WAUSAU, WI – The Dock Spiders (28-13) ended their three-game road trip with an exclamation point as they manhandled the Wisconsin Woodchucks (12-28) 16-6 to record their sixth straight win on Thursday.
It took two innings, but the Dock Spiders bats woke up in a big way in the top of the third as they scored five runs to go in front first. Bobby Barnard (University of Illinois at Springfield) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for a very unorthodox first RBI with the team in his debut, and another run came home on a balk. The inning was capped off by a three-run home run to left from Kollyn All (Butler University), his first of the season that made it a 5-0 lead.
Fond du Lac would continue to produce offensively the very next inning in the fourth, a four-run frame that put them up 9-0. Ryan Robison (Purdue University Fort Wayne) brought in two on a single to right field, and AJ Miller (University of Oregon) scored on a wild pitch to plate the first three runs. All added on to his already successful night at the dish with an RBI single to right that scored Robison from second to tag on the fourth run of the inning and put Fondy up 9-0.
On a night that already saw one Dock Spiders home run, Miller added another in the fifth, another three-run blast that put Fondy to double digits in a 12-0 game. It was Miller’s second dinger of the year, both of them being in Wausau, and both of them being three-run shots. The Dock Spiders belted a total of six home runs in their short three-game road trip (Tim Elko 2, Caleb Durbin 1, Kollyn All 1, AJ Miller 1).
The Woodchucks finally had a breakthrough in the bottom of the sixth when they scored four runs to put a dent in the deficit and make it a 12-4 game.
Fond du Lac got two of those runs back in the seventh inning after All added his fifth and sixth RBI of the night on a base knock to center that put his team further in front, 14-4.
Wisconsin got one more back in the bottom half of the seventh that brought them to within nine.
Both teams threw scoreless eighth innings, but Fondy added two more runs in the ninth. Bryan Javier (Campbellsville University) recorded his first hit of the night in his sixth at-bat, an RBI single that brought home a run that made it 15-5. Javier would come home to score after Marcos Sanchez (Texas Wesleyan University) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded that gave the Dock Spiders a 16-5 lead.
The Woodchucks added one more in their final hitting half, but there would be no historic comeback as the Dock Spiders came away with the 10-run victory, 16-6. The 16-run outburst was the most runs scored in a single game by the Dock Spiders this season.
Jake Saum (UCLA) recorded his first win in seven starts this year, improving to 1-1 after throwing five innings and two-thirds and striking out four batters in the win.
The Dock Spiders will host the Woodchucks in Fond du Lac one final time this season with a 6:35 pm start on Friday.
The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 26th season, the Northwoods 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 230 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Star Jordan Zimmermann (DET). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods 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.
