Pitchers dominate; Tigers win 3-1
RIB LAKE BASEBALL
The Rib Lake Redmen got the pitching they needed in Tuesday’s baseball season opener, but Stratford’s was even better as the Tigers secured a 3-1 win in the Marawood Conference crossover.
Unearned runs by the Tigers in the third and sixth innings provided the winning margin as 14 strikeouts by Stratford pitchers Kale Weisenberger and Camden Daul limited the Redmen, who had just one serious offensive threat.
“They have a lot of seniors. They’re ranked 18th in Division 3,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said. “They’re a good team. They have some good athletes. But it was a game that could’ve went either way. We just didn’t put the ball in play. We pitched really well. Overall it was a pretty good high school game. I was pretty happy with it.”
Gavin Kirsch homered off Rib Lake starter Carter Scheithauer in the bottom of the second inning, but Rib Lake quickly tied it in the top of the third. Unfortunately, it was a rally that could have been bigger.
Michael Borchardt worked the count full and drew a leadoff walk, Ty Annala was hit by a pitch and, after a strikeout, leadoff hitter Sam Gumz reached on an infield single to load the bases. Weisenberger got another strikeout, but Logan Blomberg blooped a single into rightfi eld to drive in a run. Weisenberger prevented further damage by getting Scheithauer to ground out to third.
“We had our opportunity in the third to get some runs, but we didn’t come up with the big hit,” Iverson said.
Stratford turned two walks and an error into the go-ahead run in the bottom half of the inning. A two-out error in the sixth allowed the Tigers’ insurance run to score.
Scheithauer pitched four innings for Rib Lake, striking out five, walking three and allowing four hits. Jake Matyka covered the fifth and sixth innings, allowing a hit and the last unearned run while striking out two.
Besides the third-inning hits by Gumz and Blomberg, Borchardt’s hard-hit single was Rib Lake’s only other hit.
Weisenberger struck out 10 batters and walked only one in five innings. He allowed all three hits. Daul struck out four in two innings.
While the offense had its struggles, Iverson said between this game and a scrimmage at Marathon on Saturday he’s seeing solid progress, which is something that will have to continue with Edgar, the state’s second-ranked team in Division 4, coming to Rib Lake today, Thursday, for a 5:30 p.m. start. Rib Lake goes to Auburndale Friday. The Eagles beat Athens Tuesday 1-0.
“I’m happy with what we’ve done so far,” he said. “I knew our hitting would be behind a little bit. I think that will come around. We’ve seen some good pitching too. We played with Marathon and we played with Stratford. That’s a good sign for us. It’s just a matter of the hitting coming around. I thought we made a really big jump from Saturday to Tuesday.”
Marawood North play begins next week with Rib Lake visiting Abbotsford-Colby Tuesday and then hosting them on May 6 in 4:45 p.m. starts.
