The Royal Oak Leprechauns used a three-run bottom of the eighth to swipe a 5-4 victory over the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters on Wednesday night.

Entering that frame trailing 4-2 and having been behind ever since the top of the second inning, the Leprechauns began the frame with four consecutive base hits to jumpstart a comeback. Tristan Crane (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) and Jack Dauer (Yale) started it with back-to-back doubles, with Dauer’s having an RBI attached. Aidan Schuck (Oakland) and Owen Turner (Yale) then slapped back-to-back singles, with the other Yale Bulldog getting an RBI as well. That tied the game. Ty Allen (Minnesota) then brought what was the deciding run home with a sacrifice fly. 

Crane ended up going 3-for-4 on the day, which propelled him to the top of the Great Lakes Division and third in the Northwoods League in hits (38) at the time that this recap is being written. He also has an ongoing 20-game on-base streak during games that go the full nine innings.

“I’ve just been patient, man,” Crane said. “You’ve gotta stay patient at the plate. There comes a time where you’ll struggle and it’s a game of failure — you’ve just gotta keep going. There’s a lot of games in the season and that’s been my mentality — it’s just keep going and getting my swing off and trust my abilities.”

“He’s a great hitter,” Royal Oak manager Chris Faust said of Crane. “He’s patient, he waits for his pitch to get, and he gets his swing off. He’s always looking to do damage on every single pitch that each pitcher throws. So when he does get his opportunity to drive the ball, he’s ready for it.”

Royal Oak then gave the ball to Jake Shelagowski (Saginaw Valley State) the ball for the top of the ninth. He picked up his first save of the summer by turning in a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts and the only ball in play being a swinging bunt roughly 10 feet in front of the plate that was handled by the catcher, Turner.

“It adds to my confidence that I have out there,” Shelagowski said about what being entrusted with the game in the ninth means.

It was also a bounceback performance for him, as Shelagowski gave up three runs and got walked off the last time he pitched with a one-run lead in the ninth. On Wednesday, the fireballer peaked at 98 miles per hour on the radar gun.

“Stuff happens in baseball,” he said about it. “Things don’t always go your way, but I just trust all the work I’ve put in, knowing that I’m going to be in a situation like that again and I’m going to succeed the next time I’m up there.”

The Leprechauns initially had a 1-0 lead after one when Ryan Tyranski (Cincinnati) scored on a wild pitch. Royal Oak’s only other run prior to the eighth came in the fifth, when Nolan Alvord (Grand Valley State) hit an RBI single.

One reason the team also had a chance at a comeback was because of a much-needed quality day from the Leprechaun bullpen. Four relievers combined to allow just one run over the final five innings of the ballgame. Grant Essig (Grand Valley State) allowed that run in two innings of work before Wyatt Ruppenthal (Kalamazoo College) and Luke Coll (Appalachian State) both provided scoreless innings each. Shelagowski then got the ninth.

“That whole (eight-game) road trip, they were tight games the whole way through,” Faust said. “And we came out on bottom for most of them. For us, knowing that we can that job done now, hopefully it sparks more hope and I hope we come out on top of more of these one-run ballgames.”

Royal Oak now improves to 13-18 on the year with five games remaining in the first half. Thursday’s rematch against Wisconsin Rapids — now 10-20 — will be the team’s final game against a Great Lakes West opponent in the regular season. The Leprechauns are now 3-0 against the Rafters this season.

First pitch for Thursday is set for 6:35 p.m. Following that, Royal Oak will begin a four-game series against the Rockford Rivets that will finish out the first half. The first two games of that set will be at Memorial Park on Friday and Saturday.