Rough 6th sinks Redmen Tuesday; team loses a good one at Marathon

RIB LAKE BASEBALL

After an encouraging opener in Marathon Saturday, the Rib Lake baseball team took a step backwards Tuesday, dropping its Marawood North opener to Chequamegon 14-6 on a wet, cool day in Park Falls.

What was a back-and-forth game unraveled for the visitors in the bottom of the sixth when the Screaming Eagles scored eight runs to turn a 6-5 lead into a nine-run margin in their first game of the spring.

The Redmen committed just one error on Saturday, but they had six Tuesday, walked 10 batters and hit three more to contribute to their own demise.

“We just didn’t play well,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said. “I don’t think the weather affected us. We just didn’t throw strikes. It was tough.”

Rib Lake held one-run leads on two occasions. In the top of the second, Jordan Yanko and Jake Matyka got hits, leading to an unearned run. After two errors, a walk, a hit batter and two hits gave Chequamegon a 3-1 lead in the bottom half, Rib Lake got one back in the third on an error and then an RBI double from Yanko. A two-run fourth put the Redmen back on top. Two walks with two outs set the table for a clutch two-run single by Logan Blomberg.

But three walks and an error and a hit added up to three Screaming Eagle runs in the bottom of the fourth. Dalen Gebauer singled and eventually scored on an error to bring Rib Lake within one in the top of the sixth before things came apart in the bottom half.

Rib Lake loaded the bases in the top of the seventh with nobody out but only mustered one run when the Redmen hit into a double play.

The Redmen, who played without leadoff hitter and centerfielder Sam Gumz and lost Blomberg late in the game with a leg injury, were led offensively by Yanko, who went two for four with his RBI double. Matyka, Andrew Wudi, Dominic Quednow and Gebauer all had a hit apiece.

“We were putting the ball in play at the end,” Iverson said. “The first two innings we struck out four times and we didn’t strike out after that. So it got better that way. You just can’t give them that many free bases and expect to win. There’s no way.”

Rib Lake worked four pitchers into the game. Blomberg covered the first four innings. He struck out four, walked six and allowed three earned runs, four hits.

Michael Borchardt got four outs, striking out three, walking three and allowing two hits and four runs, two of which were earned. Matyka and Wudi each got an out in the rough sixth inning.

Rib Lake is scheduled to host Three Lakes-Phelps today, Thursday, in nonconference play, but as of Wednesday it did not look like that game would be able to get played. The Redmen are scheduled to host Athens Monday and then travel to Athens Tuesday for a pair of key Marawood North games that would start at 4:45 p.m. if conditions allow.

Marathon 3, Rib Lake 2

Rib Lake held a 2-0 lead through four and a half innings but couldn’t quite hold on and lost 3-2 at Marathon on Saturday afternoon.

A walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh drove in the winning run after a pair of two-out walks. Walks were the only drawback to Rib Lake’s defensive efforts, which Iverson said were actually quite good considering the team’s lack of time on a field before Saturday.

“If you have one error the first time you’ve been on a field, that’s pretty good,” he said. “Plus we turned two double plays.” Rib Lake took a 1-0 first-inning lead when Borchardt was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a passed ball and to third on an error before scoring on a Yanko groundout. In the fifth, Jackson Blomberg singled, went to third on Quednow’s double and scored on Brady Heiser’s sacrifice fly.

But Marathon broke through in the bottom half of the inning to tie it. Two walks and a hit loaded the bases and an error brought in the unearned runs.

Jackson Blomberg had two hits and Quednow added the double for Rib Lake’s only hits against three Red Raider pitchers.

Logan Blomberg struck out two, walked two and allowed a hit in two innings, Borchardt walked three and allowed two hits and two unearned runs in 2.1 innings. Matyka struck out and walked one to finish out the fifth. Jackson Blomberg had three strikeouts and walked three in 1.2 innings.

The teams played five more varsity reserve innings, which allowed Rib Lake to get eight players some time on the pitching mound during the cool, but sunny and dry afternoon.