15-11 win sets up shot today to pull into 1st-place tie

RIB LAKE BASEBALL

Knowing a sweep this week of Abbotsford-

Colby was their only shot at earning a repeat share of the Marawood North baseball championship, the Rib Lake Redmen got the first step accomplished on Tuesday by winning a 15-11 slugfest at Abbotsford’s Red Arrow Park.

The Redmen (5-2, 5-4) handed the Falcons (6-1, 9-6) their first conference loss of the spring and can pull into a tie with them atop the North if they can beat them again today, Thursday, in a 4:45 p.m. game at Rib Lake’s Tannery Creek Park.

Both teams will have league games remaining next week. Rib Lake plays at Phillips (2-5, 2-9) Monday and hosts the Loggers on May 12. The Redmen don’t figure to get much help from winless Prentice, who visits Abbotsford-Colby Tuesday and hosts the game on May 12.

Athens, the other team in last year’s three-way title, fell out of contention after getting swept last week by Abbotsford-Colby 2-1 and 13-10 in extra innings.

“It all comes down to Thursday for us to have a chance to at least get a share of the title,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said. “Abby’s got a good team. We took advantage of their walks and hit batters. They hit six of us and then we had eight walks. That’s what we took advantage of along with a couple of clutch hits. But they have some really good hitters.”

Rib Lake’s five-run top of the first was big as it put the Redmen in the lead and they never let it go, although Abbotsford-Colby came close.

Michael Borchardt was the first Rib Lake batter to get hit. That came with one out. A throwing error on Logan Blomberg’s drag bunt put the runners on second and third and Jordan Yanko walked to load the bases. After a strikeout, Jackson Blomberg got the clutch hit, looping a two-run single. Jake Matyka’s grounder found a hole for an RBI and Dominic Quednow banged a double to deep left to score two more.

Abbotsford-Colby chipped away, getting within 5-3 by the end of the third, but Rib Lake got two back in the top of the fourth on Logan Blomberg’s RBI single and Yanko’s sacrifice fly.

Leading 7-4 in the fifth, Rib Lake tried to run away again on Sam Gumz’s twoout, three-run home run over the fence in left. But Abbotsford-Colby countered with a four-run rally in the bottom half that included three hits, three walks and a hit batter, making it a 10-8 game.

“It was kind of a wild game, back and forth,” Iverson said. “Anytime someone scored, the other team answered right away.”

After a quiet sixth, Rib Lake got another five-run rally to seemingly put it away. The Redmen loaded the bases with walks, got a run on a wild pitch and then reloaded the bases with another walk to Logan Blomberg. Yanko walked to score a run, Andrew Wudi got hit by a pitch for an RBI and Jack- son Blomberg singled to drive in one. Matyka’s RBI groundout made it 15-8.

But the home team didn’t go away quietly. They got three runs in the bottom half and had the bases loaded when Wudi came in and got the save by inducing two pop flies.

Logan Blomberg went 4.2 innings and got the win. He struck out five, walked four and allowed four hits and eight runs, four of which were earned. Borchardt went 1.2 innings, walked three, struck out one and allowed three hits and three runs, two of which were earned.

Jackson Blomberg was two for five with three RBIs. Gumz was one for four with his three-run bomb. Quednow was one for three with his big early double. Borchardt, Logan Blomberg, Yanko and Matyka had a hit apiece.

Edgar 11, Rib Lake 0

The offense never got going on Monday as the Redmen fell 11-0 Monday to Edgar in a Marawood Conference crossover.

Jordan Bunkelman threw a fiveinning no-hitter for the Wildcats, who jumped ahead big early and breezed to the win. Edgar is in the middle of the Marawood South pack and is 5-4 overall.

Jackson Blomberg was hit for seven runs, four of which were earned, in two innings. Matyka struck out four and walked two while allowing three runs, two of which were earned in 1.2 innings. Quednow got the last four outs, allowing three walks, a hit and a run while striking out one.

“Obviously we didn’t hit the ball very well,” Iverson said. “They put the ball in play, they hit the ball well against us.”

Rib Lake 16, Prentice 1

On Thursday, Logan Blomberg was the one throwing a five-inning no-hitter as the senior shut down Prentice’s young lineup with nine strikeouts. He walked one. Prentice’s fifth-inning run was unearned.

Rib Lake scored twice in each of the first two innings and then busted the game open with a seven-run third. Jackson started it with a single, then walks to Quednow and Brady Heiser loaded the bases for Dalen Gebauer, who came through with a two-run single. Logan Blomberg hit a sacrifice fly after the Redmen re-loaded the bases. Rib Lake added two more runs on an error.

Logan Blomberg’s big day continued with an RBI single in the fourth. A four-run fifth included a sacrifice fly by Heiser, an RBI single by Gumz and a sacrifi ce fly from Borchardt. Gumz was two for four, Borchardt was two for three with two RBIs, Logan Blomberg drove in two while going one for four and Jackson Blomberg, Heiser and Gebauer had one hit apiece with Gebauer collecting two RBIs.