The Northwoods League opening day featured 11 games beginning with a thrilling extra innings matchup between the Green Bay Rockers and Fond du Lac Dock Spiders. Kenosha Kingfish upsets the 2022 Northwoods League Champions, Kalamazoo Growlers, in a 2-0 matchup.
The night ended with a couple tight matchups between teams in the Great Plains West – with the St. Cloud Rox and Bismarck Larks earning their first wins of the season.
Green Bay Rockers 12 , Fond Du Lac Dock Spiders 10
The Rockers capitalized on a leadoff walk and a couple defensive miscues in the first inning, giving them an early lead. Zukowski (Creighton University) and Coley (Louisiana St University – Eunice) opened up their lead in the third, each tacking on an RBI making it 3-0. Davis (Oklahoma Wesleyan University) came up in the same inning knocking a two-RBI triple and batted in two more in the sixth on a single, extending their lead 10-2. He finished 2-for-5 at the plate with 4 RBI on the day.
Naronis (Queens College) earned the win on the mound with 4 innings pitched, 5 hits, and 2 strikeouts.
The Spiders later cut the lead in half during a productive sixth inning. Peterson (Trinity University) plated 2 runs on a triple to make the score 10-7. After a hit-by-pitch and a couple of walks to load the bases, the Spiders tied the game 10-10 making it into extra innings. Wittman (West Texas A&M) went 3-for-5 at the plate with 2 RBI for the Spiders.
Green Bay Rockers took the lead in the eleventh inning after Andrew Harris (University of Wisconsin – Parkside) drove in two with an RBI triple. Carlos Hernandez finished at the plate going 2-for-5 with 4 runs scored.
Kalamazoo Growlers 0, Kenosha Kingfish 2
The Kingfish gained an early lead after two errors made in the first inning. After a few quiet innings they were able to tack on one more on Tucker Zdunich’s (Reinhardt University) solo home run to extend their lead 2-0. Zdunich and Vytas Valincius (University of Illinois) each finished 2-for-4 with 1 run.
The Kalamazoo Growlers had 13 batters strikeout heading into the sixth inning. Pitcher of the Night, Ross Thompson (St. Ambrose University) had 9 of those strikeouts before McEvoy came in relief. McEvoy pitched two innings, giving up 1 hit with 5 strikeouts.
Rochester Honkers 6, Waterloo Bucks 3
After 3 scoreless innings to start, the Bucks gained a 2-0 lead on Wescott’s (University of Illinois) two-run shot in the fourth to put them ahead. He finished 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs. Rochester responded immediately with 2 runs in the fifth. Petey Craska (Georgia Tech Signee) drove in the go-ahead run on his RBI double in the sixth.
Waterloo tacked on 2 more runs in the ninth but could not drive anymore runs across after. Griffen Sotomayor (Washington St University) finished 3-for-4 at the plate and Jakob Guardado (Pasadena City College) finished 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Rochester finished with 12 hits on the day and starting pitcher Jon Rossi (Roanoke College) earned the win with 6 innings pitched, 2 hits, and 5 strikeouts. Every player on Rochester’s lineup had a hit in today’s game.
Wausau Woodchucks 0, Madison Mallards 7
Madison struck first with Jake Goolsby’s (Charlotte University) RBI single to score Jack Tucker (St. John’s University) in the bottom of the first. Wausau’s offense was quiet, only tallying two hits and 5 walks on the day in their 7-0 loss.
Derek Salata (Illinois State University) earned the win with 5 innings pitched, 0 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Owen Jackson (University of Toledo) went 1-for-3 with 2 runs scored and Jackson Chatterton (Bradley University) went 2-for-4 with 1 RBI. Six hitters in the Mallard’s starting lineup had an RBI today.
Kokoma Jackrabbits 11, Battle Creek Battle Jacks 15
The Battle Jacks rallied against the Jackrabbits early on in the game tallying 7 runs going into the fourth inning. Kameron Haviland (Benedictine University at Mesa) gets the win with 5.1 innings pitched, 7 hits, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts.
Isaac Kim (Pomona-Pitzer) went 3-for-3 with 2 RBI this evening. Kim got the Jackrabbits on board with a solo-shot to center and a sac fly. Joey Cicini (Regis University) and Zack Carinci (Case Western Reserve University) each went 2-for-4 with 2 runs (Carinci) and 2 RBI. Kokoma’s offense came alive later in the game but they couldn’t generate enough to get ahead of Battle Creek.
