WAUSAU USES 9-RUN FIFTH INNING TO CRUISE TO MILESTONE WIN
WAUSAU, WI- The Wausau Woodchucks became the fourth team in Northwoods league history to reach 1000 regular season league wins when they took down the Royal Oak Leprechauns, 14-3, at Athletic Park on Wednesday night.
The landmark win captures more than a century of baseball at Athletic Park, as well as 31 years of Wausau Woodchucks baseball in the Northwoods League. The Woodchucks join Rochester (1037), St. Cloud (1087), and Waterloo (1021) as the four teams to win 1000 games in the league. In addition, the Woodchucks defeated Royal Oak for the first ever time, the 29th different opponent Wausau has defeated during its time in the Northwoods League.
The Woodchucks got on the back foot early on their big night. Royal Oak scored one run in the first, but Wausau answered with a run of its own in the third, with Ryan Pruitt (South Florida) driving in a run on a two-out single.
Royal Oak would fight back with two runs in the fourth, but Wausau would take its first-ever lead against the Leprechauns in the bottom half of the frame. The Woodchucks took advantage of multiple Royal Oak errors to push across three runs, as Dylan Schlotterback (Paris JC/Kansas), Charlie Longmeier (Evansville), and Josh McClintock (Dodge City CC/Western Illinois) all came in to score to make it 4-3.
Then, in the fifth, Wausau’s big inning came. The Woodchucks scored nine runs for the second time in a frame this season, as every Wausau hitter came to the plate, and every hitter reached. The Woodchucks took three walks and a hit by pitch in the inning, and set up big RBI hits from Jake Weatherspoon (Indian River State College/Virginia), Keagen Jirschele (South Dakota State), and Ryan Pruitt to push their lead to 10 runs.
Wausau would go on to find one more run in the eighth, as new Woodchuck Noah Malone (Loyola Marymount) reached home on a wild pitch, flipping over the catcher after beating out a close play. It helped seal Wausau’s second double-digit win of the season.
Once again, the pitching kept pace with the phenomenal Wausau offense. Starting pitcher Carter White (Lincoln Memorial) got out of multiple bases loaded jams in his four innings of work, as he only surrendered three runs. Then, Nolan Bernard (South Florida) took his place on the mound in the fifth inning and was lights out. The freshman did not allow a single hit, walked only one runner and struck out five batters in his longest appearance of the season. He and White are now the only two Wausau pitchers to toss five scoreless innings in a relief appearance this season.
Wausau only registered nine hits in its 11-run win, meaning the Woodchucks relied on their small-ball style to score runs. Wausau stole four bases to increase their league-leading total to 64 on the season, and also took 10 free passes to put runners on base (six walks, four hit batsmen). The Woodchucks scored the final 13 runs in the contest, and hit double digits for the fourth time this season, and the third time in the last four games.
Wausau now has 1000 Northwoods League regular season wins, with six of them coming in 2025. After picking up the milestone win, Wausau turns its attention towards their rivals: Madison. The Woodchucks and Mallards will face each other for the first time in 2025, after Madison knocked out Wausau in the Great Lakes Division Playoffs last year in a three-game series. The first series of 2024 will be a four-game set, with Wausau hosting the first two matchups on Thursday and Friday, before heading to Warner Park in Madison for Saturday and Sunday’s games.
The first of those games will be Thursday, June 5, as the Woodchucks host the Mallards at Athletic Park. First pitch for the rivalry matchup is slated for 6:35 p.m. Watch all the fun action from Athletic Park this summer by purchasing tickets at woodchucks.com.