Rib Lake takes grudge match with Athens, 5-2

WIAA DIV. 4 BASEBALL

Tough regional final at Edgar was next

Three games for the Rib Lake baseball team against Athens in a 15-day span all had a similar theme.

The team that made mistakes and gave the opponent free bases won each time.

On Tuesday, the second-seeded Redmen took the rubber match for the season, winning the WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal matchup between Marawood North co-champions 5-2 thanks to two big hits in rallies that included Athens errors that Rib Lake took advantage of.

The victory pushed Rib Lake to 12-7 for the season and sent them to another big rematch Wednesday in the regional final at top-seeded Edgar. The Wildcats improved to 16-3 overall with an 8-4 semifi nal win over fourth-seeded Newman Catholic Tuesday.

Edgar beat Rib Lake 9-1 back on April 29 in the second game of the season.

“The last time we played Edgar we walked nine and hit one and had four errors,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said. “We have to make them hit the ball.”

Wednesday’s winner will advance to the WIAA Division 4 sectional tournament Tuesday in Athens and is slated to play in the 10 a.m. semifinal against Bowler or Three Lakes-Phelps. The sectional championship game is set for 4 p.m.

In the win over Athens (13-6), Rib Lake fell behind 1-0 in the first when Cooper Diedrich reached on an error and scored on Kody Lepak’s two-out, full-count double down the rightfield line.

The Redmen took the lead for good with a three-run third.

Sam Gumz drew a leadoff walk against Athens starter Dayne Diethelm, who was the winner when Athens beat Rib Lake 11-1 on June 3. Brock Thiede got the second of his three hits. An error on a ball hit by Logan Blomberg scored Gumz.

Carter Scheithauer singled to load the bases for Jordan Yanko, one of Rib Lake’s hottest hitters in the second half of the season. The junior came through with a single that scored Thiede and Blomberg to make it 3-1. The Redmen eventually re-loaded the bases, but a double play got Athens out of the inning without further damage.

Rib Lake, though, was back at it in the fourth. Jake Matyka led off with a double and Gumz reached on an error to put runners on first and second. Thiede put down a perfect sacrifi ce bunt and both runners scored on Blomberg’s double.

“Jordan Yanko and Logan Blomberg came through with a couple of key hits,” Iverson said. “We hit the ball well. We only struck out twice. We’ve been saying that all year. We put the ball in play and struck out only two times. When we faced them a couple weeks ago, when they 10-runned us, we struck out eight times against the same pitcher. We definitely made some adjustments at the plate with them.”

Thiede was three for three, Scheithauer was two for three and Blomberg, Yanko and Andrew Wudi had a hit apiece.

Scheithauer improved to 7-1 for the season, pitching all seven innings. He struck out five, walked two, one of which was intentional, and allowed only five hits.

“Carter threw really well,” Iverson said. “He was very sharp.”

The win left Rib Lake as the only Marawood North team still standing in the WIAA post-season heading into the regional final round.

Rib Lake 18, Prentice 0

After 20-0 and 22-1 wins in the regular season over Prentice, the third matchup of the season between Marawood North rivals wasn’t really any closer in Thursday’s WIAA Division 4 regional opener.

Rib Lake led 9-0 through two innings and doubled that lead with a nine-run third. Prentice pitchers issued 13 walks and hit three batters in four innings. Rib Lake only had five hits while scoring all of those runs.

The Redmen scored five runs in the bottom of the first with just one hit, while the four-run second featured a two-run triple to left by Ryan Patrick.

Seven walks, two hits, two hit batters and two errors put it away in the third.

Scheithauer started and pitched two innings, collecting five strikeouts. Blomberg got credit for the win with two innings and four strikeouts. Michael Borchardt struck out the side in the fifth.

Andrew Wudi had a pair of hits for Rib Lake. Gumz, Michael Quednow and Patrick had one hit apiece.

After scooping up a ball that was deflected by first baseman Ryan Patrick, Rib Lake second baseman Jackson Blomberg makes a perfect throw to pitcher Carter Scheithauer at the bag to retire Prentice’s Isaac Raab for the first out of Thursday’s 18-0 WIAA Division 4 regional quarterfinal win.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Rib Lake’s Brock Thiede drops down a perfect sacrifice bunt during the fourth inning of Tuesday’s WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal win over Athens, putting runners at second and third base and setting up Logan Blomberg’s two-run double.DONALD WATSON/THE STAR NEWS