RIB LAKE BASEBALL - Scheithauer brothers no-hit Loggers in five-inning rout

RIB LAKE BASEBALL

Brothers Talon and Slade Scheithauer combined for a five-inning no-hitter and the offense made sure Monday’s game wouldn’t go any longer than that in a 14-0 Marawood North blowout.

The host Redmen scored seven runs in the bottom of the first and a four-run third made certain this one would go no longer than five innings. Talon Scheithauer struck out seven hitters and walked two in his portion of the combined no-hitter. Slade Scheithauer finished up, striking out two in his two innings.

With the win, Rib Lake improved to 5-1 in North play. The Redmen sit a half-game behind current leader Chequamegon, who beat Athens 6-0 on Tuesday. Athens is 5-2. Those two teams play again today, Thursday, in Park Falls, while the Redmen will be in Phillips (0-6, 1-8).

Rib Lake (9-3 overall) will get caught up on games with their North counterparts Friday when it hosts Abbotsford-Colby in a 4:45 p.m. game that was postponed twice last week due to poor weather.

Rib Lake will close out Marawood North play next week by hosting Chequamegon Tuesday and then visiting the Screaming Eagles on May 15.

Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said after Monday’s win that things seem to be falling into place for the Redmen heading into the home stretch of the title chase.

“Our young guys are coming around and playing pretty well right now,” Iverson said. “It was a bit of a struggle early, but our four freshmen are playing well and Brevin Brahmer is playing well as a sophomore. Those are our five new starters. Our arms are all healthy now with Seth Borchardt back. I feel good about that going into this stretch of a lot of games.”

Rib Lake put the ball in play in the first inning Monday and the result was seven runs, six of which were unearned.

Slade Scheithauer led off with a hit and Borchardt reached on an error. Talon Scheithauer knocked in both. Blake Henderson and Lucas Cook added hits later on in the rally.

In the second, Ethan Cook led off with a walk and Brady Heiser followed with a hit. Brahmer walked to load the bases, Henderson hit a sacrifice fly and Tyler Matyka singled in a run to make it 9-0.

Rib Lake loaded the bases with walks in the third. Heiser drove in the first run with another walk, Brahmer drove in two with a base hit and Matyka’s groundout drove in the fourth run of the inning. Heiser’s hit knocked in the last run in the fourth.

Heiser was two for three. Slade Scheithauer, Aiden Stapleton, Talon Scheithauer, Brahmer, Henderson, Matyka and Lucas Cook all had a hit apiece.

“Phillips has some decent arms,” Iverson said. “They struggled a bit with their control and fell behind in the count. When we got into a hitter’s count, we took advantage of that.”

Before Rib Lake goes to Phillips today, it added a non-conference home game with Greenwood that it played on Wednesday afternoon, after this week’s deadline for The Star News.