Rafters Team Report Week Seven: April 18^th – April 24^th

The Rafters Team Report is a weekly update of your 2017 Wisconsin Rapids Rafters players in their spring seasons. Stay tuned each week for news and stats on players.

By: Mick Tidrow

Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. – Spring seasons are nearing a final push all across the country. Teams are gearing up for their respective conference tournaments and making final adjustments to win their conference. This week brought in stellar results from players joining the Rafters roster this summer.

Nick Anderson opened this past weekend with a triple against Stephen F. Austin in the first game of the series. While Texas A&M Corpus Christi lost the first game, the Islanders bounced back in game two behind Anderson’s one-for-three performance and a run scored. The speedy outfielder continues to put together a strong campaign, batting .273 with 24 runs batted in. The sophomore has been reliable all year for the Islanders, scoring 23 runs on the season. Teammate Nkosi Djehuti-Mes did not see action this past week, but has hit two home runs on the season. Texas A&M Corpus Christi takes Texas A&M on the road in midweek action before returning home to face Central Arkansas in Southland Conference action.

Dominant is the word to describe Cameron Busby from this past week. Belmont Abbey has now won six games in a row, with two of those games seeing Busby enter the game. His first appearance came against Lander at home in a 7-6 win. Busby entered in relief and pitched an inning, striking out two. In the next game three days later, Busby started at Erskine. In a dominating outing, the starter pitched eight innings of one run baseball. Striking out three and pitching to contact, Busby recorded his fifth win on the season in eight decisions. The soon-to-be Rafter holds a 5-3 record in 79 and two-third innings this year with 53 strikeouts. The right-hander has the most innings pitched on the team by nearly 20 innings. Belmont Abbey finishes up the regular season with one game each against Catawba, Barton and Francis Marion.

Chalk up another great start for Jake Repavich of Grand Canyon. In his latest start on the mound, the lefty dominated through six and two-third innings against UT Rio Grande Valley. Repavich struck out five, walked one, and allowed one earned run in the game. On the season, the junior is 4-3 with a 3.90 ERA after his strong start. The strikeout to walk ratio for Repavich has been outstanding with 45 punch-outs and mere 11 walks. Grand Canyon swept UT Rio Grande Valley to improve to 19-19 on the season. The Lopes are currently riding a six game win streak. Kansas and New Mexico are next up for the Lopes.    

On a career day vs. Big Ten rival Illinois, Gareth Stroh and Purdue downed the Illini 4-1 to improve to 21-18 and 8-6 in the Big Ten. Stroh pitched a complete game for the first time, while allowing one earned run on two hits. Stroh pitched to just two more batters than the minimum, facing 29 the entire game, striking out eight of them. After the best start of his career, Stroh has logged 57 innings while holding a 4-3 record. The soon-to-be Rafter lowered his ERA to 4.61 on the season, which is the best mark of all starters for the Boilermakers. Purdue hosts Fort Wayne in a one game tilt before welcoming Saint Louis to town.    

Rob Calabrese is having an incredible season, and last week was no different for the University of Illinois-Chicago catcher. The week started against Viterbo, where Calabrese went one-for-two with a run and an RBI. In the Youngstown State series that followed, he went three-for-seven in the two games with five runs batted in. The hitting continued in a midweek double-header, where Calabrese finished four of eight from the plate, including a three-for-five day to finish the series. He has six long balls this year and has raised his average to .359 after this week. UIC takes on Chicago State and Georgia Tech this week.

St. Johns River State completed its regular season on April 19^th with a 10-6 victory against Florida State Jacksonville. Nick Owens helped lead his squad to a 36-16 mark including a record of 22-4 at home. In the final game of the season, Owens went one-for-four with a run scored to extend his current hit streak to five games. The speedster is now hitting .328 on the year, with two home runs and 47 runs scored. Owens has been held hitless in just 10 of the teams 52 games on the season, with 16 multi-hit efforts.

Scott Kapers opened up the week against Northern Kentucky with a two-for-four day with a run batted in. The Crusaders lost 14-5, but bounced back in game two, winning 17-5. In the final game of the week in a 9-0 win against Wright State, Kapers brought in a run on a single. The utility man has split time this season behind the dish on defense and at second base, but he has taken the roll as the teams backstop in recent games. The Crusaders play an in-state rivalry game against Notre Dame before heading to Youngstown State.

