Rib Lake rewarded after its championship season

Three teams sat atop the standings at the end of the season and, rightfully so, those three teams gobbled up all 10 available spots on the 2021 All-Marawood Conference North baseball team.

That group includes the Rib Lake Redmen, who had three unanimous selections to the first team in seniors Carter Scheithauer and Brock Thiede and junior Jordan Yanko. They joined four Athens Blue Jays and three members of the Abbotsford-Colby co-op on the team.

Those three teams shared the conference title with 8-2 records, well ahead of Phillips (3-7), Chequamegon (3-7) and Prentice (0-10). Rib Lake, Athens and Abbotsford- Colby all split their two games with each other, creating the three-way championship tie.

In all, eight Redmen earned some kind of All-North honor for their efforts this spring under head coach Dick Iverson, who was named the 2021 Marawood North Coach of the Year. It’s Iverson’s 12th Marawood Conference Coach of the Year award. Rib Lake went 12-8 overall and reached the WIAA Division 4 regional final level where it was eliminated by Edgar, a team ranked third in the state throughout the season.

Rib Lake’s Sam Gumz, Logan Blomberg and Michael Borchardt made the All-North second team, while senior Ryan Patrick and freshman Jackson Blomberg received honorable mention.

Scheithauer, who earned honorable mention as a sophomore in 2019, had a big season on the mound, played well defensively at first base and collected some key hits in the fourth spot in the batting order to become an easy choice for the All-North team.

Overall in pitching, Scheithauer compiled a 7-1 record and 1.67 earned run average in 50.1 innings pitched with 50 strikeouts and just 13 walks allowed. He gave up just 15 runs overall with 12 of them being earned and 32 hits. Against the North, he did not lose a game and threw 27.1 innings with 31 strikeouts and 16 hits allowed. He only walked eight and gave up eight runs, five in a 6-5 win over Athens, and seven earned runs.

His season highlight was a two-game stretch early when he no-hit Auburndale on eight strikeouts in a 2-0 win on April 30 and then came back to shut out Abbotsford- Colby 4-0 four days later on two hits with 10 strikeouts. He didn’t walk a batter in either game.

At the plate, Scheithauer was six for 21 in league play with a double, 10 runs batted in and six runs scored. He also drew 10 walks. In non-conference play, he added nine more hits, including a homer against Edgar on April 29.

Thiede, the team’s leftfielder, made things happen for Rib Lake in the number- two spot in the batting order. In league play, he hit .423 (11 for 26), drew seven walks to add to his on-base percentage and scored 15 runs. He hit four doubles, including two in the big 6-5 win over Athens on June 1, and a triple. He drove in seven runs in those 10 league games. One of those doubles against Athens was a two-run game-winner in the sixth inning.

Thiede also went three for three with a double in Rib Lake’s 5-2 WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal win over Athens on June 15.

Yanko’s first-team selection was a result of a mid-season offensive surge he rode through the middle of the season. Yanko spent most of his time in the outfi eld but also caught, most often when Borchardt was pitching.

Yanko hit .333 in conference play (nine for 27) and added six more hits in conference play. He drove in eight runs in the Marawood North and four more in non-conference play, two at Columbus Catholic and two on a key single in the playoff win over Athens. He hit another double and two triples in non-conference play. Yanko scored eight runs in North play and stole a handful of bases.

He was three for three with a double, a run and two RBIs in a 10-4 loss to Abbotsford- Colby on May 6, two for three with a triple in a 6-5 non-conference loss to Newman Catholic and two for three with a double, a triple and two RBIs in the 14-4 loss at Columbus Catholic on May 24.

Those three Redmen join seniors Dayne Diethelm, Jake Denzine and Cobie Ellenbecker and junior Cooper Diedrich of Athens on the first team, as well as Abbotsford- Colby seniors Ross Elmhorst, Hunter Soyk and Cade Faber. All but Ellenbecker were unanimous first-team selections by the conference’s coaches.

Diethelm, who hit .538 overall and went 6-2 as a pitcher overall, was named the North’s 2021 Player of the Year.

Gumz rode speed, solid defense in centerfi eld and solid offense as Rib Lake’s leadoff hitter to land on the second team. He hit a modest .200 in league play (five for 25), but drew nine walks and stole nine bases to turn his times on base in to 15 runs scored. He drove in five runs in North play.

He added seven more hits in non-conference play, including two in one of Rib Lake’s most impressive wins of the year, a 4-0 victory at Marathon on May 14.

Logan Blomberg was the third hitter in the team’s batting order, its primary shortstop and one of its key pitchers during the season. He had four hits in league play, but made the most of his on-base chances by scoring 14 runs. He drew nine walks in the North contests and drove in seven. He added seven hits and six RBIs in non-conference play, including a tworun triple against Thorp-Gilman on May 17 and a big two-run double in the regional semifinal win over Athens.

He threw 13.1 innings in conference play, allowing 10 hits and seven earned runs while walking 13. He struck out 11. He threw three strong innings in the Marathon win, allowing one hit and two walks. He got a conference win at Prentice on May 20 and threw two scoreless innings with four strikeouts in an 18-0 regional win over the Buccaneers on June 10.

Borchardt showed he’s a rising player in the conference, taking over Rib Lake’s top catching role, playing some infield and turning in some quality pitching work. He was the winning pitcher with eight strikeouts and just two hits allowed in a 10-0 win over Phillips on June 4 that clinched Rib Lake’s title share. He also went two for three with four RBIs in that win. Borchardt was five for 21 in league play with 10 runs scored, five driven in and 12 walks drawn.

He made three pitching appearances against North foes, allowing four hits and two earned runs in 8.2 innings. He struck out 14 and walked six. He was the winning pitcher at Marathon with four hitless and scoreless innings.

Patrick was one of the team’s three senior captains, along with Scheithauer and Thiede, and gave Rib Lake some solid innings at first base when Scheithauer pitched. He delivered seven hits during the season, including two with an RBI in the 2-0 win at Auburndale, a double in the 10-0 win over Phillips and a two-run triple in the playoff win over Prentice.

Jackson Blomberg stepped into a starting role in the middle infield, pitched and caught a few innings and came up with some key hits out of the ninth spot in the batting order. Among his 10 hits were a two-for-two day in a 20-0 win over Prentice on May 18 that included three RBIs and three runs scored and a two-for-three day at Prentice two days later, where he scored three times and drove in two. He was two for three with a double, a run scored and a stolen base in a 6-5 loss to Newman Catholic on May 7. He drove in two runs in a 19-4 win at Phillips on May 25.