Finding pitching depth could be key to Redmen’s 2021 success

RIB LAKE BASEBALL PREVIEW

It’s been nearly 23 months since Rib Lake has played an official high school baseball game and, this spring, the Redmen have been preparing for weeks.

Needless to say, this opening week of the 2021 schedule couldn’t come soon enough.

“We’ve had these extra 15 contact days this year,” head coach Dick Iverson said Friday. “We can’t do much more than get on a field right now and play. I told the kids, this is the most practice we’ve had in the last three years combined. Normally we do six days and we start. We’ve got four weeks in, plus pitchers and catchers week. We have five weeks in. It’s time to play.”

That time has finally arrived with three Marawood Conference crossover games this week. The Redmen opened Tuesday with a 3-1 loss at Stratford. The home opener is set for today, Thursday, at 5:30 p.m. against Edgar, who opens the spring as the state’s second-ranked team in the Division 4 pre-season rankings. Then it’s off to Auburndale Friday before Rib Lake begins Marawood North play Tuesday, May 4 at Abbotsford-Colby.

Last year’s season cancellation at the start of the COVID pandemic dashed some high hopes for a strong year with what would have been a squad that featured a perfect combination of experience, pitching depth and youthful upand- comers.

In 2021, Iverson, who enters his 38th season as Rib Lake’s coach just 21 wins shy of 500 in his Hall of Fame career, opens the year with questions about the experience and pitching depth on this year’s team. However, he’s optimistic about the overall talent and the team’s chances to compete in the Marawood North and beyond.

Experience is likely to be an issue for a lot of conference teams as varsity baseball was last played when this year’s seniors and juniors were just sophomores and freshmen.

“I’m glad we got in our 20 games last summer,” Iverson said of the Legion schedule Rib Lake was able to cobble together despite not having a home field, due to an outfield renovation project. “That helped big time. We were one of the few teams that got that many games in, although we didn’t play at home.”

Leading the way in the experience department are seniors Carter Scheithauer and Brock Thiede, and juniors Logan Blomberg, Sam Gumz and Jordan Yanko. Senior Ryan Patrick also should be a key upperclassman.

Scheithauer and Blomberg start the year as Rib Lake’s top two pitchers and should see the bulk of the innings in conference play. As has been the case in recent seasons, conference foes will play each other twice a week –– Tuesdays and Thursdays in most cases. That means most teams won’t see the same starting pitcher in both meetings and it allows for potentially easier rescheduling if the first game of the week is postponed.

Scheithauer, an honorable mention All-North selection in 2019, was 1-3 in 18 innings pitched in eight appearances that year with 21 strikeouts and a save. Iverson called Blomberg possibly the team’s most improved player based on his play of last summer.

Early-season play will determine who eats up most of the non-conference innings and relief innings, when needed, in league play. The candidates to start the year were sophomore Michael Borchardt, juniors Ty Annala and Jake Matyka and even freshmen Jackson Blomberg and Andrew Wudi.

Defensive flexibility may be one of Rib Lake’s strengths as Iverson sees several players being able to play multiple positions, depending on the day’s lineup.

On the infield, Scheithauer has played both first and third base in his prep career. Patrick and Matyka also fit the mold of a corner infielder. Borchardt is the top catcher, but he will see time at shortstop too. Blomberg figures to be the shortstop when he doesn’t pitch. Wudi, Blomberg and junior Michael Quednow are battling for time at second base. Yanko will catch when Borchardt pitches.

Gumz is the unquestioned starter in centerfield and Thiede starts in leftfield as long as his troublesome shoulders will allow him to. Patrick, Yanko, Annala and others are in the outfield mix.

“We have a little depth this year compared to years past in that we can move guys around and pinch hit and pinch run,” Iverson said. “We do have some depth. We just don’t have enough kids this year to do two games at once, so our JV scheduling will be interesting. We may have to play some Saturdays and maybe when we get into June we may have to play some JV games before or after the varsity game, something like that to get these guys some games. Going into June cuts into the Legion schedule, so that makes it tough.” Offensively, Gumz brings impressive speed to the top of the batting order, followed by Thiede, Blomberg, Scheithauer and Yanko. Spots six through nine, Iverson said, are still to be determined in the next week or two. Scheithauer hit .280 in 2019 with two doubles, a homer, 13 runs batted in, 15 walks and eight hit by pitches. He had a .507 on-base percentage. Thiede hit .257 and drove in 13 runs. “Brock puts the ball in play,” Iverson said. “Logan was pretty consistent last summer putting it in play. Carter Scheithauer will bat fourth. He’s got some good pop. He’s been starting since he was a freshman. Jordan Yanko will hit five. He’s a lefthanded batter with some good power. Six through nine is going to be between Ryan Patrick, Michael Borchardt, Jake Matyka, Ty Annala, Michael Quednow, Jackson Blomberg and Andrew Wudi. I think we’ll put the ball in play. Carter’s got above-average power and Sammy is one of the fastest guys I’ve ever coached, so if we can get him on base, it will be nice.”

After the year off, there are plenty of unknowns heading into the 2021 title chase in the Marawood North. Athens is the pre-season pick. The Blue Jays had three straight WIAA Division 4 state appearances, including championships in 2017 and 2018, before the pandemic ended their run last year. They return a handful of key position players. Chequamegon is another perennial contender, but the Screaming Eagles have been hit hard by graduation the past two years. Both teams also will feature new coaches. Jake Herbst replaces Tom Armstrong at Chequamegon and Todd Diethelm takes over for Bill Coker in Athens.

Phillips and Prentice figure to be on the young side as well. Iverson said Abbotsford- Colby might be the wild card.

“Abbotsford-Colby, I think, could be pretty decent because they had a good group two years ago that was pretty young,” he said. “They could have plenty of depth.”

Rib Lake’s schedule features six crossover games against the Marawood South, which again could be loaded. Along with highly-ranked Edgar, Stratford is coming off a Division 3 state championship in 2019, Marathon should again be solid and Newman Catholic is a team perceived to be on the rise. Auburndale is typically solid.

Thorp-Gilman, Columbus Catholic and Flambeau also appear on the current schedule. As of now, Rib Lake is assigned to the WIAA Division 4 Athens sectional field, but assignments may be revised after the WIAA determines who is playing baseball this spring and the number of one-year COVID co-ops in this year’s field. “It’s important that we get everybody as many games as possible,” Iverson said. “I think our offense will be fine. My biggest concern is pitching depth. I think the infield will be OK, I think the outfield will be OK. Somebody has to step up behind Carter and Logan. They’re going to log the majority of the conference games. The non-conference games we have to find four or five guys to eat up the innings there between Jake, Ty, Michael, Jackson and Andrew.

“We’re going to play and see how we are. I give us just as good a chance as anybody else in the North. “