(Pictured: Joey Morgan, Photo courtesy University of Washington)

Rafters Team Report: February 29 – March 6
Future Rafter Named To Prestigious Johnny Bench Award Watch List

By: Cooper Perkins

The western United States played host to a trio of squads boasting future Rafters this past week as Grand Canyon, the University of Washington, and Dixie State all hosted opponents. Beginning in the Pacific Northwest, the Washington Huskies welcomed Santa Clara to Seattle for a trio of weekend match ups. Following a rainout on Friday evening, the two squads stacked Saturday with a double header that saw 2016 Rafter backstop Joey Morgan catch the first game on his way to a one-for-three outing in a close loss. The following afternoon, Morgan reached base twice in a victory as he was hit by a pitch and also swatted a base hit. Early this week Joey was named to the prestigious Johnny Bench Award Watch List, given annually to the top catcher in Division-I collegiate baseball. You can read more about this accomplishment here.

In a three-game set with Omaha, the Grand Canyon Lopes saw themselves take the final two games after dropping the Friday night opener. Following the loss, future Rafter Ethan Evanko took to the hill for the Lopes and was excellent in route to picking up his first win of the season. Across six innings of work, Evanko scattered five hits, two earned runs, and a pair of walks while also striking out four. The redshirt sophomore’s 89-pitch effort marked his first official quality start (six innings with three runs or fewer) of the spring and lowered his season ERA three full runs. Not to be outdone by his current and future teammate, southpaw Jake Repavich followed Evanko by taking the mound in the Sunday finale and picking up his second win in three starts. Despite conceding a run for just the first time this spring, Repavich tallied a pair of strikeouts in six innings. With three outings under his belt, Repavich boasts an unblemished 2-0 record and a minuscule 1.35 ERA as he’s allowed just three earned runs in 20 innings on the hill.

Just one state to the north, NCAA Division II Dixie State welcomed California Baptist to Utah for the opening series of PacWest conference play. Toeing the rubber on Friday night, ace Dylan File offered another strong outing despite the Storm succumbing to Cal Baptist in extra innings. File held the visiting Lancers scoreless into the sixth inning before allowing solo home runs in the sixth and seventh frames. When his evening finally concluded, File finished with five punch outs as he scattered two runs, five hits, and a pair of earned runs over seven innings of work. Much to the chagrin of File, who exited the contest with a 3-2 lead, the Storm bullpen was unable to hold the lead and relegated the right-hander to a no-decision for the fourth time in his five starts. On the season, the sophomore has registered a trio of quality starts and remains 1-0 with a 2.32 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 31 innings.

Riding a season-opening six-game losing streak, returning Rafter Dustin Woodcock and the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars hit the road yet again to take on Missouri State, a regional host in last year’s NCAA tournament. In the first chapter of the three-game stand, Woodcock went hitless in four at-bats before receiving a rest day on Saturday. After sitting out a game for the first time in 2016, Woodcock broke through for a double and a run scored on Sunday in the third and final loss of the weekend. The outfielder has batted at a .233 clip and pushed across 4 RBI in eight appearances to this point in the season.

In the Lone Star state, Texas A&M Corpus Christi hit the road for an in-state road series against UT Arlington. Despite the Islanders’ going just 1-3 in the series, redshirt sophomore relief pitcher Chris Cooper continued his breakout campaign, making appearances in the Friday and Saturday games. Cooper allowed just one base runner across 3.1 scoreless innings on the weekend as he held UT Arlington to merely a walk and no hits. The biggest thrill of the weekend, however, came on Saturday when Chris was brokered the opportunity to register his first collegiate save by firing 0.2 of a scoreless inning and picking up a strikeout. Across five appearances in 2016, Cooper has pitched 11 innings and saved one game while notching six strikeouts and a 1.64 ERA.

In a marquee NAIA matchup, twentieth-ranked Sterling College traveled to Oklahoma to meet ninth-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University for a four-game duel of nationally ranked clubs. In a seesaw series that saw the squads split a pair of double headers, returning Rafter Jon Jaeger took the mound as Sterling’s third starter. With defensive lapses behind Jaeger a theme of the afternoon, the right-hander was tagged for six runs, with two of them being unearned. Jon continues to lead Sterling in victories with an unblemished 4-0 record across six appearances and 20.2 innings on the hill. After picking up four more strikeouts this weekend, Jaeger now owns 22 strikeouts compared to just six walks.

