Blomberg, Borchardt get 1st-team spots; five more Redmen rewarded

ALL-MARAWOOD NORTH BASEBALL

All four of Rib Lake’s seniors earned some type of award as did three of the players expected to be core members of next year’s team in voting for the 2022 All-Marawood North baseball teams.

Senior Logan Blomberg and junior Michael Borchardt are Rib Lake’s firstteam representatives as both moved up a level after earning second-team honors last spring. They are part of a 10-member first team that got unanimous approval from the coaches in the voting process. Blomberg was voted by teammates and coaches as Rib Lake’s Most Valuable Player for 2022.

Seniors Sam Gumz and Jordan Yanko and sophomore Jackson Blomberg are among the 10 players on this year’s All-North second team, while senior Jacob Matyka and sophomore Andrew Wudi earned honorable mention.

The awards follow a 13-8 season under head coach Dick Iverson that ended one win shy of a trip to the WIAA Division 4 state tournament. The Redmen went 7-3 in North play to finish second in the sixteam conference behind 9-1 Abbotsford-Colby and a game ahead of 6-4 Athens and Chequamegon.

As the third seed in its six-team Division 4 regional, Rib Lake beat sixthseeded Prentice 15-1, second-seeded Athens 5-0 and top-seeded Thorp 7-3 to win the regional championship plaque. The Redmen beat Newman Catholic 6-1 in the semifinal round of the WIAA Division 4 Gillett-Suring sectional before bowing out 5-0 to Columbus Catholic, who finished 20-4 after a state semifinal loss to Bangor on June 15.

“I have to say this definitely was one of my most improved teams,” Iverson said Monday. “We really played some good baseball in the last three weeks. We had 13 players this year, four were freshmen and three were sophomores, so half the team was freshmen and sophomores. To finish second in the league and make the sectional final was a pretty good accomplishment with such a young group.”

Logan Blomberg and Borchardt were Rib Lake’s top two pitchers in 2022 and filled two of the top three spots in the batting order.

In 10 conference games, Blomberg hit a team-high .375 (12 for 32) with three doubles, a triple and 15 runs batted in. The shortstop when he wasn’t pitching, Blomberg scored 12 runs, stole five bases, drew seven walks and had an on-base percentage of .512. He also went 4-1 on the mound with a 1.95 earned run average. In 32.1 innings pitched, Blomberg struck out 37 batters and walked 18.

Overall, he hit .339 (21 for 62) and drove in 24 runs while scoring 22. He won the team award for Best Batting Average and was second in runs batted in. He picked up three pitching victories in the post-season to finish 8-1 on the year and won the team award for Best Earned Run Average at 1.55. In 54 innings, he allowed just 35 hits and 23 runs, 12 of which were earned, and 32 walks. He struck out 68 batters.

Blomberg threw a five-inning no-hitter in a 16-1 win at Prentice on April 28 and had couple of strong pitching performances in league wins over Phillips. At Phillips in an 8-0 win on May 9 he allowed just three hits and struck out seven in six shutout innings. He went 6.1 innings in a 10-2 win on May 13, striking out seven, walking two and allowing two runs and six hits. He was the winner in the regional semifinal win over Athens, allowing just one hit in 5.2 innings while working around six walks. He was the winner in the sectional semifinal game with Newman Catholic, allowed just five hits and one run in six innings while striking out 10.

Borchardt hit .310 in 10 North contests (nine for 29), led Rib Lake with 19 runs and had an on-base percentage of .500 while drawing 10 walks from the number- two spot in the order. He also stole eight bases. Overall, he hit .333 (20 for 60) with a team-high 31 runs scored. When he wasn’t pitching, Borchardt played at shortstop or caught for the Redmen.

His pitching was solid too. In league play, Borchardt went 2-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 19 innings pitched. He struck out 21 and walked 16 while allowing 18 runs, only nine of which were earned. Overall, he finished 4-3 with his biggest win coming in the regional final at Thorp when he needed 99 pitches to get through seven innings. He struck out three, walked four and allowed seven hits and two earned runs in the win. His overall ERA was 2.19 over 43.2 innings with 33 strikeouts and 30 walks.

Borchardt was three for four in the sectional win over Newman. He was two for three with three runs scored and two driven in during the April 28 win at Prentice and pitched six strong innings in a key 11-2 win over Athens on April 19.

