RIB LAKE BASEBALL - Experience showing in Rib Lake’s 4-0 start

RIB LAKE BASEBALL

Jackson Blomberg went the distance in an efficient pitching performance and Rib Lake’s offense came through with a four-run fifth-inning rally Tuesday for a 5-1 win over Athens in the Redmen’s home and Marawood North openers.

Blomberg struck out four, allowed six hits, walked five and got nearly flawless defense behind him as the Redmen stayed undefeated in the season’s early going, moving to 4-0.

The Redmen got one run but couldn’t deliver the knockout punch in a secondinning, bases-loaded chance, but they didn’t fail in the fifth. The big rally came right after Athens (0-1, 0-2) had tied the game in the top half of the inning.

“We’ve been pitching well and playing good defense,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson. “Our hitting hasn’t quite taken off yet, but that’s pretty typical for when you haven’t seen a lot of live pitching. Our pitching has been outstanding from everybody who’s thrown so far this year.”

Talon Scheithauer started the winning rally with a single to leftfield. He went all the way to third base on an errant throw back to the infield. Andrew Wudi drew a walk from Athens starter Nick Pittman and stole second and Blomberg walked to load them up.

Pittman gave himself a chance to dig out of the jam by striking out Ethan Cook, but Dominic Quednow put the ball in play and was rewarded, looping in an RBI infield single into no-man’s land between the triangle of Pittman, third baseman Ty Johnson and shortstop Kamden Zarnke.

Brady Heiser drove in Wudi with a sacrifice fly to centerfield, then Seth Borchardt delivered the dagger, singling up the middle to plate two more runs.

Athens got one base runner in each of the next two innings, but didn’t pose a serious threat. Blomberg hit his 100-pitch count limit on the final batter and struck out Kaden Auner to end it.

“Jackson pitched well,” Iverson said. “We knew they were going to put the ball in play. We just had to play defense. Andrew played really well at third. He had eight ground balls hit to him.”

Athens stranded two runners in the top of the first. Rib Lake left three on in the second, but got its first run on Tyler Matyka’s two-out single up the middle. That scored Quednow, who had walked and stolen second. Athens got its fifthinning run on a Daxton Diethelm RBI double.

Rib Lake committed just one error in the game, a throwing error that allowed Blue Jay Kaleb Cracraft to reach in the top of the fourth. But the play still ended in an out as Cook, Rib Lake’s catcher, alertly backed up the play and threw back to Blomberg at the bag to nab Cracraft, who had turned the wrong way.

Athens’ fifth inning could’ve been bigger but the Redmen picked courtesy runner Shay Blake off first base after catcher Logan Ebben had drawn a leadoff walk. The Blue Jays got three consecutive hits after that.

“I was pretty proud of the kids because it was a lot of the things we practice about keeping our eyes on guys,” Iverson said. “If they’re going to take their foot off the bag for a second and Brady did that and got that out. Then we had a back-up at first where guys were backing up a bad throw to one, the runner breaks for second and we had the pitcher covering the bag just in case that happens and we tagged him out.”

Rib Lake got six hits off Pittman, who went five innings. Matyka was two for three, while Blomberg, Borchardt, Scheithauer and Quednow had a hit apiece.

“The bottom of the order came through,” Iverson said. “Seth had a big two-out hit and Tyler had two hits. The bottom did a better job than the top this time.”

The Redmen and Blue Jays will meet again Friday in Athens with a 4:45 p.m. first pitch. Rib Lake will face an improved Prentice squad in North play next week, hosting the Buccaneers Monday and then visiting them on Tuesday for 4:45 p.m. starts.

Rib Lake 5, Marathon 3

On Friday, Rib Lake rallied from an early 3-0 deficit and put a quality notch in the win column with a 5-3 victory at Marathon in a Marawood Conference crossover.

Scheithauer gave the Redmen 4.1 innings of scoreless relief pitching and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the win. Rib Lake took the lead with a three-run top of the fifth.

Again, a big defensive play by the Redmen short-circuited what could have been a big inning for the opposition.

This time, it was the seventh. After a leadoff walk, Blomberg, playing shortstop caught a pop-up and surprised the Red Raider runner with a quick throw to first that doubled him off. That loomed large when a hit batter, a walk and an infield single loaded the bases. Scheithauer then induced a ground ball to third that ended the threat and the game.

“We work on that a lot, just taking advantage of guys not paying attention,” Iverson said. “It’s starting to pay off with our experienced guys knowing what to do.” Blomberg started the game but knew he was going to be limited to a strict pitch count so he could start Tuesday’s game with Athens. He went 2.2 innings, striking out three, walking one and allowing two hits and three runs, one of which was earned.

Marathon scored all of its runs in the second inning. A one-hopper hit back to Blomberg that had inning-ending double play written all over it turned into a disaster when Blomberg’s throw hit the base umpire in the head. After a delay, the umpire stayed in the game.

Another error loaded the bases. That was followed by a two-run single and an RBI groundout.

Scheithauer finished with two strikeouts. He allowed just three hits and four walks, one of which was intentional. Scheithauer also got two Rib Lake rallies started. He walked and stole second to start the third. Wudi drag bunted for a hit and Blomberg’s base hit got the Redmen on the board.

In the fifth, Scheithauer and Wudi led off with hits, then Blomberg added a hit to score Scheithauer. Cook walked to load the bases and then Quednow hit a tworun single. In the seventh, Cook hit into a double play, but an insurance run scored in the process.

Wudi and Blomberg both went three for four. Quednow and Scheithauer had a hit apiece with Blomberg and Quednow driving in two runs each.

“We’re not getting rattled if we do fall behind early or if something goes wrong,” Iverson said. “A lot of that is just our experience taking over.”

Rib Lake rightfielder Seth Borchardt catches a fly ball hit by Athens’ Kaden Auner during the fifth inning of Tuesday’s 5-1 win. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS