Rafters Play Final Game in Michigan on Friday 

Wisconsin Rapids seeks to finish 4-0 in Battle Creek 

 

Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. – For the final time this season, Wisconsin Rapids (45-18, 18-9) plays in the state of Michigan with a series finale against Battle Creek (37-25, 17-10) on Friday at C.O. Brown Stadium. 

 

The Rafters offense carried the way in an 11-4 victory against the Bombers on Thursday, giving the Rafters a 4-1 lead in the season series.  

 

On the second pitch he saw in his Rafters debut, Alex Holderbach (Eastern Kentucky) drilled a solo home run to give the Rafters a 1-0 lead in the first. Bryson Stott (UNLV) then followed him up with a base hit, his 85th of the season. The hit made Stott the new leader in hits for a single season in franchise history. 

 

With the bases loaded, Jake Guenther (Sacramento College) and Nick Anderson (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) each drove in a run to give the Rafters a 3-0 lead after one. In the second, Stott singled home a run to add on to the lead. 

 

In the biggest inning of the day, the Rafters tagged the Bombers pitching staff for six runs. Four different players notched an RBI in the inning to give the Rafters a 10-1 lead through four. Dustin Woodcock (SIUE) launched his eighth home run of the season in the eighth inning to cap off the Rafters 11-4 victory behind seven innings and a win from Isaiah Carranza (6-0). 

 

Jack Eagan (7-0) takes the mound for the Rafters on Friday, looking for his league-leading eighth win on the season. In his last start, the lefty tossed five a third in Madison, giving up two earned runs while striking out eight. On the season, the Madison College product has 61 strikeouts, which is second the Northwoods League. With 54 innings logged this year, the All-Star has seven starts of six or more innings. 

 

Countering Eagan for the Bombers is Tyler Garam (1-2). The lefty from Greensboro College makes his sixth start on the season. Garam owns a 3.71 ERA in 26 innings. In his last start, Garam tossed his best game of the season, pitching seven innings and allowing one run on six hits, earning his first win on the year. He faces a Rafters lineup hitting .278 as a team, tops in the league. 

 

Entering Friday the Rafters have three players in the top ten in batting average, with Stott leading the offense with a .355 clip, third best in the league. Stekl and Woodcock join Stott in the top ten. With two more RBI’s on Thursday, Woodcock pushes his season total to 55. He trails only Rochester’s Zach Zubia (59) for the most in the league. Woodcock is five runs batted away from breaking the Rafters single-season RBI mark, set by Jackson Slaid of Montevallo in 2013. 

 

First pitch in Battle Creek on Friday is slated for 6:05 p.m. CT. Pregame coverage starts at 5:50 p.m. on AM 1320 WFHR and WFHR.com, the Rafters Radio Network.

 

 

 

###

 

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, 180 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.comor download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rafters as your favorite team.