Rafters Travel to Rockford to Finish Road Schedule 

Wisconsin Rapids plays two at Rockford to finalize season series vs. Rivets

 

Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. – To finish the road portion of the 2017 schedule, Wisconsin Rapids (49-19, 22-10) travels to Rockford (38-29, 21-12) in a matchup with the Rivets on Thursday from Rivets Stadium. The Rafters are 3-3 against the Rivets this year, and come off a 7-4 loss on Wednesday to Battle Creek. 

 

Battle Creek jumped on the board in the first, scoring a run on a Nehwon Norkeh sacrifice fly. The bombers tagged on two home runs in the next two innings, courtesy of a solo blast from Justin Felix, and a two-run home run from Norkeh to push the lead to 4-1. 

 

Rapids got one run back in the fourth, but stranded the bases loaded with one out and could not capitalize after a defensive blunder. Jake Guenther drove in Ryan Stekl to bring the deficit to two runs on a single to centerfield. The Rafters loaded the bases, but Dakota Edwards (4-2) retired two straight batters to end the threat.

 

Wisconsin Rapids pulled within a run in the sixth, but stranded the bases loaded. Scott Kapers doubled down the left field line on a two strike count to plate Alex Holderbach to bring the score within one.

 

The Bombers extended the lead in the seventh, scoring three runs with two men out. Howard hit a bloop double just out of the reach of Stekl at first base to plate Felix. The next batter Nick Walker lined a ball off of the wall in right field to score two Bombers and take a 7-3 lead. Rapids scored one in the eighth to cut the game down to 7-4, but the Bombers left the tying run at the plate. 

 

In an attempt to bounce back from the loss, the Rafters send Jack Eagan (7-0) to the mound against Rockford. The lefty owns a 3.18 ERA on the season in 11 starts. In his last appearance, Eagan tossed five innings against Kenosha, giving up one run. On the season, the freshman has 66 strikeouts, second most in the Northwoods League this year. 

 

Set to counter Eagan for the Rivets is left-hander Alex Bacevicius. The sophomore from South Suburban College is 3-0 with a 3.75 ERA. He has thrown seven innings in his past two starts, and has won in his last three appearances. Bacevicius has once appearance against the Rafters, entering out of the bullpen on July 24th, throwing two innings of scoreless baseball. 

 

Coverage of Thursday’s game at 6:35 p.m. can be heard on AM 1320 WFHR and WFHR.com, the Rafters Radio Network starting at 6:20 p.m.

 

 

 

 

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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, 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.