By Jacob Cotsonika
A three-run home run in the second inning from Gunnar Myro (UNLV) was all Wisconsin Rapids needed on Thursday night, as the Rafters took down the Royal Oak Leprechauns 3-1 at Memorial Park.
The Leprechauns only mustered three base hits and six total baserunners all game. Aidan Schuck (Oakland) hit in Royal Oak’s lone run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly. Jack Dauer (Yale) was the one who scored and had gotten to third via a walk before stealing second and then taking an additional 90 feet due to an errant throw on the steal attempt.
Wisconsin Rapids also only used two pitchers. Noah Marschke (Madison College) tossed the first 4.1 innings of the day for the Rafters and Anthony Mateo (Alabama A&M) went the rest of the way to pick up the win.
Royal Oak also got a phenomenal effort from its starter, Aidan Donovan (Michigan State). He threw a total of 105 pitches on the day, spanning over 6.2 innings. Of course, the only runs he allowed were in that second inning with Myro’s home run. Otherwise, Donovan was very sharp and was one pitch away from an immaculate inning (nine pitches, three strikeouts) during the third frame. He ultimately still struck out the side in 11 pitches, instead.
Those of the bullpen for Royal Oak were Gavin Moczydlowsky (Michigan State) and Fischer Hendershot (Eastern Michigan). Moczydlowsky got the ball with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh and was able to strand all three of his inherited runners with the help of a fantastic diving play from Nolan Alvord (Grand Valley State) in left field. He then threw a scoreless eighth inning.
Hendershot, per usual, had another scoreless outing for Royal Oak. He racked up two more strikeouts in the ninth and dropped his ERA to 0.73 for the summer.
The Leprechauns will now shift to a four-game series against the Rockford Rivets. Royal Oak will initially stay home to begin the series with two games at Memorial Park on Friday and Saturday before hitting the road for the two days following that. Once the team returns back from that quick road trip, the Leprechauns will begin the second half with a six-game homestand.
