FOND DU LAC, WI– The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders (13-19) took on the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (19-13) in a make up game. The game was going well until the late innings haunted the Dock Spiders pitching staff again.
Ryan Bader (Northwestern) got the nod and immediately gave up a run in the first inning. The Rapids would tack on two more runs in the third to take a 3-0 lead.
But the offense wasn’t going to go away. Andrew Bullock (Western Carolina) delivered a sac fly to get the Dock Spiders on the board and cut it to 3-1 in the third.
They would cut the deficit to one after a Charlie Maxwell (Northwestern) sac fly in the fourth. The Dock Spiders were starting to gain some momentum.
From the fifth to the seventh inning, the Rapids would deliver run after run. They would score eight runs in those three innings and take an 11-2 lead into the final inning.
Some fight was shown in the seventh inning. A lead off double by Sam Novitske (Oregon) would set the tone in the inning.
Maxwell would get another RBI with a base hit to score Novitske. It was Bullock who launched a three-run home run to bring the game to five.
The Rapids had enough of the comeback and struck out the final two batters to win the game 11-6.
Bullock had four RBI and Maxwell had two RBI, as those two carried the weight of the offensive production. The defense on the other hand had their own woes.
Too many errors haunted the Dock Spiders and it allowed the game to slip away. Some mental and a lot of physical errors.
The Dock Spiders have now lost their chance of finishing the first half of the season with a .500 record.
Game two
Connor Cook (UW-LaCrosse) got another start for Fond du Lac and tried to avenge his loss from the last game, and he was pitching pretty well until a tough third inning.
The Rapids would tag Cook for three runs to take a 3-0 lead and the Dock Spiders couldn’t handle the deficit.
The only Dock Spider run came off a double by Duncan Hunter (Jacksonville). Zack Prajzner (Notre Dame) would drive in the only run for the Dock Spiders.
After making it 3-1, the Rapids would tack on another run in the sixth. With a seven inning game the Dock Spiders missed out on two innings to spark a comeback.
The offense had their chances a couple times today, but unfortunately fell short of producing runs. The Rapids would close it out 4-1.
The Dock Spiders take on the Rapids tomorrow afternoon with a 4:05 PM CST first pitch.
The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via theNorthwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.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.
