KENOSHA, Wis. – The Kenosha Kingfish (18-15) beat the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (20-12) by a final score of 8-2 on Wednesday night at Historic Simmons Field to secure a series sweep.
Frankie Garriola (Hope International) scored on a wild pitch in the top of the first inning to put the Rafters up 1-0.
Osvaldo Tovalin (Azusa Pacific) laced a double into the right field corner to score Garriola to extend Wisconsin Rapids’ lead to 2-0 in the top of the third inning.
Mitchell Buban (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) raced home on a passed ball to put Kenosha on the board in the bottom of the third inning. Mike Jarvis (San Diego State) evened the game up at 2-2 with a sacrifice fly.
Wisconsin Rapids starting pitcher Gareth Stroh (Nebraska) left the game after four innings having allowed two runs on three hits. The outing was Stroh’s shortest since his Rafters debut on June 7. Wednesday was also only the fourth time in 10 starts Stroh allowed more than one run in in a game.
RJ Pearson (Central Arkansas) snuck a two-RBI double down the right field line in the sixth inning to give Kenosha its first lead of the night. Buban sliced a double of his own down the right field line to plate Pearson extend the Kingfish lead to 5-2.
Buban reached base four times on Wednesday, going 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, two runs and an RBI.
In the seventh inning, Jake Cosgrove (California-Irvine) chopped a single over the third baseman to knock in Connor Mang (New Mexico) and make the score 6-2.
Mang went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored on the night.
Jarvis doubled off the top of the center field fence to score Jack Thelen (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) in the eighth inning. Zach Nogalski plated another run with an RBI groundout to put Kenosha ahead 8-2.
The Kingfish bullpen worked four scoreless innings to close out the 8-2 win.
Mitch Apple (Trinity International) earned his first win of the summer for Kenosha. Cody Turner (Chapman) suffered his first loss for Wisconsin Rapids.
The Kingfish travel to Wausau to play the Woodchucks on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. CT.
