(Pictured: Dylan File, RHP-Dixie State University. Photo courtesy Dixie State athletics)

The Rafters Team Report will be your weekly update on the Spring season's of your 2016 Wisconsin Rapids Rafters. Be sure to check back each week for a new update.

By: Cooper Perkins

2/22-2/28: All 2016 Rafters Saw The Field, Including A Pair Facing Each Other

Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. – The final weekend of February marked the second week of play for most college baseball teams across the country and the Rafters were represented throughout. From coast to coast, members of the 2016 Wisconsin Rapids roster took the field for their respective schools and sought to build upon their opening weekend performances.

Friday night offered the highlight of the weekend in the form of a rare battle between future Rafters teammates as UW Milwaukee visited Bethune-Cookman in Florida for a single-game affair. Sending Jay Peters to the mound, the visitors from Wisconsin made quick work of Demetrius Sims and Bethune-Cookman as they routed their hosts to the tune of an 11-0 final score. Following a high-scoring Tuesday matchup with the University of Central Florida, in which Sims pounded three hits and scored a trio of runs, the Wildcat offense fell flat. Peters got the better of Sims as the speedy shortstop was held hitless in four plate appearances, going down on strikes twice. For Peters, however, the night proved to be one to remember as he turned in a gem on his way to claiming the win. Across seven fantastic innings, Peters shutout the Wildcats and scattered just two hits and a pair of walks while punching out eight batters.

A pair of recent signees took the field on the west coast as Jacson McGowan of Purdue and Joey Morgan of the University of Washington each set foot on Californian soil. McGowan and the Boilermakers were tasked with a difficult matchup as they squared off against the #11 California Golden Bears. McGowan, a true freshman, started all three games for the second consecutive weekend, smacking a double and scoring once. Despite Purdue’s succumbing to a sweep, McGowan’s season batting average now sits at .250 with three walks and a run batted in. In the southern part of the state, catcher Joey Morgan and the Washington Huskies traveled to Riverside for a four-game stand against UC Riverside. After a quiet opening weekend, Morgan rebounded to compile four hits and three RBI, which lifted his season average to .263 in seven games.

Just across state lines in neighboring Arizona, Grand Canyon hosted their own tournament and sent a pair of future Rafters to the hill in route to winning three of their four weekend match ups. In his second outing of the season, Ethan Evanko rebounded mightily for the Lopes by firing 5.2 innings of shutout ball, scattering three hits and a walk while also striking out three. While the southpaw received a no-decision, his team went on to win the ballgame. Saturday saw left-hander Jake Repavich toe the rubber in his second outing of the young campaign looking to match his dazzling opening weekend performance. Much to the pleasure of Lopes fans, Repavich was dominant yet again as he fired seven shutout innings and allowed just two hits and two walks while punching out five. Like Evanko, Repavich was relegated to a no-decision as his team went on to win the contest. Through two starts, Repavich has now thrown 14 innings without allowing a run while striking out nine and walking three.

Boasting an undefeated 10-0 record entering the weekend, the Division II Dixie State Storm traveled to Grand Junction to square off against #3 ranked Colorado Mesa. Right-handed starter Dylan File earned the Friday night start and was brilliant for Dixie State, pitching seven innings and allowing only a single run, four hits, and a walk. Despite striking out eight, File was consigned to a no-decision as his offensive support proved to be absent in the 2-1 ten-inning loss. The loss was the first of two on the weekend as the Storm split with Colorado Mesa and fell to 12-2 overall in 2016. With the stellar outing, File’s ERA plunged to 2.25 on the season as the sophomore has struck out 26 opponents in 24 innings and allowed a total of just 22 base runners.

