RIB LAKE BASEBALL PREVIEW - Baseball team aims to continue recent success

RIB LAKE BASEBALL PREVIEW

The Rib Lake Redmen ended the 2024 baseball season one win shy of the state tournament, falling 10-2 to Solon Springs in the sectional final. Many of the players who are back also were part of the 2024-25 boys basketball team that fell just shy in the sectional final with Turtle Lake nearly three weeks ago.

The motivation, confidence and athletic ability is there to make another run at something big as the Redmen get their 2025 baseball season started. There are some 2024 graduation losses to fill and the Redmen will look to some freshmen to help do that.

Veteran head coach Dick Iverson, however, is confident his crew will be a contender again, if it can stay healthy. The Redmen are just 13 players deep, which is about as low in numbers as Rib Lake’s roster has ever been. But, as Iverson put it last week, all 13 of those young men can play and figure to contribute in one way or another to the 2025 team’s success.

Rib Lake is hopeful to start its season Saturday with its annual trip to Stoddard for games with De Soto and Wauzeka-Steuben. The Redmen are scheduled to play nonconference Marawood Conference crossover games at home against Edgar and at Marathon April 8 and 11. Defense of Rib Lake’s co-Marawood North championship begins April 15 and 17 with a home-andhome series of games with the Athens Blue Jays.

Rib Lake shared the North title with Abbotsford-Colby as both went 9-1 in league play last spring.

Rib Lake lost four starters from its 18-6 team in 2024 to graduation, including co-Marawood North Player of the Year Jackson Blomberg, firstteam All-North pick Dominic Quednow, All-North second-team pick Andrew Wudi and Donovan Sutherland, who became the team’s starting leftfielder in his first year of high school baseball.

But, four players who gained All-Marawood North honors also return in senior Brady Heiser and juniors Talon Scheithauer, Seth Borchardt and Ethan Cook.

Scheithauer, a unanimous first-team pick in the conference as a sophomore, certainly will be a big part of what Rib Lake does.

A co-captain with Heiser, Scheithauer enters the season as Rib Lake’s numberone pitcher. Last spring, he pitched in 14 games and logged 47.2 innings, second on the team behind Blomberg’s 62.2 innings. He went 7-2 with one save and a solid 3.67 earned run average, getting big outs while working around 33 walks and 41 hits.

When he’s not pitching, he’ll be Rib Lake’s shortstop and he’ll fill the key number-three spot in the batting order. Scheithauer hit .278 last year (20 for 72) and scored 22 runs to rank second on the team, one behind Blomberg. He tied for the team lead with 14 stolen bases and had a .426 on-base percentage.

Cook, a second-team All-North selection as a sophomore, is back as the team’s top catcher. He was outstanding defensively while taking over that position last year and also hit .230 (17 for 74) with 17 runs batted in. Iverson has Cook penciled in to fill the number-four spot in the batting order.

Heiser returns as the team’s primary first baseman and is another key piece in Rib Lake’s offensive attack. He hit .294 (20 for 68) with 16 runs batted in and Rib Lake’s lone homer of 2024 as he earned honorable mention. He’ll start the year fifth in the order.

Borchardt looks to fill the centerfield spot held by Quednow the past couple of years and will start the year second in the batting order. He hit .283 last spring (17 for 60), drew a team-high 17 walks and drove in 10 runs while amassing a .456 onbase percentage that ranked second among the team’s regulars behind Quednow’s .488.

Borchardt and Heiser got honorable mention in last spring’s all-conference vote.

Borchardt and Cook will pitch as well, along with freshman Slade Scheithauer. Who fills the so-called, number-two, three and four spots in the rotation is to be determined.

The left-handed Borchardt has the most experience in that group. He was 1-1 with a 3.41 earned run average in 12.1 innings pitched last year. Cook only appeared in one game, but he picked up a lot of innings during the summer in legion baseball.

Slade Scheithauer will likely be the most prominent figure in a strong freshman class that joins the high school program. He is going to step right into the leadoff spot in the batting order, play shortstop when his brother is pitching and could catch as well. Senior infielder Tyler Matyka is back. He played second base for the Redmen last year, is expected to be back there again this year and could see some time as third as well, depending on the day’s lineup. He hit .220 last year (13 for 59) and drove in seven runs. Sophomore Brevin Brahmer could be an intriguing addition. He came to Rib Lake from Medford late in the summer. While he’s still recovering from a football knee injury, Iverson said he could find time at third base, as a designated hitter or maybe catch a little bit. Sophomore Jack Jensen is battling for time at second and third base. Junior Aiden Stapleton and sophomore Briley Leonhard are back and fighting for time in the outfield.

The rest of the freshmen are Blake Henderson, Lucas Cook and Ty Niemi. Henderson and Cook are in the outfield mix, while Niemi could push for infield time. Henderson and Niemi are getting looks as number-five pitchers as well.

“All of those guys played well last summer,” Iverson said of those returning players and the freshmen. “We have a little depth this year. The biggest concerns would be catching depth and our outfield defense.”

Earlier in the school year, it appeared Rib Lake may add two more capable players in junior twins Tucker and Gavin Phillips, but they were lost to a family move.

In the Marawood North, Abbotsford-Colby has won or shared the last four conference titles. Rib Lake has tied them for two of those championships. Abby-Colby’s run could be tough to extend with the loss of six starters, all of whom earned some kind of All-North honor. The Falcons do bring back 2024 co-North Player of the Year Payton Schreiber.

Iverson said Athens and Chequamegon both bring back two of their top three pitchers. Prentice has been young the past couple of years and should keep improving. Phillips lost pitching but Iverson expects the Loggers to be a good hitting team.

“We lost a lot, but we had a great summer,” Iverson said. “I expect us to be in the hunt in the the conference race.”

In the post-season, Rib Lake is part of a Division 4 sectional half-bracket that includes teams like McDonell Central, Spring Valley, Spencer, Loyal, Gilman, Edgar, Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, Clear Lake and Athens. Athens is the sectional tournament host on June 10.