Game’s last twist turns Rib Lake’s way; Redmen shut out twice

RIB LAKE BASEBALL

Dalen Gebauer ended a bizarre game Tuesday with a walk-off RBI single that ended a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning and gave Rib Lake an 8-7 win over Edgar and ended the Redmen’s mini two-game losing streak.

Gebauer hit a soft liner over the first baseman’s head to drive in pinch runner Joe Treffinger with the winning run, ending a rally that picked up steam when Edgar made a two-out error on a ground ball headed toward second base.

Down 7-5 to start the inning, Michael Borchardt was hit by a pitch, but that was surrounded by two hard-hit outs to the outfield by Jackson Blomberg and Ethan Cook. The error on Dominic Quednow’s ground ball kept the inning alive and, after a wild pitch, Brady Heiser’s two-run single tied the game at 7-7. Seth Borchardt singled the opposite way down the leftfield line and then Gebauer delivered his game-winning hit.

Rib Lake controlled the game until a five-run sixth-inning rally that Edgar put together that started with two outs and no one on. Suddenly Rib Lake went from leading 5-2 to trailing 7-5.

“It was a bizarre game,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said. “I give the kids credit for coming back. It was a game we had in control, Michael Borchardt was throwing great. He should’ve had six shutout innings and we ended up being behind. He did a great job of changing speeds. We should’ve been up 8-0 or 9-0 by the sixth. Instead we were behind. Edgar just kept putting the ball in play and then all of a sudden they got on a roll.”

Blomberg tied it at 1-1 with a solo homer to left-center in the bottom of the first. Rib Lake went up 5-1 with a four-run fourth that featured a two-run single by Quednow, another RBI hit from Gebauer and Talon Scheithauer’s RBI groundout.

Edgar got an unearned run in the fifth and then an error started the two-run rally in the sixth, which finally ended after four hits and a walk. Edgar threatened again in the top of the seventh loading the bases with two outs on an error and two walks. Andrew Wudi relieved Blomberg, fell behind 3-0, threw two strikes and renontired the batter on a rocket hit right to Scheithauer at shortstop. That one out wound up giving Wudi the pitching win.

Borchardt covered the first 5.2 innings. He struck out four batters, walked one and allowed just one earned run. Scheithauer got the last out of the sixth.

Gebauer and Seth Borchardt had two hits apiece to lead the offense.

“That’s the best we’ve probably hit all year,” Iverson said. “We hit some outs that were bullets.”

Now 8-6 overall, Rib Lake is scheduled to finish its regular season with three more non-conference games. The stretch starts today, Thursday, with a 4:45 p.m. home game against Washburn. The Redmen will host Newman Catholic on Monday and visit Marathon on Tuesday, also with 4:45 p.m. starts.

WIAA Division 4 tournament play starts for most teams on May 25.

Stratford 10, Rib Lake 0

On Friday, Rib Lake’s offense was handcuffed by Stratford left-hander Braeden Schueller and the host Tigers had two big early rallies to earn a quick 10-0, five-inning win in another Marawood Conference crossover.

Blomberg and Gebauer had Rib Lake’s only hits. The Redmen fell behind 6-0 in the second inning and Stratford added four more runs in the third.

The damage was done against Seth Borchardt and Quednow, who Iverson wanted to give some work. It was Borchardt’s first varsity start as a pitcher. He pitched a scoreless first, but a leadoff homer in the second inning and an error got the big rally going.

Borchardt struck out one, walked two and allowed five hits in two innings. Quednow struck out one, walked two and gave up three hits and four runs in his inning. Wudi pitched a 1-2-3 fourth.

“They hit the ball pretty hard,” Iverson said of Stratford, who got home runs from Jack Tubbs and Landon Zawislan in the win. “I felt bad for Seth and Dom because they haven’t gotten a chance to pitch and it’s kinda hard to pitch when you’ve been sitting for two, three weeks and then come in and have to throw against a good team. When they made a mistake with their pitches, they hit it. They didn’t throw that poorly. It’s just that when they got behind in the count Stratford was able to sit a on a certain pitch. When they got ahead in the count they did great. We’ve lost eight or nine conference games that we weren’t able play. Those guys would’ve been pitching all the time.”

Phillips 6, Rib Lake 0

Left-hander Drew Hauschild struck out 10 Redman in a two-hit shutout Thursday as host Phillips beat Rib Lake 6-0 to close out the Marawood North portion of the 2023 schedule. Hauschild also went three for four at the plate.

Both teams went 6-4 in league play and tied for second behind Abbotsford-Colby.

Blomberg and Cook had Rib Lake’s hits.

“Their pitcher did a really nice job,” Iverson said. “We struck out way too many times. We had 10 strikeouts. We didn’t put any pressure on their defense. Their kid threw strikes. Any time we got guys in scoring position, he got us out iwth a strikeout or a pop-up.”

Phillips scored twice in the bottom of the second inning to grab the lead. Two hits led to a run in the fifth and the Loggers put it away with a three-run sixth that included two hits, two walks and two errors.

Blomberg started for Rib Lake and pitched five innings. He walked four and gave up six hits and one earned run. Scheithauer gave up two hits and one earned run in the sixth.