Heckel 2nd Tuesday, wins at Nekoosa; team 2nd in GNC

RIB LAKE BASEBALL

On the eve of the seeding meeting for the WIAA Division 4 baseball regional, the Rib Lake Redmen took care of one of the potential opponents in their bracket Tuesday with a 14-2, five-inning win over visiting Owen-Withee.

The Redmen jumped ahead 3-0 in the first inning, 7-0 in the second and then buried the Blackhawks (3-10) with a sixrun fourth inning that allowed Rib Lake to finish the game in five innings.

With wins in three of their last four games, the Redmen have climbed back over the .500 mark overall at 8-7. Tuesday’s win was their first non-conference victory of 2022.

“We hit the ball well all night long,” head coach Dick Iverson said. “Sam Gumz had a couple of hits and is really starting to come around. Jordan Yanko had three hits and a double. Michael Borchardt had two hits and a double. We just played really well. We only had one error, it did lead to their first run. Otherwise we played well.”

Logan Blomberg continued to assume the ace role on the pitching staff, throwing four strong innings. He struck out seven, walked two and allowed four hits in four innings. Jake Matyka got a strikeout in the fifth.

Andrew Wudi and Jackson Blomberg added a hit apiece for Rib Lake. Logan Blomberg reached base three times with a walk and getting hit by two pitches.

The seeding meeting took place Wednesday night. The regional bracket only has six teams and includes Athens, Butternut-Mercer, Owen-Withee, Prentice and Thorp. Regional play would begin May 26 if Rib Lake does not get a top-two seed. Otherwise, the regional semifinal round is set for May 31.

Before then, Rib Lake has two more non-conference games on the schedule. The first is today, Thursday, at home against Eastern Cloverbelt Conference champion Columbus Catholic. Game time is 4:45 p.m. The Redmen will be at Spencer Monday for another 4:45 p.m. start.

Rib Lake 10, Phillips 2

In the first of two games played Friday at Tannery Creek Park, the Redmen closed out their Marawood North schedule with a 10-2 win over the Phillips Loggers. The victory put Rib Lake at 7-3 in league play clinched sole possession of second place in the North over 6-4 Chequamegon and Athens.

Abbotsford-Colby finished 9-1 to take the conference title.

This game was initially going to be played Thursday, but a strong thunderstorm delayed the start and then another downpour hit just as the teams tried to resume play, forcing it to be postponed a day.

Rib Lake took command early in this one, jumping ahead 5-0 in the first two innings.

Borchardt walked with one out in the first inning and scored on Logan Blomberg’s double. Blomberg advanced on a passed ball and scored on Yanko’s base hit.

Brady Heiser drew a leadoff walk in the second, Gumz singled and Borchardt walked to load the bases with no outs. Drew Hauschild relieved starter Dawson Hauschild at that point and walked Blomberg and Yanko to force in two runs. Matyka added a sacrifice fly, but the Loggers avoided a huge inning by nabbing Blomberg on an attempted steal of home and by getting an infield pop-up.

The Loggers, with the help of a Rib Lake fielding miscue in each inning, scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. But the Redmen slammed the door on them with a five-run sixth. Borchardt started it with a base hit. One-out walks to Yanko and Matyka loaded the bases. With two outs, Jackson Blomberg came through with a two-run single. Dalen Gebauer and Gumz drew basesloaded walks later in the inning and en error allowed another run to score.

Logan Blomberg continued his run of strong late-season outings on the mound. He came one out shy of a complete game, striking out seven, walking two and allowing no earned runs. Borchardt got the final out on a fly ball.

Yanko was two for two with two runs driven in. Gumz, Borchardt, Logan Blomberg, Jackson Blomberg and Matyka had a hit apiece.

Marathon 9, Rib Lake 2

With Marathon’s scheduled trip to Phillips Friday having to be canceled due to the Loggers rescheduling their game with Rib Lake, the Red Raiders and Redmen threw together a non-conference matchup held under the lights after the Phillips/Rib Lake game. Marathon won 9-2 with a late offensive surge.

Rib Lake took a 2-0 first-inning lead, but the Red Raders shut them out after that, tied the game by the fourth and pulled away with a four-run sixth and three-run seventh.

After getting the last out against Phillips, Borchardt threw the first four innings of this game and was solid, allowing four hits and two runs, one of which was earned. He walked three and struck out one. He also had a key role in Rib Lake’s two-run first-inning rally as he doubled home Gumz, who had singled to start the inning, as did Wudi, the number- two hitter. Wudi scored on Matyka’s groundout, which turned into a double play when Borchardt was thrown out trying to sneak to third.

Marathon got a sacrifice fly from winning pitcher Tyler Underwood in the second inning, an inning that was extended by an error, and tied the game in the top of the fourth on singles by Underwood, Jaden Koeller and Hector Pintor.

Marathon took advantage of seven hits and four walks against Rib Lake relievers Jackson Blomberg and Matyka to overtake the Redmen in the last two innings. Underwood struck out 10 Redmen in five innings and allowed just four hits, three of which came in the first innings. Koeller struck out one and allowed a hit in two scoreless relief innings.

“We just had a few too many walks and they came up with a couple big hits at the end,” Iverson said.