Redmen have depth, flexibility as they begin title defense

RIB LAKE BASEBALL PREVIEW

It hasn’t been the start to the 2022 baseball season the Rib Lake Redmen were hoping for as they anxiously await Mother Nature’s approval to start defending their 2021 co-championship in the Marawood Conference’s North Division.

Saturday’s southern trip to face North Crawford and De Soto was canceled by snow and the team has been stuck in the gym during the first two weeks of practice, save for one brief outing on the tennis courts across the street from the high and middle schools and another brief outing on the football field.

Fortunately, though low in overall numbers, the Redmen should be experienced enough to hit the ground running when they can get on some dirt and grass.

“We only have 13 kids, the lowest we’ve ever had,” head coach Dick Iverson said Thursday. “Luckily we have eight guys with a lot of experience gained over the summer (during the 22-game Legion season).”

Rib Lake comes off a 12-8 season in 2021 that included an 8-2 Marawood North record and a three-way tie at the top with Athens and Abbotsford-Colby. With the majority of the roster having significant roles on that team, the Redmen are viewed as one of the favorites again this spring.

“I think it could be like last year where three teams shared the title. I really do,” Iverson said of the team’s prospects in the conference. “I think it’s that close again. But this time instead of three teams, I think it could legitimately be four teams battling in there pretty good. As long as we’re in the talk, that’s kinda nice.”

Rib Lake did lose three to graduation, first-team All-North selections Carter Scheithauer and Brock Thiede and corner infielder Ryan Patrick. Scheithauer had a huge season, going 7-1 on the pitcher’s mound with a 1.56 earned run average.

This year, Iverson believes his team has the pitching depth needed to contend. Whether someone emerges to be as dominant as Scheithauer wound up being last year remains to be seen, but as a group, Iverson likes what he has.

“I would say of our top four pitchers, Logan Blomberg and Michael Borchardt will be doing most of the conference pitching with Jake Matyka and Jackson Blomberg pitching a lot of non-conference or being our relief pitchers in conference. They’ll be our top four. Andrew Wudi and Dominic Quednow would be our next two.”

Blomberg is a senior who will split time between the mound and shortstop, while Borchardt is a junior who is one of the team’s catchers and can play on the infield as well.

“I don’t think I have a definite one or two yet, it’s just whoever’s pitching well,” Iverson said. “Both pitched quite a few innings last summer. Andrew pitched some innings and Dom pitched some innings and Jake threw a ton of innings. Our guys that are on the roster for pitching all got a lot of innings for us last summer.”

Wudi, a sophomore, should be a versatile player on Rib Lake’s infield with the ability to play second base, third base or shortstop. He posted the team’s best batting average as a freshman at .345. Jackson Blomberg, another emerging sophomore, will split catching time with Borchardt and has middle infield experience. Matyka, a senior, is vying for a corner infield spot. In the outfield, Sam Gumz returns to centerfi eld, where he has the speed to track down just about any ball hit from gap to gap. Senior Jordan Yanko gives Rib Lake a dependable leftfielder and he gives the team a capable third catcher. Dominic Quednow, is another member of the sophomore class that has grown a ton since this point a year ago, according to Iverson. He’ll start the year holding down the rightfield position.

“Dominic played a ton (in the summer) and did a great job,” Iverson said. “He’s gotten a lot stronger and gives us another lefthanded bat in the lineup.” Offensively, Rib Lake had its ups and downs in 2021. When it struggled, it typically came down to not putting the ball in play with runners on base. Iverson feels with more experience, the Redmen will be more consistent at the plate. “I just think guys will bat better this year because they got that year under their belts,” he said. “They missed the year before and last year was a big year for them.” The order itself will take some time to figure out, though Gumz is certainly going to lead off, while Logan Blomberg is penciled in to hit third. Gumz didn’t have a high batting average last season, but he took a lot of walks, stole a lot of bases and scored a lot of runs. Yanko, who hits from the left side, showed the most extra-base power of the regulars who return this spring.

“I don’t know who’s batting in what order, other than we’ll have Sam leading off and Logan will bat third,” Iverson said. “But it’s nice to know we’ll have what I think are eight decent hitters in the lineup. That doesn’t bother me too much about who’s batting where. It’s just a matter of figuring it out as we go here.

“I think Sammy Gumz has the potential to really take off for us,” he added. “Logan is a good hitter. I really believe all of those guys are decent hitters and I think their averages will jump quite a bit this year compared to last year.”

Others looking to find a role include junior Dalen Gebauer and freshmen Brady Heiser, Logan Schmidtfranz, Tyler Matyka and Connor Highfill. Heiser and Gebauer are under consideration to start at first base.

If Rib Lake is able to play Marathon Friday, it will most likely be on the Red Raiders’ field as Tannery Creek Parkway started this week having a ways to go before being ready for play. That would be the first of six always-challenging crossover games with Marawood South foes.

Marawood North competition is scheduled to start Monday at Chequamegon with the Screaming Eagles coming to Rib Lake the following day. The Redmen hope to host Three Lakes-Phelps in non-conference play April 14 before the Easter weekend.

In the North, Abbotsford-Colby and Athens both lost three first-team all-conference choices, but Iverson sees those teams still being capable of beating anyone, especially with Athens still having all-conference senior Cooper Diedrich to pitch and hit. Abbotsford-Colby had three underclassmen on the All-North second team a year ago.

Chequamegon could be an interesting team too. Typically a North contender, the Screaming Eagles slipped to 3-7 in league play and 4-15 overall in a subpar 2021 season.

“They really improved over the summer,” Iverson said. “They’ve got a couple of decent young pitchers that throw pretty hard.”

Phillips also is looking to regroup after a below-average year at 3-7 in league play and 4-13 overall. Prentice has nowhere to go but up after a rough winless campaign in 2021.

Rib Lake currently sits in a six-team WIAA Division 4 post-season regional bracket that includes Athens, a solid Thorp team, Butternut-Mercer, Owen-Withee and Prentice. Gillett-Suring was recently announced as the sectional tournament host on June 7.

Also of note, Iverson entered the season ranked fifth with 491 wins on the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association’s list of active coaches in the state putting the 500-win milestone certainly within reach.