RIB LAKE BASEBALL - Baseball team clinches tie with 5-run 6th inning
RIB LAKE BASEBALL
Held to one hit over the first five innings by Chequamegon pitcher Marcus Purdy, the Rib Lake Redmen got five hits in the sixth inning alone and pushed across five runs to overtake the Screaming Eagles 5-1 and clinch at least a share of their second straight Marawood North championship.
Brady Heiser had the big hit, a three-run double that finally put the Redmen in the lead after they had trailed since the top of the first inning. Talon Scheithauer continued to dominate North opponents on the pitching mound. He struck out 10 batters and worked around nine hits, eight of which were singles, while allowing one earned run.
With the win, Rib Lake improved to 8-1 in the Marawood North and 13-3 overall. The loss eliminated 6-3 Chequamegon from championship contention and leaves Athens as the only team that can catch Rib Lake. The Blue Jays improved to 7-2 with a 4-0 win at Prentice Tuesday.
Rib Lake heads to Park Falls today, Thursday, for a 4:45 p.m. rematch with Chequamegon. A win would clinch the North title outright. Athens hosts Prentice at the same time.
Rib Lake shared last year’s North title with Abbotsford-Colby, but sharing is not in the team’s plans this time.
“This gives us a share of the title,” head coach Dick Iverson said. “If we want to win it outright, we have to go up there and win Thursday.
Iverson called Tuesday’s contest “an excellent high school baseball game.” Neither team had an error. There were just five walks, all issued by Purdy, who Rib Lake finally got to the third time the Redmen saw him.
Seth Borchardt led off the sixth with a single up the middle and stole second base. Scheithauer walked and Ethan Cook’s hard-hit single to left loaded the bases. Heiser then came through with his drive deep into the right-centerfield gap that scored all three runners.
Brevin Brahmer then walked, ending the day on the mound for Phelps. Blake Henderson and Tyler Matyka greeted reliever Corbyn Phelps with RBI singles to give the Redmen a four-run cushion going into the final inning.
Scheithauer struck out the first two hitters in the seventh, but pinch hitter Mark Oskvarek and Jeffrey Bourgard singled to keep hope alive for Chequamegon. The Redmen ended that hope by picking off Oskvarek at second.
Chequamegon got its run with singles by Phelps, Dalton Schmidt and Isaiah Bourgard in the first. After that, the Screaming Eagles didn’t threaten until the seventh. Rib Lake only had one great chance in the first five innings when Matyka and Borchardt walked in the third, but Purdy struck out Scheithauer to end that.
Heiser was two for three and his out was a drive that was caught in deep leftfield. Schmidt and Isaiah Bourgard had two hits apiece for Chequamegon.
Rib Lake heads to Stratford for a Marawood Conference crossover Friday and then hosts Columbus Catholic Monday and travels to Spencer Tuesday for non-conference play.
Talon Scheithauer dominated from the mound, striking out 12 hitters in 6.1 innings and a three-run fifth inning broke open a tight game and sent Rib Lake to a 5-0 Marawood North win over visiting Abbotsford-Colby Friday. The team’s third North win of the week pushed Rib Lake into sole possession of first place in the standings.
Scheithauer allowed just four hits before reaching his pitch limit in the final inning. Abbotsford-Colby threatened to score only once, loading the bases in the second. Shortstop Slade Scheithauer made a diving stop to keep the bases loaded on a two-out infield single and Talon struck out the next batter to end the inning. Slade Scheithauer got the last two outs of the game, including one by strikeout.
Rib Lake scored the first run and only run it would actually need in the fourth. Talon Scheithauer walked, stole second and scored on a single by Heiser. But three runs in the fifth created important breathing room. It started with a Matyka single. Lucas Cook’s sacrifice bunt turned into a base hit when he beat the throw to first. Slade Scheithauer fell behind early in the count but worked for a walk to load the bases and Borchardt unloaded them by lacing a three-run double the opposite way to left-center.
Four walks in the sixth capped the scoring with Borchardt getting the RBI.
“We knew it was going to be a good game,” Iverson said. “(Payton) Schreiber was throwing for them. He’s got good velocity. He’s a good pitcher.”
Schreiber went 5.2 innings. He struck out nine, but walked five while allowing all five earned runs.
Rib Lake had four hits, one each by Heiser, Matyka, Lucas Cook and Borchardt. Slade Scheithauer walked four times in the leadoff spot.
“The guys did a really nice job when they had two strikes of battling,” Iverson said. “We put the ball in play or really made them work for everything. We didn’t make it easy on their pitchers. It was a very good high school game.”
Rib Lake 26, Phillips 6
A shaky first inning Thursday ended with host Phillips holding a 5-3 lead, but the Loggers’ scoring stopped after that and the Redmen’s was only just beginning in a 26-6 rout.
Rib Lake had 15 hits but really took advantage of nine walks, four hit batters and seven Logger errors. The Redmen scored seven runs in the second inning, eight in the third and eight in the fourth.
Ty Niemi settled things down in the first inning and got credit for the pitching win. He got the last two outs in the first and got through the third, allowing one run in the second inning and four hits. He struck out three and walked one. Ethan Cook started but struggled to find the strike zone and was lifted after getting just one out. The bad inning was compounded by three Rib Lake errors. Cook did, however, return to the mound for the last two innings and was much better, striking out two and allowing one hit.
Ethan Cook made up for his tough inning on the mound with a big day at plate. He went four for four with seven runs batted in and four runs scored. Talon Scheithauer was two for three, drew three walks, scored four runs and drove in three. Slade Scheithauer was two for five, scored three times and drove in two.
Borchardt, Heiser, Brahmer, Niemi, Aiden Stapleton, Matyka and Lucas Cook all had a hit in the win.
Rib Lake’s first eight batters in the second inning reached base. Key plays in the inning included an RBI single from Lucas Cook, a two-run single by Ethan Cook and a two-run double by Brahmer. Ethan Cook had an RBI double and a sacrifice fly and Talon Scheithauer and Heiser had RBI singles in the third. Ethan Cook added a two-run single to highlight the fourth.
Rib Lake 10, Greenwood 0
On May 7, Borchardt allowed one hit in 4.1 innings while Heiser went three for four in Rib Lake’s 10-0 non-conference win over visiting Greenwood.
Borchardt worked around four walks with seven strikeouts helping his cause. The only hit for winless Greenwood was a one-out double by Anton Livingston. He promptly got picked off.
Rib Lake left the bases loaded and did not score in the first, but the Redmen broke the ice in the second, scoring twice thanks to four walks and a sacrifice fly by Talon Scheithauer.
Hits by Heiser and Brahmer along with two errors, a walk, a hit batter and a RBI fielder’s choice by Slade Scheithauer made it 5-0 through three. Blake Henderson singled in a run in the fourth. A four-run fifth ended the game. Talon Scheithauer hit a two-run triple, Ethan Cook drove him in with a triple and Heiser capped it with an RBI single.
Brahmer was two for three. Borchardt, Talon Scheithauer, Ethan Cook, Henderson and Lucas Cook had one hit apiece. Niemi got the last two outs, walking one.
