Clutch hits hard to find for Redmen in 1-2 start to the season

RIB LAKE BASEBALL

With zero practices on an actual baseball field, the Rib Lake baseball team got its first three games of the new season played in the past week. The Redmen generally fielded the baseball well despite the lack of field time, pitched well and put a lot of runners on base.

The major downfall in the 1-2 start has been the lack of clutch hitting.

On Monday in a Marawood North doubleheader played at Wisconsin Rapids, the Redmen easily handled Chequamegon 13-3 in game one and had the Screaming Eagles in a 7-1 second-inning hole in game two before the offense stalled and Chequamegon rallied for an 8-7 win.

The offense obviously did well in game one by scoring 13 runs, but head coach Dick Iverson said it also hinted of things to come in game two.

“We scored 13 runs, but in reality we should have scored more,” Iverson said. “It sounds weird but we had nine guys left on base in six innings and seven were in scoring position. Twice we had the bases loaded with less than two outs and didn’t score. The good news is we’re getting on base. The bad news is we’re not finishing it off.”

Michael Borchardt got the win in game one, going 5.1 innings. He struck out seven and worked around eight walks, five of which came in full counts. Chequamegon only got four hits against him and three earned runs.

Talon Scheithauer got the last two outs before Rib Lake ended it via the 10run rule in the bottom of the sixth. He allowed two hits and no runs.

Freshman Ethan Cook led the offense by going three for four and driving in three runs. Scheithauer and Andrew Wudi both went two for five.

Rib Lake scored its first two runs of the game in the bottom of the second. Cook singled and Brady Heiser walked. Dalen Gebauer’s single scored Cook and, after a dropped fly ball, Talon Scheithauer’s infield single drove in a run.

Borchardt led off the bottom of the third with a triple. Dominic Quednow walked and stole second and both runners scored on Cook’s base hit. The Redmen loaded the bases with no outs on two walks and did not score more, but they still led 4-1.

A two-out rally in the fourth made it 6-2. Cook had an RBI singled and a run scored on a wild pitch. Scheithauer and Wudi singled and Jackson Blomberg walked to load the bases with no outs in the fifth. Two wild pitches scored two runs and a groundout by Borchardt added a third.

Rib Lake ended with a four-run sixth. Heiser was hit by a pitch, Seth Borchardt put down a drag bunt and singled and Wudi singled in a run. Blomberg hit a two-out triple and scored the clinching run on a wild pitch.

Rib Lake jumped ahead 5-0 in the top of the first inning in game two.

Scheithauer singled, stole second and went to third on Wudi’s hit. Blomberg walked to load the bases and Michael Borchardt’s walk drove in the first run. Quednow grounded out to drive in a run. Cook’s walk re-loaded the bases. Heiser’s grounder scored one as did Gebauer’s hit. A wild pitch scored the fifth run.

A two-out RBI single put Chequamegon on the board in the bottom half. Then Rib Lake scored twice more in the top of the second. Blomberg walked, stole two bases and scored on a hit by Cook. Heiser later hit a sacrifice fly.

After that, Rib Lake loaded the bases with one out in the third, had runners on first and second with no outs in the fourth, had a runner on third with no outs in the fifth, had two runners on in the sixth and Michael Borchardt hit a two-out triple in the seventh. None of those runners scored.

Chequamegon had two outs and no one on in the fifth and wound up with two runs with a walk and three hits. The bottom of the sixth started with Chequamegon’s hitter striking out an 0-2 curveball from Blomberg that hit the front of the plate and bounced over his catcher, Michael Borchardt, allowing the hitter to reach first base. After a walk, Scheithauer relieved Blomberg and got a strikeout, walked a man and struck another out, which would’ve been the third out had the first batter not reached.

With the bases loaded, Chequamegon’s leadoff hitter got a two-run single and an error –– Rib Lake’s first of the doubleheader –– allowed two more runs to score and tie the game.

In the bottom of the seventh, a hit, sacrifice and a groundout put the winning run on third with two outs and an errant pickoff throw scored it.

“They only left five runners on, one in scoring position, and we had 13 runners left on and 11 were in scoring position,” Iverson said. “It was one of those games where everything was cruising along except for getting a big base hit. Jackson threw well. For the first five innings, he was pretty much dominating them.”

Blomberg struck out eight, walked three and allowed six hits and six runs, though only one was earned, in five innings. Scheithauer covered the last 1.2 innings. He struck out two, walked one and allowed one hit and two unearned runs.

Rib Lake drew 11 walks and had six hits. Cook was two for two, while Scheithauer, Wudi, Michael Borchardt and Gebauer had one hit each.

“I was pretty pleased with our defense,” Iverson said. “Dominic has played some outstanding centerfield so far. He’s thrown a runner out and made some great catches. Ethan Cook is hitting the ball extremely well, hitting the ball hard. We just haven’t come up with the big hit yet. Hopefully that turns around.”

Rib Lake has added a non-conference game at Wild Rose Friday. The team is scheduled to play Athens Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday’s game is scheduled to be in Rib Lake but the field is still under plenty of snow so some kind of change is likely. Iverson said Rib Lake isn’t likely to be able to host Wisconsin Rapids Assumption on April 21 either at this point.

Pittsville 2, Rib Lake 1

Rib Lake finally got on a field for the first time Thursday, heading to sand country in Babcock to face the Pittsville Panthers who got a 2-1, nine-inning win on a windy but not overly cold earlyspring afternoon.

Pittsville got a two-out run in the bottom of the first on a bases-loaded, two-out walk where the Panther batter fought his way out of an 0-2 count.

Rib Lake tied it in the top of the second. Michael Borchardt was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch and Cook singled to right to knock him in, though Cook was thrown out trying to stretch the play into a double.

It stayed tied until the bottom of the ninth when a walk and a base hit on a 3-2 pitch put runners on the corners. The winning run scored on a ground ball