Woodchucks Mount Furious Rally to Beat Battle Creek

WAUSAU, WI – Down 8-2 in the middle of the fourth of a seven-inning game, it may have been easy to look ahead to Game 2 of Thursday night’s doubleheader against the Battle Creek Bombers.

Instead, the Wisconsin Woodchucks scored seven unanswered runs–including five in the sixth inning–to go ahead 9-8 heading into the seventh.

The score stood and the Woodchucks completed their biggest come from behind win of the 2021 season.

Antonio Valdez tripled in the frame before Ryan Sepede scored Valdez on a sacrifice fly. Jacob Burke knocked in Kevin Kilpatrick on a rope down the third base line before Chase Bessard’s two-RBI double gave the Chucks their first lead after the second inning.

Wisconsin improves to 39-23 and 18-9 in the second half of the Northwoods League season.

Battle Creek initially jumped ahead in the second inning before the Chucks briefly took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half of the inning off a Mehlbauer two-run homer.

The shortstop then had a solo big fly in the bottom of the fourth to make it 8-3 after seven consecutive Bomber runs in the top of the third and fourth innings.

Bessard then scored Kilpatrick off a two-out single in the fifth to pull the Chucks within 8-4 after five innings.

The doubleheader was induced by a July 7 rainout between the teams at Battle Creek’s C.O. Brown Stadium.

Top Performers

Mehlbauer had two homers and was 2-3 with a walk in the sixth inning.

Reid was 2-3 with a run and a walk in the five-run sixth.

Bessard went 3-4 with the decisive two-run double. He had three total RBI.

Jace Baumann pitched scoreless fifth and sixth innings. He was the winning pitcher.

Colin Millar picked up the save with a shutout seventh inning.

Next Up

Game 2 of the doubleheader is slated for a roughly 9 p.m. start time.

For tickets, call us at 715.845.5055, stop by our front office, or visit woodchucks.com.

###

The Wisconsin Woodchucks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 27-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.woodchucks.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Woodchucks as your favorite team.