Action in the Northwoods League on Thursday was higlighted by a pair of shutouts to go along with four teams scoring nine runs or more on their way to wins.
La Crosse 9, Lakeshore 1 – Game 1
Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Chinooks took place from the postponement in June due to fog. The two teams picked up the game in Kapco Park in the 3rd inning. The Loggers took no time to take the opener. Jordan Pearce singled in place of his injured college teammate Grant Fennell. Riley Adams reached on an error. Ryan Kirby then put the Loggers on the board with a 3-run blast. The home run adds to stretch of games as of late. Kirby has gotten a hit in 7 of the last 8 games, including 2 home runs. In the 5th, Mason McCoy added on his team-high 6th home run. Brock Lundquist kept the inning going with a double of his own and made the full trek around the bases to score on a Keith Skinner RBI single and La Crosse was up 5-0. The Lumberman showed no signs of slowing down in the 6th when they loaded the bases with no outs for Mason McCoy. He singled to score Ryan Kirby. Jordan Zimmerman walked a run in and Brock Lundquist brought in the 3rd run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to center. Ryan Kirby continued his prowess at the plate with a 1-out triple to start the 7th. The Chinooks managed a run with two outs in the 9th but it was too late as the Loggers took Game 1 9-1.
Wisconsin 7, Thunder Bay 0
Simon Mathews, Tim McElroy and Robert Zeigler combined to shutout the Thunder Bay Border Cats and snap the Wisconsin Woodchucks’ five-game losing streak with a 7-0 victory at Port Arthur Stadium. Mathews allowed just four hits and struck out seven in six and two third innings of work, which earned him the victory. McElroy went one and one third, and Zeigler struck out the side in the ninth. The Woodchucks scored right away in the top of the first. Jared Oliva walked, Yusuke Akitoshi doubled down the right field line and Oliva scored on a ground ball to second base from Albee Weiss. Wisconsin broke the ballgame open with four runs in the second. Al Molina and Ty Black hit back-to-back singles with one out. Then, Owen Taylor walked, and Taylor Kohlwey scored Molina with a sacrifice fly. Oliva followed with a double and Akitoshi singled, bringing home three more runs. The Woodchucks scored in the sixth and seventh innings as well. In the seventh, Akitoshi, Weiss and Connor Heady led off with back-to-back-to-back singles. Keenan Eaton hit a sacrifice fly to plate Akitoshi and pad the lead at 7-0.
Battle Creek 5, Wisconsin Rapids 4
In a game where the Rafters had more hits and played cleaner defensively, the Battle Creek Bombers still found a way to secure a 5-4 win this evening. Battle Creek had a 3-0 lead going into the top of the 6th inning, when an RBI single from Jake Sandlin and a 2 RBI single from Alex Herceg tied it up for Wisconsin Rapids. Battle Creek regained the lead in the bottom of the 6th by a score of 5-3. The Rafters had the tying run at third in the 9th, when Mason Marshall collected his fourth strikeout of the 9th inning to pick up his 3rd save of 2015 and seal the win for Battle creek. Chris Falwell took the loss for the Rafters. Picking up the win for Battle Creek was Alex Hermeling. He threw 6.1 innings and struck out eight Rafters in route to his 3rd win of the summer. Beau Jordan had another good game at the plate for the Rafters, securing a two hit ball game and getting on base in three out of five plate appearances. Dan Swain stood out for Battle Creek scoring two of their five runs, while Cayce Breadlau and Hank Truluck had RBI extra base hits for the Bombers.
La Crosse 9, Lakeshore 5 – Game 2 – 7 innings
The Chinooks jumped on La Crosse starter Zach Lewis early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Anthony Massicci singled to begin the frame, and Lucas Raley reached on a single of his own. Both runners were then driven in by Colby Fitch, who smacked a base hit down the right field line. The team came right back into the bottom of the second to widen their lead to 4-0. Andrew Shaps smacked a single with one out in the frame, and Massicci later walked to put two on with two outs. The big hit came from Zarley Zalewski, who doubled to bring home Shaps and Massicci. The team had a chance to really break things open after loading the bases when Raley walked and Doug Kraeger was hit by a pitch, but they stranded all three runners. The offense kept things going in the third, scoring another run. Greg Deichmann reached base thanks to an error from Loggers second baseman Jordan Zimmerman. Lakeshore then put runners on first and third
when Jake Romano singled. Deichmann then scored after stealing home. It was not a straight steal, rather he scored when the Loggers tried to pick off Romano and got him into a rundown. The Chinooks sent ace Marshall Kasowski, who entered play with a 1.39 ERA, to the mound for the start. He looked great for the first four innings, giving up just two hits and holding the La Crosse lineup scoreless. The fifth inning, however, was a different story. Kasowski allowed the bases to be loaded with one out, and the first run of the frame scored on an error from third baseman Zalewski. Kasowski let up an RBI single to Will Savage to make it 2-0, and he was chased from the game when a two-RBI single from Jordan Zimmerman gave La Crosse their third and fourth runs of the inning. Kasowski was replaced by Jake Tuttle with runners on first and third, but the bleeding continued. Tuttle gave up a single to Alex Merritt, scoring Savage to tie the game at five runs apiece. Back out in the sixth, Tuttle allowed the go-ahead run on a Mason McCoy RBI triple. Tuttle stayed on for the seventh, letting the game get broken open by giving La Crosse three more runs to make it 9-5.
