Edgar strolls to 10-0 win over Rib Lake in regional final

WIAA DIV. 4 BASEBALL

The Rib Lake Redmen knew it was going to take a razor-sharp effort to get out of Edgar with a win in their June 16 WIAA Division 4 baseball regional final.

Unfortunately, that kind of effort was not to be.

Edgar left-hander Konnor Wolf threw a six-inning no-hitter, while the Wildcats made the most of their seven hits in a 10-0 shutout that sent them to sectional competition in Athens on Tuesday.

Rib Lake’s solid 2021 season ended at 12-8.

“We hadn’t walked guys in a long time,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said. “It was not a sharp outing by any means. A couple times we had them with two outs and they came up with some big hits. But the walks did us in. You can’t have 11 walks and expect to beat a team that was 16-3.”

The Wildcats, who were ranked third in the Division 4 state poll during the regular season, got a 2-1 win over Three Lakes-Phelps in a sectional semifinal Tuesday, but lost 7-3 to Greenwood in the final to finish the year 18-4.

Edgar took a quick 2-0 lead over Rib Lake in last Wednesday’s first inning thanks to a walk, a stolen base, a single, another stolen base and a sacrifice fly.

Rib Lake’s only real scoring opportunity went by the wayside in the top of the second when the Redmen put runners at the corners but couldn’t come up with the big hit.

Edgar got two base runners with walks in the third and a clutch hit knocked them in. In the fourth, two walks and two hits led to two more runs and a 6-0 lead.

The Wildcats ended the game with four runs in the sixth on five walks and just two hits.

Michael Borchardt got the start and took the loss. He went 3.1 innings, striking out four, walking six and and allowing two hits. Logan Blomberg struck out three, walked two and allowed four hits in two innings and Jake Matyka got a strikeout while walking three and allowing a hit in the sixth.