Rafters held in check by Loggers pitching

Box Score

La Crosse, Wis.- On a beautiful night for baseball in La Crosse, the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (2-12) dropped the second game of the two game series at the hands of the La Crosse Loggers (9-5) by a score of 5-2. A day after Wisconsin Rapids banged out 10 hits, the Rafters’ offense was limited to four base knocks on the evening.

The most recent addition to the team, Hunter Raley (Oklahoma), made his Northwoods League debut on the mound for the Rafters. After breezing through the first inning, the southpaw battled with his control before exiting the game in favor of Nick Prebelski (UW-Stevens Point). In 1.1 innings pitched, Raley gave up two earned runs while walking six. The Loggers scratched across one run in the third inning and two more in the fifth to extend the lead to 5-0 before the Rafters answered with a run in the top of the sixth.

After a single by Zack Domingues (Long Beach State) with one out in the sixth, Kirby McGuire reached by error to put runners on with one out.  William Elliott (Alabama) grounded out to the second baseman to score the first run of the game for Wisconsin Rapids.

The Rafters scratched out one more run in the eighth inning to cut the deficit to three, but La Crosse's strong pitching performance by recent arrival Kevin Roy (Columbia) was too much to overcome. Roy pitched a masterful six innings in which he allowed one unearned run. In the outing, Roy walked no batters while striking out six. He and Ty Provancher (Long Beach State) would combine to only give up two unearned runs in a dominant dual pitching performance.

Wisconsin Rapids will look to get back to their winning ways tomorrow evening as they begin a stretch of play where they will have seven of eight contests take place at historic Witter Field. First pitch on Tuesday night is at 7:05 pm CST vs. the Kalamazoo Growlers.

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The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 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, more than 115 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (DET) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League YouTube channel.  For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.com.

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