reis and then allowing a double to deep left by Brandon Diedrich to start the game. The double drove in Castillo, but Reis was slow to get to third and was thrown out by the Rib Lake defense.

Carlos Lara drew a walk to start the second, which was another bad omen for Rib Lake. Payton Schreiber hit another fly ball that the wind carried deep to left for a double. Schreiber tried to stretch the hit into a triple. The only problem was Lara stayed at third and Schreiber was tagged out while trying to go back to second.

That bad break didn’t stop Abbotsford- Colby. Noah Schraufnagel singled up the middle, Jaxon Polivka doubled and Castillo hit a rocket that banged off the leftfield fence for a two-run triple. He scored on a Reis groundout to make it 5-0. Two walks preceded Schreiber’s RBI single in the top of the third.

Rib Lake stranded two runners in the second against Castillo, but did much better in the bottom of the third. Talon Scheithauer walked as did Jackson Blomberg with one out and Borchardt reached on an error to load the bases. Ethan Cook walked in a run and Dominic Quednow drove in one while nearly beating out a bobbled ground ball to second. Brady Heiser hit a solid single to right to score Borchardt, Dalen Gebauer walked to re-load the bases and number-nine hitter Seth Borchardt hit a line drive single up the middle to score the fourth run of the inning.

Scheithauer then hit a Castillo offering hard, but his liner went right to Polivka in center ending the rally at 6-4.

Rib Lake’s best shot after that came in the bottom of the sixth when it got runners at the corner with two outs for Blomberg, who eventually struck out after a long battle with reliever Mateo Lopez.

“We had our opportunities,” Iverson said. “It was 6-4 with bases loaded and Talon hit that one hard to center. We had runners at the corners with Jackson up when it was still 6-4. We had opportunities. We hit the ball fine against their pitcher.”

Borchardt went 5.2 innings before reaching his pitch count limit and Scheithauer got the last out of the sixth. He hit Reis to start the seventh and that started more trouble. Diedrich doubled in Reis and Lara later blasted a two-run double in the four-run rally. Gebauer drove in Rib Lake’s last run with a groundout in the bottom half.

Quednow was two for four with a double, an RBI and an outstanding diving catch in centerfield that robbed Schraufnagel of a hit and started a double play to end the top of the third inning. Rib Lake had five hits, four off Castillo and one off Lopez, who pitched the last two innings.

Michael Borchardt allowed seven hits while striking out two, walking four and hitting one. Scheithauer struck out one, walked one, hit one and gave up three base hits in two-thirds of an inning and Andrew Wudi walked one before getting a double-play ground ball to end the seventh.

After today’s game in Abbotsford, Rib Lake will host Northland Pines Friday at 4:45 p.m. in non-conference play. Phillips is in town Monday, while Rib Lake goes to Phillips on May 11 and Stratford on May 12.

Rib Lake 14, Athens 4

A 12-run second inning did just about all of the damage in Rib Lake’s 14-4 win at Athens Friday that completed a regularseason sweep of the Blue Jays.

The big inning started, as many rallies do, with a walk. Quednow drew that, Heiser singled and Seth Borchardt’s walk with one out loaded the bases. Scheithauer’s single got Rib Lake on the board. An error on a ball hit by Wudi scored one, Blomberg’s double scored two and Michael Borchardt’s single made it 5-0.

Cook singled in another, Heiser and Seth Borchardt drove in runs with a fielder’s choice and a walk, Scheithauer hit a two-run double and Wudi’s single drove in the final run of the inning.

“I think that’s one of our highestscoring innings ever,” Iverson said. “We came out and hit the ball. They gave us some free ones and we took advantage of every mistake they made.”

Athens got all of its runs in the bottom of the third, but Rib Lake got an RBI double from Cook and an RBI groundout by Gebauer in the fifth to put the 10-run rule into effect.

Blomberg pitched all five innings for the Redmen, striking out one, walking four, hitting two and allowing three hits and four earned runs. Rib Lake had 12 hits with Scheithauer, Wudi, Cook, Quednow and Heiser getting two each.

Prentice swept

On Thursday, Rib Lake had no trouble with a young Prentice squad that started five freshmen earning 23-0 and 11-1 wins in a doubleheader sweep played in Rib Lake.

Even bigger than the 12-run inning Friday was a 14-run third that busted game one wide open. Rib Lake led 7-0 going into it and finished it leading 210. Scheithauer got the win with three solid innings. He allowed two hits and one walk while striking out two. Seth Borchardt and Quednow each pitched a scoreless inning. Rib Lake had 12 hits and drew five walks. Scheithauer was three for three with two RBIs and scored four timees. Wudi was two for three with two RBIs and scored three times. Blomberg was two for four, drove in three and scored three. Cook was two for four and knocked in two.

The Buccaneers took a 1-0 first-inning lead in game two, but it didn’t last. Three walks in the top of the second led to a six-run rally that included an RBI single from Scheithauer, a sacrifice fly by Wudi and a two-run triple by Blomberg. Blomberg hit a three-run triple in the third and scored on Michael Borchardt’s sacrifice fly. Blomberg got his sixth RBI on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Wudi got the win, striking out six and allowing three hits and an earned run in four innings. Seth Borchardt struck out the side in the fifth.

Rib Lake had just six hits with Scheithauer and Blomberg getting two each. Seth Borchardt walked three times and scored three runs.