Eau Claire 6, Mankato 0
The Eau Claire Express picked up their third consecutive win on Thursday night against the Mankato MoonDogs in front of a second consecutive sellout crowd of 1,466 at Franklin Rogers Park. The story of the night would be pitching, as both starters would work six strong innings. MoonDogs starter Rhett Rapshus would only allow three runs, scattering seven hits and striking out four. Matching the performance of Rapshus would be Express starter Anthony Herron Jr. who only allowed three hits and struck out three over his six innings. Eau Claire’s Trent Shelton entered in the seventh, on the mound, and retired nine of the final ten consecutive MoonDogs that came to the plate to close out the game for the Express. Leading the way for the Express offensively was Brady Burzynski who went 3-for-4 with two RBI’s and scored three runs. Mikel Mucha, Brinn Bell, and Eric Schenck-Joblinske were the lone MoonDogs to record single hits in the game. The win would go to Express starter Herron Jr. (1-0) the loss would go to MoonDogs starter Rapshus (1-2) and the save would go to Shelton (1).
Madison 13, Kenosha 2
A.J. Bogucki pocketed his third quality start of the summer, J.J. Gould produced his second home run in his last two games and field manager Donnie Scott’s lineup ignited for 15 hits as the Madison Mallards defeated the Kenosha Kingfish by a convincing 13-2 score Thursday night at the Duck Pond. with the win the Mallards pulled to within one game of first place in the Northwoods League’s South Division to begin the second half of the 2015 season. The Mallards wasted little time swinging their bats effectively in Thursday’s series opener, reaching base in six consecutive plate appearances in the top of the first en route to claiming a 4-0 lead at the end of one complete frame. Madison then proceeded to piece together a five-run, bottom-of-the-fourth inning against Kenosha’s pitching staff, a frame that saw Gould drive home a pair of runners with a ground-ball single to the right side of the infield. Jean Ramirez then plated Logan Regnier via a sacrifice fly, running Madison’s lead to 9-0 after four. Kenosha attempted to ignite its lineup against Bogucki in the road half of the sixth, plating a pair of runners courtesy of singles from Jeremy Vasquez and a reached-on-error by Alex Dunlap. But the Mallards were quick to respond, beginning with Gould’s second home run in as many days to lead off the bottom of the sixth and ending with Scott Tyler’s single to score Jonathan Quintana and Cameron Frost’s sacrifice fly-out to score Ramirez. By the end of the sixth inning, the Mallards held true to a commanding 12-3 advantage. Tacking on an insurance run to its lead through Jason Goldstein’s (double to the right-centerfield gap in the bottom of the eighth, the Mallards witnessed Grant Spranger produce a scoreless seventh, eighth and ninth against the Kingfish to end any hopes of a comeback. It was Bogucki’s strong effort – 6 IP, 6 H, ER, BB, 2 K, 11 ground-ball outs – that put Spranger in a high-leverage situation late in the game, however, an impressive effort for which he received his second winning decision. Through six starting appearances, Bogucki’s ERA now stands at 3.19.
Waterloo 10, Alexandria 6
The Bucks got off to a hot start by scoring four runs in the bottom of the 1st inning and never looked back to defeat the Blue Anchors on Thursday night. Scoring wuns in 5 of their 8 frames the Bucks cruised to a 10-6 win. Nehwon Norkeh homered for the Blue Anchors and added another hit to go along with his 3 RBI for the night. Josh Merrigan fell a HR short of the cycle for the Anchors as he hit his 5th double of the season and 2nd triple. James, Boxwell, Kelly, Lane and Nagle each had two hits a piece for the Bucks. The Bucks also stole eight bases on the night against Blue Anchors pitching.