Following their opening weekend road sweep at the hands of the #2 Louisville Cardinals, Dustin Woodcock and SIU-Edwardsville hit the road again as they ventured to Memphis, Tennessee for a three-game set with the Tigers. While his squad struggled for the second consecutive weekend and saw their record drop to 0-6, Woodcock enjoyed a productive weekend for the Cougars as he recorded four hits in 11 at-bats and drove in 4 runs, lifting his season batting average to .273 and slapping his first two extra-base hits of the year.

In the NAIA, Jon Jaeger and Sterling College participated in the Joplin Tournament and risked their 10-0 record against a trio of foes. After recording a 3.21 ERA in his first three appearances as a starter, Jaeger saw his first action out of the bullpen as he appeared in both of the final two weekend games, picking up the only win of the weekend for Sterling. In total, the 2015 Rafter pitched 2.2 innings and scattered three hits, a walk, and a run while striking out three batters. Jaeger now owns a team-best 4-0 record and a 2.70 ERA in 16.2 innings with 18 strikeouts to just three walks.

A week removed from swiping two of three from Chicago State, Chris Cooper and the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders were back in action for a quartet of games this past week. Cooper did not see action in the weekday victory over Houston Baptist, but proved to be a fixture out of the bullpen by appearing in two of the three weekend contests. Across the two appearances, the right-hander was dominant as he fired 3.2 innings of one-hit baseball without allowing a run. Friday night saw him toss 2.1 perfect innings against the University of Central Florida before holding Michigan State to just a single hit over 1.1 innings. As a redshirt sophomore, Cooper has now thrown 7.2 innings out of the bullpen for the Islanders, flaunts a 2.35 ERA, and is holding opposing hitters to a minuscule .115 batting average.

The second week of the season proved to be one to remember for former freshman All-American Yamil Pagan as the Alabama State infielder posted two four-hit games. Beginning on Wednesday evening against South Alabama, Pagan went four-for-five at the plate with a triple, two runs scored, and an RBI in the 10-inning loss. Following a quiet start to the weekend, Pagan then exploded again on Sunday against Winthrop as he paced the Hornets to a thrilling 11-10 victory at home by again going four-for-five, including his second triple of the week, a double, and a run batted in. The fleet-footed leadoff man also stole two bases and scored four runs in the weekend finale. With his stellar display, Pagan elevated his batting average to a robust .393 and has now scored a run in five consecutive games.

In the same dugout as Pagan was Alabama State teammate and fellow future Rafter Joseph Estrada who had a solid week, starting two of four games. Estrada managed a hit in seven at-bats across the two starts, drove in a run on Saturday, and scored a run on Sunday. In limited duty, Estrada is now two-for-ten and with a double, an RBI, and a pair of runs scored.

The Griffins from Canisius College traveled to North Carolina to meet Fordham for a four-game weekend series that saw a couple of 2016 Rafter signees take the field. Starting all four games, infielder Jake Lumley rebounded from a slow opening weekend against a nationally ranked Michigan team to collect four hits in 13 at-bats. The Canada native also collected his first three RBI of the campaign while adding his first three runs scored to the stat sheet as well. In the front end of a Saturday double header, Lumley’s current and future teammate Josh Shepley took the mound for the Griffins. After a difficult start to the season a week ago, the right-hander recovered to throw 4.1 innings, allowing a pair of hits, two walks, and three runs with only one of them being earned. While Shepley struck out five hitters, his defense failed him at times, committing four errors throughout the course of the ballgame.

Wrapping up the week’s action, the fourth-ranked University of Virginia Cavaliers hosted a four-some of games including an 18-1 romp of VMI on Tuesday night. After watching from the sidelines on opening weekend, freshman Jon Meola made his collegiate debut on Tuesday as a shortstop and went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts. His fellow freshman Doak Dozier busted out on the same evening by filling the box score with two hits, an RBI, and a run scored. Dozier’s only other action of the week came in the Cavaliers’ Sunday victory over East Carolina in which he went hitless in two at-bats, but was hit by pitches twice.

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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 23rd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2016, 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 140 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website.  For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.com.