Rafters Complete Sweep of Bullfrogs

Big night from Jones and Guenther fuel Rafters to win

Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. – The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (19-4) continued their win streak against the Green Bay Bullfrogs (9-14) this year, improving to 4-0 in the season series with a 9-1 victory on Thursday from Witter Field.

Three home runs by the Rafters from Christian Jones, Jake Guenther and Nick Anderson supplied the pitching staff with a cushion to put away the Green Bay offense.

Green Bay jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first, with the first run of the evening scoring on a sacrifice fly. Kyle Benyo drove a fly ball deep enough to left to score Alonzo Jones from third base to open the scoring.

Jones had not hit a home run since June 3^rd, when he homered in three consecutive games, but that changed on Thursday at Witter. Jones entered the batter’s box with two on and two out and hit a home-run over the wall in left-center field to give the Rafters a 3-1 lead.

The Rafters tagged on two more runs in the second on back-to-back run-scoring hits by Jones and Guenther. Bryson Stott and Dustin Woodcock came in to score to give Wisconsin Rapids a 5-1 advantage after three.

Guenther extended his streak of reaching base safely to 23 games with a single in the first, but made some noise with the lumber in the fifth. The left-handed swinging Guenther drove a fastball over the wall in right field, scoring Jones and extending the Rafters lead to 7-1.

Nick Anderson joined the home-run party for Wisconsin Rapids with a solo shot of his own in the eighth. The Rafters added one more in the inning on a Ryan Stekl sacrifice fly, opening the lead to 9-1.

J.P. Stevenson (3-0) earned the win for Wisconsin Rapids, tossing 5.1 innings of one-run baseball. The Rafters bullpen continued their success in the first half, allowing three hits in 3.2 innings of relief to secure the win. Stevenson struck out seven and did not issue a walk.

The Rafters head on a Michigan road trip for a series with Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. Wisconsin Rapids takes on the Bombers on Friday and Saturday while playing the Growlers on Sunday and Monday. The Rafters return to Witter on Tuesday for a 7:05 pm home game against Fond du Lac.

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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 170 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 http://northwoodsleague.com/wisconsin-rapids-rafters/ 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.