Rockford Rivets 1, Traverse City Pit Spitters 5
Pit Spitter’s offense came out scoring first after 4 straights walks were made to start the bottom of the second and seventh, giving them a 5-1 lead. Glenn Miller (Eastern Michigan University) helped lead the team to a 1-0 victory going 2-for-3 with 1 RBI single this evening. AJ Henkle (University of Illinois – Chicago) went 1-for-2 with 1 RBI. Noah Jouras scored the Rivets only run off Henkle’s sac fly after leading off the inning getting hit by a pitch.
Aaron Forrest (Doane College) gets the win for the Pit Spitters with 5 innings pitched, 2 hits, 0 walks, and 4 strikeouts.
Thunder Bay Border Cats 12, Mankato MoonDogs 0
The Thunder Bay Border Cats won their first game 12-0 to start the season this evening. Lucas Terilli (Eastern Central College) went 2-for-5 with 1 run scored and Peter Fusek (Western Illinois University) went 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored. Caden Fiveash (Oklahoma College – Tonkawa) gets the win with 5 innings pitched, 1 hit, walks, 4 and 7 strikeouts.
MoonDogs starting pitcher, Jake Riding (Cerro Coso Community College), threw 5 innings – only gave up 4 hits, 2 walks, and had 3 strikeouts on the evening.
Lakeshore Chinooks 10, Wisconsin Rapids Rafters 6
The Chinooks had an explosive day at the plate tallying 17 hits to lead them to a 10-6 victory against the Rapids Rafters. Rafters second baseman Ty Johnson (McClennan Community) went 2-for-4 on the night with 1 RBI. Jared Everson (University of Minnesota) extended the lead to 10-1 after knocking a pinch hit single in the eighth. Johnson and Kyle Carlson (Piedmont College) led the Rafters offense combining for 4 hits on the evening.
AJ Taylor (College of Dupage) went 4-for-5 on the night with 4 runs scored. Adam Cootway (University of Wisconsin – Whitewater) plated 2 RBI to contribute to the Chinooks win. C0dy Bahl (Drury University) gets the win with 6 innings pitched, 5 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts.
La Crosse Loggers 8, Eau Claire Express 3
Anthony Priester (Meridian Community College) led the Loggers offense going 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI today. Josh Leerssen (Birmingham-Southern College) gets the win for the Loggers with 6 innings pitched, 2 hits, 4 walks, and 6 strikeouts.
Four players for the Express offense tallied a hit and 3 of those four tallied a hit and a run. Eau Claire’s pitching staff combined for 9 strikeouts and gave up 10 hits on the night.
St. Cloud Rox 5 , Minot Hot Tots 3
The St. Cloud Rox took the lead from the Minot Hot Tots in the sixth inning after a slow offensive start to the game. Ben Vujovich (University of St. Thomas) went 2-for-4 with 1 RBI on the evening. Ryan Chmielewski (Southwest Minnesota State University) gets the win with 3.1 innings pitched, 7 hits, 0 walks, and 6 strikeouts.
Three players in Minot’s lineup tallied a hit and RBI at the plate this evening. Minot’s pitching staff combined for 8 strikeouts and gave up 8 hits against the Rox.
Duluth Huskies 4, Bismarck Larks 8
A tight matchup between the Huskies and Larks as both teams offense and defense kept a close game until the Larks broke through with a lead in the bottom of the fifth. Jeremy Keller (Chico St) went 1-for-2 with 2 RBI and 1 run scored for the Huskies.
Dillon Goetz (Skyline College) went 1-for-1 with 3 walks and 3 runs scored and Brayden Koenig (Northwestern Oklahoma St University led the team in RBI, posting two on a 1-for-3 effort on the evening. Carter Rost (Wichita St University) gets the win with 3 innings pitched, 2 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts in 53 pitches.
Tuesday’s Schedule:
Kokomo @ Battle Creek (11:05 AM)
Lakeshore @ Wisconsin (6:05 PM)
Madison @ Wausau (6:05 PM)
Rockford @ Traverse City (7:05 PM)
Kalamazoo @ Kenosha (6:35 PM)
Fond du Lac @ Green Bay (6:35 PM)
Thunder Bay @ Mankato (6:35 PM)
St. Cloud @ Minot (6:35 PM)
Rochester @ Waterloo (6:35 PM)
Eau Claire Express @ La Crosse (6:35 PM)
Duluth @ Bismarck (6:35 PM)