Abbotsford-Colby and Athens had the most first-team selections with three apiece. The conference champs put juniors Brandon Diedrich and Mateo Lopez and sophomore JV Castillo on the list. Castillo, the team’s shortstop, leadoff hitter and a pitcher, was named the North’s 2022 Player of the Year, while head coach Ryan Bargender was named Coach of the Year. Castillo also got honorable mention for the All-North Central District team. Athens put seniors Cooper Diedrich, Brooks Kraus and Kody Lepak on the team.

Chequamegon senior Collin Luhtala and junior Jacob Bushman rounded out the first team.

Yanko and Gumz filled two of the three outfield positions and were dependable hitters in the top half of the batting order as well. Gumz, who was voted winner of the team’s Best Defense award for his play in centerfield, hit .276 in league play out of the leadoff spot (eight for 29), scored 14 runs in nine games played, drove in five runs and hit a three-run home run in the team’s biggest win of the regular season, a 15-11 triumph at Abbotsford- Colby on May 3. With six walks and getting hit by four pitches, he had a .447 on-base percentage in league play. Over- all, Gumz finished with a .267 batting average (16 for 60), led the team with stolen bases with 14, drew 12 walks and was hit by six pitches. Gumz and Blomberg were this year’s team captains.

Yanko, who played leftfield defensively, was the team’s clean-up hitter and posted a .267 Marawood North batting average, going eight for 30 with 12 RBIs in 10 games. Four of those hits went for doubles, he walked eight times and stole three bases.

The powerful left-handed hitter got hot at the right time, going eight for 15 at the plate in the post-season to finish with an overall batting average of .317 (19 of 60). Eleven of his hits went for extra bases with eight doubles and three triples. All of his triples were hit in the post-season, including a two-run triple against Newman that gave him the team’s award for most RBIs with 26. He was three for three with two doubles in the WIAA regional opener against Prentice and went two for three in the regional wins over Athens and Thorp with a triple in each game.

Yanko was a first-team All-North pick last year, while Gumz is on the second team for the second straight year.

Jackson Blomberg moves up a level after gaining honorable mention as a freshman. He became the team’s primary catcher and ate up some innings on the mound while batting .323 in league play (10 for 31) with 11 RBIs, seven walks drawn and six runs scored. One of those hits was a double. He stole six bases and had a solid .447 on-base percentage in 10 Marawood North games. He picked up a key pitching win on April 21, going six innings in an 11-4 win over Chequamegon. He allowed just two hits in that game and struck out seven while working around seven walks.

Overall, he hit .274 (17 for 62) with 16 RBIs, 10 runs scored, eight walks drawn and seven stolen bases. He was 1-4 on the mound with a 7.14 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 16.2 innings.

Blomberg was voted the winner of the team’s Hustle Award and also was named a co-captain for 2023 along with Borchardt.

Matyka took over first base defensively, ate some pitching innings and turned into a solid run producer in the batting lineup during his senior season. In conference play, he hit .292 (seven for 24) with a double and eight runs driven in. He scored eight runs, stole three bases and only struck out twice while drawing six walks and getting hit by three pitches to boost his on-base percentage to .471.

Overall, he hit .271 (13 for 48) and drove in 17 runs. He hit three sacrifice flies to drive in runs during the postseason. He made seven pitching appearances covering 7.2 innings. He struck out seven, walked seven and had a 6.39 ERA.

Wudi played well at third base and was a solid bat in the bottom half of the order. He hit .276 in North play (eight for 29), drew nine walks, stole eight bases, scored six runs and drove in five. His league on-base percentage was .462.

Overall, he ended up with a .210 batting average, tied for the team lead with 13 walks drawn, hit one double, stole nine bases and drove in eight runs. He scored nine times.

One more team award to note, freshman Brady Heiser earned the Most Improved Player award. Heiser saw some time at first base and had some key atbats, including a sacrifice fly in the sectional win over Newman.

“Thank you to my wife (Teri), my managers, all of my assistant coaches, our administration and my field manager Jack Buksa for their help during the season,” Iverson said. “Also, thank you to the fans. We had quite a following this year. It was very nice for the kids to have all of the fans showing up for their games.”

Michael Borchardt First Team

Jordan Yanko Second Team

Sam Gumz Second Team

Jackson Blomberg Second Team

Jacob Matyka Hon. Mention

Andrew Wudi Hon. Mention