WAUSAU FALLS IN REMARKABLE FASHION DESPITE SCORING 17 RUNS<\/b><\/p>\n
WAUSAU, WI- The Wausau Woodchucks played one of the more incredible games in Northwoods League history Monday night, but came out on the wrong side of the result, as the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters completed a two-game sweep over Wausau with an 18-17 win at Witter Field.<\/p>\n
All but one player in the starting lineup earned an RBI, but the big star was Bradon Durfee (Pasco-Hernando State\/Kansas). The outfielder finished 4-5 with two home runs, two RBIs, and four total runs scored. Keagen Jirschele (South Dakota State) went 2-4 with a home run and two RBIs, along with scoring twice. Sawyer Tolk (Kansas City Kansas CC\/Dayton) had a 2-3 day and two RBIs, with one of his hits being a triple.<\/p>\n
THE HIGHLIGHTS<\/b><\/p>\n
Wausau took a 3-0 lead off the bat from a three-run home run by Ryan Chase (Santa Fe CC\/Kansas). However, the next six runs belonged to the Rafters, with Wisconsin Rapids scoring once in the bottom of the first and five times in the second inning. However, Wausau then scored three runs in the fourth off of a Sawyer Tolk sacrifice fly and a Wisconsin Rapids error, and took the lead in the top of the fifth on Durfee\u2019s first solo home run of the game, 7-6.<\/p>\n
The Rafters then answered with six runs, their largest inning of the night, in the sixth inning to go up 12-7. But that was only one of many big offensive frames from both sides to end the ninth. In the top of the seventh, it was Wausau who scored five to tie the game at 12, with RBIs in the inning coming from Tolk (RBI single), McLaughlin (sac bunt), Malone (2-RBI single) and Durfee (solo home run).<\/p>\n
Then, the next punch belonged to the Rafters, who scored four runs in the bottom half of the seventh to take a 16-12 lead. Wausau, remarkably, came again in the eighth and took the lead with five runs, two on a Keagen Jirschele home run, one on a Noah Malone sacrifice fly RBI, and two on a go-ahead RBI single by Jackson Petshce (Southeastern CC\/LSU-New Orleans). But, in the end, it was the Rafters who had the last laugh of the night, scoring the two finals runs of the game in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead, and holding the Woodchucks scoreless in the ninth.<\/p>\n
NOTES AND NUMBERS<\/b><\/p>\n WHAT\u2019S NEXT<\/b><\/p>\n Wausau drops to 37-18 on the summer, and is now 16-9 in the second half. With Lakeshore\u2019s win tonight over the Richmond Flying Mummies, the Chinooks are now two games ahead of the Woodchucks in the Great Lakes West playoff race. The Woodchucks, however, hold the tiebreaker, and technically still control their own destiny with two games still to play against Lakeshore this summer.<\/p>\n Wausau will hope to rebound tomorrow when they hit the road and travel to Herr-Baker Field for the final time this summer to face the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. Wausau holds an 8-2 record against the Dock Spiders going into the meeting and has won its last seven matchups against Fond du Lac.<\/p>\n\n