By Spencer Flaten
Staff Writer 

GRAND CHUTE, Wis.— Rib Lake advanced to the Division 4 state championship game with a 6-2 win over Pepin/Alma at the state tournament. The victory was a one-up for Rib Lake, who fell in the semifinals last season.

The Redmen took the lead in the first inning and never relinquished it en route to a relatively painless victory.

Pitcher Noah Weinke hit an RBI triple in the first for Rib Lake to put them on the board. They doubled their lead in the third on an RBI single by Dalton Strebig.

The Redmen put up four runs in the fifth inning to put the game out of reach. Weinke, Zane Mencheski and Joe Scheithauer all had RBIs in the frame.

The Eagles showed signs of life in the top of the sixth with two runs of their own. Lance Johnson ripped an RBI single to right field and Jarett Pearson hit a sacrifice fly to trim the Rib Lake lead to four runs.

Pepin/Alma’s put up one final fight in the seventh. They got two runners on base with one out, but a strikeout and a fly out ended their hopes of winning a state title.

Weinke tossed a complete game and allowed no earned runs for the Redmen. He struck out six and walked four. Ben Mueller took the loss for Pepin/Alma, after two innings of work saw him allow one run.

Strebig and Weinke both had two hits to lead the Rib Lake lineup. Johnson and Logan Carroll had two hits apiece for the Eagles.

With the win, Rib Lake moves on to face Ithaca in the Division 4 state championship game on Thursday morning. This will be their first appearance in a championship game since 1981, when they finished as runners-up in Class C.