RIB LAKE BASEBALL - Redmen jump into top spot with three league wins

RIB LAKE BASEBALL

The Rib Lake baseball team didn’t really get its big offensive inning until the last inning, but with Talon Scheithauer throwing six shutout innings, the runs the Redmen got before then were more than enough Tuesday in a 10-0 win at Abbotsford-Colby.

Scheithauer struck out 11 batters and allowed just four hits in the win, which put Rib Lake in a tie for first place in the Marawood North as the conference season hit its midway point. At 4-1 in league play, Rib Lake pulled even with Chequamegon, who was upset at home Tuesday 10-8 by Prentice. Scheithauer walked three and hit a batter in his scoreless outing. Slade Scheithauer worked around two walks, striking out two in the bottom of the seventh.

Number-nine hitter Lucas Cook led Rib Lake’s offense by going four for four. The Redmen had 11 hits off two Abbotsford-Colby pitchers. Slade Scheithauer was two for four at the top of Rib Lake’s order.

“Lucas hit the ball hard all day,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said.

Rib Lake got an unearned run in the top of the first and then escaped a little trouble in the bottom half when Talon Scheithauer got back-to-back strikeouts to end a twoon, one-out threat. Scheithauer doubled in the third and scored on a clutch, two-out hit by Brevin Brahmer to make it 2-0. Abbotsford-Colby’s runners-on-thecorner threat in the bottom half ended when Rib Lake turned a double play.

“Talon got us out of a couple jams,” Iverson said.

Rib Lake doubled its lead to 4-0 in the top of the fourth. Cook and Slade Scheithauer reached on base hits. Seth Borchardt drove in Cook with a groundout and Scheithauer scored on an error. Cook singled, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth to make it 5-0.

Arturo Lopez did his best to keep his team in it through six innings, but the home team collapsed in the seventh when Rib Lake scored five runs on just two hits. Ethan Cook led off by getting hit by a pitch. Brady Heiser got a hit. Two errors sandwiching a walk scored two runs. Lucas Cook’s fourth hit drove in a run. Slade Scheithauer hit a sacrifice fly to cap the scoring.

“We took advantage of their errors and walks,” Iverson said.

Lopez struck out four and walked two batters while giving up all 11 hits. He eventually gave way to Cutter Hamus in the seventh. Borchardt and Blake Henderson added hits for Rib Lake.

The teams will meet again today, Thursday, in Rib Lake at 4:45 p.m. The Redmen expect to see the Falcons’ pitching ace Payton Schreiber in the rematch.

On Friday, Rib Lake will venture to Marawood South country to face Auburndale, who improved to 8-0 overall Tuesday with a 2-0 win over Stratford.

Phillips is the next Marawood North opponent for the Redmen. The Loggers come to Rib Lake Monday, while the Redmen head to Phillips on May 8 for 4:45 p.m. contests.

DH sweep

Rib Lake picked up two Marawood North wins Thursday by sweeping a doubleheader with visiting Prentice.

The Redmen grabbed control quickly in game one with a six-run bottom of the second spurring a 10-1 win. Talon Scheithauer controlled the game from the mound with six strong innings. He allowed just two hits and one unearned run while striking out four. The offense had 12 hits, including three from leadoff hitter Slade Scheithauer.

The big second inning started with a Borchardt single. Two Prentice errors loaded the bases for Lucas Cook, who singled in Borchardt. Slade Scheithauer’s hit drove in two. Ethan Cook hit an RBI double and Talon Scheithauer drove in a run with a hit as well.

After Prentice got its unearned run in the top of the fourth, Rib Lake got one back in the bottom half and then made it 9-1 in the fifth. Lucas Cook doubled and scored on Slade Scheithauer’s single. Ethan Cook walked and Talon Scheithauer drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Borchardt and Henderson singled to set up Tyler Matyka’s RBI groundout in the sixth.

Slade Scheithauer was three for five. Talon Scheithauer was two for three and Lucas Cook was two for two with a double. Borchardt was two for four. Heiser hit a double and Blake Henderson and Ethan Cook added three walks to his early double.

Slade Scheithauer pitched the seventh only one hit.

“Talon pretty much had control of that game,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said. “There were only three innings where they had a guy on.”

Game two was scoreless through three innings, but Rib Lake took charge with three-run rallies in the fourth and fifth innings and then scored 12 runs in the sixth to close out an 18-1 win.

Playing as the visitors, Rib Lake took the lead in the top of the fourth when Talon Scheithauer singled with one out, Ethan Cook walked, Heiser singled in Scheithauer, Brahmer singled in Cook and Matyka’s two-out hit drove in Heiser.

A walk, stolen base and a hit scored Prentice’s run, but then Rib Lake got what Iverson was the biggest play of the game as Borchardt, playing centerfield, made a diving catch on a liner hit to left-center to keep the Buccaneers at one run for the inning.

“He was fully extended on it and that just killed the rally,” Iverson said. “It gave us a big momentum boost and we just kind of took off after that play.”

The energy from Borchardt’s big play carried into the top of the fifth. Slade Scheithauer led off with a hit, stole second and scored on Borchardt’s hit. An error on a ball hit by Talon Scheithauer scored Borchardt. Ethan Cook’s single drove in the third run of the inning.

Things caved in on Prentice in the top of the sixth as five hits, four walks and two errors produced 12 runs.

Ethan Cook picked up the pitching win. In five innings, he struck out seven, walked one and gave up just three hits and one earned run. Ty Niemi pitched the sixth and allowed one hit.

Rib Lake racked up 15 more hits in game two. Slade Scheithauer was two for three with a double. Borchardt was three for five and drove in three runs. Talon Scheithauer was two for four with a double and two runs driven in. Ethan Cook had a hit and two RBIs, Heiser drove in three runs while going two for five. Brahmer was two for four with two RBIs. Henderson had a hit and an RBI, as did Matyka and Briley Leonhard.

All of that happened after Slade Scheithauer led off the game with a double and then Prentice recorded nine straight outs with five of them being strikeouts.

“In the last inning they used three different pitchers and had trouble throwing strikes,” Iverson said. “When they did throw strikes, we hit them pretty well.”

Non-conference win

The Redmen had no trouble against overmatched Lake Holcombe-Cornell in non-conference play Friday, winning 18-1.

Rib Lake jumped out quickly, scoring six runs in the bottom of the first. After that, Iverson gave the third through sixth hitters in the order the rest of the night off. Ten players had at least one hit.

“The good thing about Friday was it was the first time Seth got on the mound and the other guys who haven’t got to play much pretty much played the whole game.

Borchardt, who missed time earlier in the month with illness, went four innings in his first pitching appearance, struck out seven and gave up two hits and one run. Henderson struck out the side in the top of the fifth.

In the six-run first, Slade Scheithauer walked and stole second and Borchardt reached on an error. Talon Scheithauer got hit by a pitch to load the bases for Ethan Cook, who unloaded them with a booming three-run double to get the ball rolling.

Rib Lake added five runs in the second and seven more in the fourth.

Borchardt had three hits and drove in two runs. Slade Scheithauer, Ethan Cook, Jack Jensen, Heiser, Matyka, Henderson, Niemi and Lucas Cook all had one hit. Lucas and Ethan Cook had three RBIs apiece. Niemi and Matyka drove in two each. Henderson’s hit was a double.

The Medford Motors team of champions of Ardis Meier, Shirley Lemke, Donna Werner and Trudy Gunn is the champion of the 2024-25 season in the Blue Monday Bowling League, which recently completed its year at The Sports Page Bowl and Grill in Medford. SUBMITTED PHOTO