Payton Fort blasts two home runs to propel Green Bay past Wisconsin Rapids
Ashwaubenon, Wis. – The Rockers offense came out hot in the early innings against the Rafters. They scored three in the first, two in the second and two in the third en route to their 11-4 victory on Saturday night.
Payton Fort started the scoring with a three-run homer off of Tristan Crusenberry. The Rockers had been desperate for production with two outs and runners in scoring position and Fort provided. Green Bay’s scoring didn’t stop there.
Max Humphrey scored Parker Martin with an RBI single in the second inning and David Ballenilla tacked on another with a sacrifice fly. In the third inning, Dom Bello came through with a two-run single into left center field to make the score 7-0 early. The Rocker catcher is batting .364 in his last 10 games.
JT Guerrero was fantastic on the mound. He went 6.1 innings pitched and only had one earned run. The Rafters plated seven during Guerrero’s time on the bump, but that was due to the five errors made by the Rockers infield. Ballenilla had two, Mike Dee also had a pair and Parker Martin made one. Guerrero still maintained the lead and got through his outing efficiently.
Fort launched his second long ball of the evening off of Garrett McGuigan in the seventh inning. The Rockers scored three more on a pair of wild pitches and another Ballenilla sacrifice fly off of Erick Soto, a position player for the Rafters.
Holden Harris was first out of the pen for Green Bay. The righty looked great yet again, extending his scoreless streak to 14 innings. KJ Ward had the ninth inning where he touched triple digits. He hit 99 several times and got all the way up to 100. The Rockers sealed the 11-4 victory, snapping their five-game losing skid.
The Rockers return home on Monday, June 29, hosting the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders. That game will be slated for 6:35 pm and signify the end of the first half of Northwoods League baseball. It is also Dog Days! You can bring your dog to the game and receive free hotdogs for the first 90 minutes. 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).