Green Bay 8, Kalamazoo 6
The Green Bay Bullfrogs used a four-run bottom of the sixth inning to defeat the Kalamazoo Growlers 8-6 on Thursday night at Joannes Stadium. The Growlers took the lead three times in the contest, but Green Bay came back each time, as the Bullfrogs won their fourth consecutive game. Bullfrogs’ starter Sam Brunner pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on four hits with three strikeouts and did not pick up a decision in the contest. Alex Gosser singled to start the second inning and advanced to third after a pair of groundouts. With John Soteropulos at the plate, Gosser scored on a wild pitch from Brunner to give the Growlers a 1-0 lead. Green Bay tied the game with a run in the bottom of the third on Robb Paller’s RBI single to centerfield to score Logan Taylor, who connected on a one-out double. Taylor finished 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored. The Bullfrogs added two more in the fourth to take their first lead of the game. Brian Celsi led off with a walk and advanced to third on a stolen base and an error. Mikey Duarte singled to give Green Bay a 2-1 lead, and he scored on a balk three batters later. Green Bay took advantage of a balk to take the lead in last night’s game in the ninth inning, which proved to be the difference in a 10-9 road victory against the Battle Creek Bombers. The Growlers grabbed the lead right back with three runs in the top of the fifth. With the bases loaded, Bullfrogs’ reliever Adam Rude lost his footing and was penalized with a balk to score a run. Nick Yarnall’s two-RBI double to right gave Kalamazoo a one-run advantage. The Bullfrogs tied the game at four with a run-scoring single for Danny Rosenbaum, but Kalamazoo regained the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth due to a bases-loaded single for Justin Fletcher. Green Bay grabbed ahold of the lead for good with a four-run sixth inning. The Bullfrogs received a sacrifice fly from Ty Blankmeyer, and Paller’s two-RBI single gave Green Bay a 7-6 lead. Paller scored on another balk by the Growlers to give the Bullfrogs a two-run advantage. Paller finished 3-for-4 with a stolen base, a run scored and knocked in three runs. Jeremy Graf pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his ninth save of the season. Jack Mahan earned his first win of the season in 2 1/3 innings of relief work. He allowed just one hit and a walk with three strikeouts in the victory.
Rochester 7, Willmar 2
An early offensive outburst by Rochester was too much for the Stingers to overcome Thursday night at Bill Taunton Stadium, as the Honkers beat the Stingers 7-2.
Tyler Hanson, who was looking for his fourth win of the season for the Stingers, started the night rather smoothly. In his first two innings of work, Hanson allowed just a single hit in both innings and kept the Honkers off the scoreboard. But on a quiet night for the Stingers offense, a big third inning for Rochester was enough to spell doom. Ryan Summers led off the third for the Honkers with a double, and with one out, Ryan Webberly homered off Hanson to put the Honkers up 2-0. After Hanson recorded the second out, Mark Contreras went deep again to put the Honkers' lead at 3-0. Willmar tried to stage a late comeback and got a pair of runs in the eighth inning. Tyler Leffler singled with two outs in the eighth and then came around to score on Brian Pruett's double. Lucas Tancas followed that with a double of his own to bring the deficit within five. The Stingers put two more on in the ninth inning with two outs, but couldn't capitilze on the chance. Willmar was not without chances throughout the night but left 12 men on base.
St. Cloud 5, Duluth 4
St. Cloud walked off against the Duluth Huskies on Thursday night. The Huskies tied the game in the 8th inning and each team traded scorless frames until the bottom of the 12th. Brett Pope would walk to start the inning and then move to second on a sacrifice by Jake Farr. After a strikeout and a John Sansone walk Lee Miller would single to score Pope from second and give the Rox the victory. Nick Valaika led the Huskies with a homerun and two RBI on the night. The Rox were led by Lee Miller who went 3 for 7 at the plate with one run scored and two RBI.
Friday's Games
La Crosse at Lakeshore – 6:35
St. Cloud at Duluth – 6:35
Wisconsin Rapids at Battle Creek – 7:05
Eau Claire at Mankato – 7:05
Wisconsin at Thunder Bay – 7:05
Rochester at Willmar – 7:05
Madison at Kenosha – 7:05
Kalamazoo at Green Bay – 7:05
Alexandria at Waterloo – 7:05
