Wausau, WI – Back at Athletic Park for the first time of the new season, the Wausau Woodchucks (0-2) were defeated by the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders (2-0) for a second consecutive night. 

The game, which ended with a score of 10-2 in the visitors’ favor, unfolded in a very similar fashion to Monday’s season opener in Fond du Lac. 

The Dock Spiders jumped ahead in the top of the first, but Woodchucks starter Dante Chirico (Northwest Florida State) righted the ship and kept the early stages of the game competitive. 

Aided by a diving catch from Lenny Ashby (New Mexico), Chirico escaped a second-inning jam and went on to complete his four-inning outing with only one run against. 

Daxton Purser (Salt Lake CC) pitched a scoreless fifth inning, which stayed that way because center fielder Dean Bittner (Mesa CC) threw out a baserunner tagging for the plate. 

But in the sixth, Fond du Lac hung a crooked number for a second straight night. Their four-run rally was aided by a pair of costly Woodchuck errors and walks. 

The Dock Spiders would add five more in the seventh to put the game out of Wausau’s reach, with the damage eventually halted by reliever Thomas King (Houston Baptist). 

Woodchuck pitching surrendered twelve walks in total, which allowed the Dock Spiders to score ten runs on only seven hits. An error in the seventh meant that all five runs in that frame were unearned.

Tim Conway (North Georgia) scored a Woodchuck run for a second straight game after taking advantage of a wild pitch in the seventh. 

Hamilton Anderson (State Fair CC) tallied two hits and scored a ninth-inning run, bringing the score to its 10-2 result. 

Up Next

The Woodchucks will host the Lakeshore Chinooks tomorrow and Thursday, with both games slated to begin at 6:35 p.m. In addition to being the first of three Woody’s Reading Club Nights, tomorrow’s game offers fans a free White Claw Koozie with the purchase of a White Claw on White Claw Wednesday.