Green Bay drew 12 walks, five of which came in the 9th inning, for a 5-4 comeback win
Ashwaubenon, Wis.- The Green Bay Rockers took advantage of a late inning collapse by the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters pitching staff to secure a 5-4 victory. Behind 12 walks and seven hits, Green Bay moves to 1-0 on the new season after their victory at Witter Field.
The scoring started early with Eric Fernandez crossing home on a wild pitch in the top of the first. Wisconsin Rapids would then tie things up on a sacrifice fly in the bottom half off the bat of Harrison Engskov.
Jiyeong Park struggled out of the gate for Green Bay, walking six batters in 2.1 innings pitched. The big righty was, however, able to work himself out of trouble, giving up just one earned run. Keaton Baird would come in to pitch in relief in the third. The Rafters had the lone home run in the contest with a solo blast from Jack Zeller, the late substitution prior to the game. His towering moonshot cut the Rockers lead in half at 3-2.
The sixth innings is where things turned around quickly. Dylan Frank would rope an RBI double down the left field line off of Baird to tie the game at three. Dalton Forck would then enter for the Rockers and surrender an RBi single from Jax LeGrand to give Wisconsin Rapids their first lead of the evening.
Rafters left-hander, Kade Irons, was mowing through the Rockers order. He went four innings pitched with one hit and five strikeouts. He was then replaced with Braden Wellen who was trying for the save in the ninth. He would walk four Rockers to even the score at 4-4. The control issues for the Rafters wouldn’t stop there as Blaine Davis would then walk in the go ahead run for Green Bay. Ricky Howell nailed down the save in the bottom half of the ninth to propel the Rockers to 1-0 on the year,
Josh Merrill will turn to Caden Crask-Weeks tomorrow as the Rockers look to start the 2026 campaign with a sweep over their division foe.
Opening Day at Capital Credit Union Park is Wednesday, May 27th as the Rockers host the Wausau Woodchucks at 6:35. Gates open at 5:30 with a pre-game concert featuring Amy Jo & The Glow Down and the first 1,000 fans through the gates will receive a 2025 Rockers Northwoods League Championship blanket. Single Game tickets, Season ticket packages, group tickets and the Pep’s Drafthaus Flex Packs are available now. Visit www.greenbayrockers.com or call the ticket office at 920-497-7225 to reserve your seats today. The Rockers front office at Capital Credit Union Park is located at 2231 Holmgren Way in Ashwaubenon. Office hours are Monday-Friday 8:30am-5pm.
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The Green Bay Rockers 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’ 32nd season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in history with 26 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, nearly 2400 NWL alums have been drafted and over 410 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 two-time World Series Champion Max Scherzer (TOR), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford and World Series Champion and Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale (ATL). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2023 World Series Champion, MLB All-Star, MLB Gold Glove, two-time Silver Slugger winner and two-time All-MLB first team shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX).