FOND DU LAC, WI- The Fond Du Lac Dock Spiders are above .500 for the first time in team history thanks to their 4-1 victory over the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters Thursday night.
For the second straight game, the Dock Spiders had a dominant pitching performance from their starter. Tonight, Connor Johnson (Catawba College) pitched 6 scoreless innings. Johnson allowed 4 hits, no walks and struck out 8 Rafter batters en route to earning the victory in his first start of the year.
Johnson, and the rest of the pitching staff, was helped out by the long ball tonight. Eric Gilgenbach (Notre Dame) blasted the first home run in Dock Spider history over the left field wall in the 4th inning. Gilgenbach's 2-run blast was followed later in the game by Orynn Veillon's (New Orleans) solo shot in the 7th.
The lone run for the Rafters came in the 8th inning via Christian Jones' pinch-hit solo home run.
Fond Du Lac improves to 2-1 on the season in their home opener and are in a tie for first place in the South Division with Wisconsin Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Battle Creek.
The site will switch tomorrow evening when the Dock Spiders travel to Wisconsin Rapids for game 2 of the series. First pitch is set for 6:35. The Dock Spiders are expected to start Tyler Jones (McHenry CC).
Season ticket packages, group outings, and individual game tickets for the 2017 season are on sale now and may be purchased from the Dock Spiders ticket office (located at 980 E Division St.). Fans may order tickets in person or over the phone by calling (920) 907-9833 between9:00am and 5:00pm Monday through Friday. Tickets are also available any time in the ticket section of dockspiders.com.
The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League.The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 160 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visitwww.dockspiders.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Dock Spiders as your favorite team.