Cal State- Dominguez Hills picked up a win in the series opener against UC San Diego, but could not close the door on a win in the final three games. To start the week, Brandon Polizzi continued his dominant season, blasting four hits and driving in a run.  In game two, the outfielder went two-for-five with two runs scored and an RBI. To finished up the series, Polizzi drove in a run on two hits, while scoring two more runs. Polizzi now owns a seven game hitting streak. He continues to swing it well this year with an average of .392 on the season. In 42 games this season, the speedster has at least one hit in all but four games. In 22 of those games, he has at least two hits, with three base knocks or more in nine contests. Point Loma and San Francisco State are next up for the Toros.     

Dustin Woodcock and SIU Edwardsville dropped a pair of one-run heartbreakers to UT Martin, staying close the entire series. Woodcock notched a base hit in both games. The outfielder has been stellar throughout the course of the season, raising his average to .333 on the year. SIU Edwardsville next slate of games includes a single game at Bradley before heading to Pittsburgh for a three game series.

J.P. Stevenson kicked off the weekend for Canisius College with a 4-3 win against Rider. In a solid outing, Stevenson went six and one-third innings on the mound, striking out three while allowing five hits. The lefty now owns an ERA of 3.41 with a 6-3 record in ten starts. In a team high 63 innings this year, Stevenson has struck out 45 while walking just 13. In the same game, Ryan Stekl posted a two-hit game, driving in two crucial runs to help seal the deal for Canisius. Stekl followed up game one with two more hits and a run batted in to help pick up the 7-0 win. To cap off the week, the Rafter signee pummeled the baseball in game three, lacing four hits in six at-bats, bringing home three runs. Stekl raised his average to .326 after another impressive week. The junior has swung it well this season, leading the squad in doubles, runs batted in, home runs, and is third on the team in batting average.

Quinn DiPasquale of Stevens Tech started against Utica this past week in his only appearance on the mound. The starter struck out two in three innings pitched. He allowed three earned runs in the game. The righty fell short in a victory attempt as the Ducks dropped the game to Utica. On the year, the hard throwing pitcher is 2-3 with an ERA of 4.20. He has 45 strikeouts and just 18 free passes this year in 40 and a third innings.

Aaron Herr of St. Johns is in his first year with the Red Storm. St. Johns is an impressive 29-5 on the season after going 3-0 this past week. Herr has appeared in nine games, all out of the bullpen. The junior is 2-0 after his best appearance on the season this past week. With an inning and a third tossed, Herr did not give up a run and finished with two strikeouts. In eight innings pitched this year, Herr has struck out ten batters. The 13^th ranked Red Storm take on NYIT and Fairleigh Dickinson this week.

Andrew Bechtold of Chipola College is on pace to hit nearly .500 on the season after another week of strong hitting. Bechtold has shown no signs of slowing down this season, leading his team to two wins against Gulf Coast State College. The week was highlighted with a two-for-five performance with two runs scored in the first game. Bechtold finished with a hit in two at-bats in the final game, but drew three walks. The LSU commit is hitting an impressive .450 average with 10 long balls on the year. With 53 runs batted in and 68 runs scored, Bechtold looks to lead his team against Tyler Junior College and Louisiana State University Eunice this week. Chipola College has won its last 11 games when Bechtold is in the starting lineup.  

Christian Jones of Campbell University saw two starts this past week, picking up a base hit in both games. In the final game of the week against UNC Asheville, Jones went one-for-three, driving in two runs and walking twice. Jones has hit four homes run of the season while driving in 22 runs. The junior has also been productive once he has reached base, scoring 20 times in the 2017 season. Campbell plays host to UNCW before traveling to play North Carolina.

Southpaw Jack Eagan of Madison College was back on the bump as a starter last week. The lefty tossed four and two-third innings of one run ball against Rock Valley College. The starter has put together a strong campaign in his freshman season. The strikeouts are starting to pile up with Eagan. In 36 innings this year the freshman has an ERA of 1.26 with 46 strikeouts and just 15 walks. Madison College faces Trinton College and Black Hawk College-Moline this week.

Alex Jackson of Heartland Community College has made eight appearances in his freshman season. With a record of 1-2, Jackson has tossed 19 innings while striking out 17 batters. The lefty looks to finish his first season strong as Heartland CC has 12 games left with Kirkwood next on the docket.

The season and home opener for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters is May 30th at 7:05 against the Kenosha Kingfish. 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. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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 160 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rafters as your favorite team.