Two North wins for Redmen in first two home outings
RIB LAKE BASEBALL
Finally able to get on the Tannery Creek Park field, the Rib Lake baseball team secured two wins to even their early- season record at 3-3. The latest came in Monday’s blast of winter as the Redmen easily outscored winless Prentice 11-1 amid the wind, snowflakes and temperatures in the 30s. Rib Lake did all of its scoring in the first three innings on just eight hits and held off a Prentice threat to extend the game in the top of the fifth.
Logan Blomberg, hitting out of the third spot in the batting order, led the offensive charge by going two for three with a double, two runs scored and four runs driven in. On the mound, Michael Borchardt pitched three strong innings to collect the win. He struck out seven, walked one and allowed just one hit.
Rib Lake wasted no time in setting the tone by jumping ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the first. Sam Gumz drew a leadoff walk against Prentice starter Nathan Nikkila and stole two bases. He scored on Blomberg’s groundout, which was the second out of the inning. Jordan Yanko extended the inning by walked. He moved up two bases on a balk and a wild pitch and scored when Jacob Matyka reached on an error. Matyka stole second and scored on Andrew Wudi’s base hit.
A five-run second widened the lead to 8-0. Dominic Quednow struck out on a dropped third strike but reached when the throw to first was misplayed. He eventually scored on a base hit by number-nine hitter Brady Heiser. Gumz singled. Heiser and Gumz would score on Blomberg’s two-run double. Yanko made it back-to-back doubles, driving in Blomberg. Quednow eventually drew a basesloaded walk with two outs.
Gumz, Borchardt and Blomberg all singled to start the third with Blomberg’s hit scoring Gumz. An error on a ball hit by Yanko scored Borchardt and Wudi’s base hit drove in Blomberg.
Prentice’s lone threat came in the fifth against Matyka, who walked three straight batters and allowed an RBI single to Jesse Cummings before rediscovering the strike zone and catching Logan Hunter looking and retiring Kal Esterholm for the final out on a nice running catch by Quednow in rightfield.
Cummings had the only two hits Prentice (0-6) had in the game. Matyka struck out three batters in his two-inning stint.
Gumz was two for two with a walk and scored three runs. Wudi was two for three with two RBIs.
Rib Lake will head to Prentice today, Thursday, for the rematch which starts at 4:45 p.m. Friday’s Marawood Conference crossover with Auburndale has been canceled. As of mid-week, the Redmen were trying to find a fill-in opponent for the day.
The Redmen host Edgar Monday in a rescheduled crossover at 4:45 p.m., then get two big Marawood North games with league-leading Abbotsford-Colby. The first is Tuesday in Abbotsford, while Rib Lake hosts the rematch on May 5. Rib Lake is at Newman Catholic for a May 6 Marawood crossover.
Redmen 11, Eagles 4
In the rescheduled rematch with Chequamegon from the previous week, Rib Lake used two four-run innings to pull away from the Screaming Eagles 11-4 Thursday in the season’s home opener.
With the win, the Redmen earned a split of their conference games with the Screaming Eagles, who took the first one 14-6 on April 12. This time, Chequamegon mustered just three hits.
Jackson Blomberg kept Chequamegon off the board until the fifth and got credit for the win. He pitched six innings, striking out seven, walking seven and allowing three runs and two hits. The offense banged out 11 hits and got four RBIs from Jackson Blomberg and three more from Logan Blomberg.
After scratching first on Logan Blomberg’s run-scoring grounder in the first, Rib Lake got its first big rally in the third to go up 5-0. Gumz singled with one out and Borchardt walked to set up Logan Blomberg’s two-run triple off reliever Corbyn Phelps. Blomberg scored on Yanko’s groundout. Matyka and Wudi kept the rally going with hits and Matyka scored on Jackson Blomberg’s single.
Chequamegon closed the gap to 5-3 in the top of the fifth, capped by a tworun single from Dustin Krueger. But Rib Lake got two of those back in the bottom half as Yanko doubled, Wudi walked and both scored on a double by Jackson Blomberg, the first batter new pitcher Joseph Newbury faced.
Rib Lake went up 11-3 in the sixth. That rally started with a Borchardt single. He later scored on a balk. With two down, Matyka walked and Wudi singled. Jackson Blomberg and Quednow drove in pinch runner Logan Schmidtfranz and Wudi with base hits.
Wudi allowed a run on two walks, a hit and a hit batter in the seventh. He struck out one.
Jackson Blomberg was three for three at the plate and added a walk. He also stole three bases. Wudi was two for three, scored twice and stole three bases. Borchardt was one for two with two walks, three runs scored and three stolen bases.
Rib Lake’s Jake Matyka unleashes a pitch during the fifth inning of Monday’s win over Prentice. Matyka pitched the last two innings.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
