FOND DU LAC, WI – The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders rang in the 2020 season with a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Wisconsin Woodchucks on Wednesday night at Herr-Baker Field at Marian University.
Ryan Bergert started what would be a phenomenal night for Dock Spiders pitching, striking out two of the three batters he faced in the first.
Taylor Jackson reached first on a Woodchuck’s fielding error, and would then advance to third base following a base hit from Aaron Anderson. One batter later, Matt McCormick hit a soft fly ball into shallow left field that allowed Jackson to tag and score from third base to give the Dock Spiders the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
Bergert finished his night with two hitless innings pitched and three strikeouts. Cameron Jones came in for relief in the third inning and finished his night with two and one-third innings pitched and three strikeouts.
Drew Irvine relieved Jones in the fifth and continued the pitching dominance, striking out two batters in an inning and two-thirds of work.
Trace Hoffman entered the contest in the top half of the seventh and put in the performance of the night, striking out five batters in only two innings on the mound.
The Dock Spiders got their second and last run in the bottom of the 7th when Ryan Ritter hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Parker Noland from third that extended the lead for Fond du Lac, 2-0.
Fond du Lac’s bullpen held the Woodchucks hitless through seven innings until Raul Ortega drilled a line drive into left-center to give Wisconsin their first hit of the game. Hoffman fanned the next three batters to finish the inning.
The Woodchucks would threaten in the top of the ninth, after Adam Frank and Kyle Hess knocked back-to-back base hits against Dock Spiders pitcher Theron Denlinger. Leighton Banjoff lined a pitch through the infield to score Frank, but Denlinger would close it down and strike out two of the last three batters to lock in the win for Fond du Lac.
The Dock Spiders will travel to Wausau tomorrow, July 2nd to take on the Wisconsin Woodchucks (0-1) at 6:35 pm.
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.