To the north, UW Milwaukee ventured to Jonesboro, Arkansas for a date with the Arkansas State Red Wolves. Following his dominant performance last weekend against Bethune-Cookman, Friday night starter Jay Peters was saddled with his first loss of the season in a five-inning effort. Before exiting the game, Peters allowed five runs on nine hits despite striking out four. Earlier in the week, however, Peters was the beneficiary of a thrilling experience as the Panthers caravanned to Arizona on Wednesday for an exhibition game against the Milwaukee Brewers of the MLB. The junior was excellent as he tossed a scoreless inning against the big boys in an 11-2 loss. With three starts under his belt, Peters owns a 1-1 record and a 3.18 ERA to accompany 15 strikeouts in 17 innings.

The Valparaiso Crusaders continued their string of nine consecutive games in the state of Louisiana by splitting a pair of weekday games with UL Monroe and taking one of three in a weekend series against Louisiana Tech. Catcher Scott Kapers enjoyed the date with UL Monroe as he racked up three hits in eight at-bats against the Red Hawks, including a two-hit evening on Tuesday that saw him score a run as well. As the series was categorized by offense on both sides, freshman pitcher Montana Quigley earned his first collegiate start for Valparaiso in the Wednesday edition against UL Monroe. In three innings on the mound, Quigley struggled at times to find the strike zone as he allowed five walks and four hits in addition to five runs. During the weekend visit to Louisiana Tech, Kapers continued his solid week as he started all three outings and notched two more hits in addition to two runs scored.

Alabama State continued their hot stretch as the Hornets went a perfect 4-0 this past week, including a weekday win over Jacksonville State and a weekend sweep of Jackson State. In the leadoff slot, former freshman All-American Yamil Pagan reached base in all four contests, including hits in three of them. The stretch was highlighted by the Sunday game as Pagan laced a pair of hits, including his second long ball of the campaign. The hot-hitting Pagan is now swinging the bat at a robust .333 level on the season with two home runs, four RBI, and four stolen bases. Pagan’s current and future teammate Joseph Estrada sat out the first two games of the week before starting on Saturday as the designated hitter and coming off the bench on Sunday. Across the two games, Estrada reached base three times in five plate appearances, including a hit and two walks as the sophomore outfielder came around to score each time he reached base.

The Purdue Boilermakers made a weekend trip to Johnson City, Tennessee as they met East Tennessee State in a four-game bout. Despite the team dropping three of four, freshman third baseman Jacson McGowan offered a nice performance as he recorded a hit in all four games while also driving in four runs. Having started every game this season, McGowan has settled in as a mainstay in the cleanup slot with a .257 batting average and five runs batted in.

In the mid-Atlantic region, the University of Virginia continued their 10-game home stand with a quartet of games this past week as they clashed with William & Mary on Tuesday before meeting Monmouth in a three-game weekend set. The high-scoring weekday duel saw both future Rafters on the Virginia squad garner playing time as Doak Dozier started in the outfield and Jon Meola came off the bench in his only action of the week. In the three games that followed, Dozier came off the bench as a pinch-hitter to record base hits on Friday and Saturday before starting again on Sunday and picking up yet another hit. Across the four games, Dozier batted .333 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI. The true freshman from Texas is off to a strong beginning to his collegiate career as he is now swinging the bat at a .292 clip in 2016.

Following a four-game stand in North Carolina the week prior, Canisius College traveled back to tobacco country for a weekend series with Campbell University in Buies Creek. It was a quiet weekend for infielder Jake Lumley, but his fellow Rafter Josh Shepley had one of his best outings of the season on Saturday. In the process of earning his first win of the campaign, the right-hander tossed five innings of three-run ball and struck out a pair while scattering four hits. With the first 11 games of the season in the books, Lumley is still seeking a breakout game to elevate his .143 batting average. For Shepley, this weekend’s performance followed a pair of difficult starts to open 2016 as he looks to collect momentum moving forward with a 1-1 record and a 6.43 ERA in 11 innings.

To wrap up the week’s action, we look to the southeast where Bethune-Cookman hosted five games in Daytona Beach, splitting a pair of weekday affairs and dropping two of three to Florida Gulf Coast over the weekend. Tuesday and Wednesday proved to be an uphill battle for returning Rafter Demetrius Sims as he was held hitless over the two games. The silence from Sims wouldn’t last long, however, as the shortstop piled up seven hits across the three weekend match ups, including three-hit outings on both Friday and Sunday. Against Florida Gulf Coast, Sims hit a red-hot .538 with four RBI and two runs scored. Having started every game this season, Sims is now hitting .293 on the year with four RBI and eight runs scored.

The home opener for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters is June 1st at 7:05 against the Green Bay Bullfrogs. Solarus Founders Club, bleacher 9-Game ticket packages, and group outing packages are on sale now. Call 715-424-5400 or stop by the Rafters Front Office Monday-Friday from 9-5 to purchase a ticket package or book a group outing.

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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.