LOVES PARK, ILL – The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters completed a very impressive comeback Friday night at Rivets Stadium, overcoming a 4-0 deficit to defeat the Rockford Rivets 5-4 in eleven innings.
Entering the seventh inning, the Rivets led 4-0 after six shutout innings by starter Tyler Thornton. Anthony Dahl came in and allowed a double to Ben Fisher, one out single by Joey Morgan, and walk to Logan Mattix. Rob Calabrese drove home Morgan with a sacrifice fly before the big play of the game. Demetrius Sims hit a two-run triple and the Rivets threw the ball into the dugout, allowing Sims to score on one of four errors on the night to tie the game at four.
In the eleventh, Mattix singled against reliever Zach Olszewski (1-2) before stealing second. Calabrese would drive him home with a single to give Rapids a 5-4 lead. Garrett Schilling recorded a perfect inning of relief for his league leading seventh save.
Cameron Busby (1-0) got the win, pitching six of the Rafters bullpen’s ten innings of work on the night after starter Dylan File lasted only one inning due to throwing more than thirty five pitches in an inning.
The Rivets will open a two game series against the Wisconsin Woodchucks in Wausau on Saturday night at 6:35 p.m. Broadcasts and live streams can be found at NorthwoodsLeague.com.
The Rockford Rivets are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 23rd season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 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, more than 150 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.rockfordrivets.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store and set the Rivets as your favorite team.
