The Rafters Team Repost is a weekly update of your 2018 Wisconsin Rapids Rafters players in their spring seasons. Stay tuned each week for news and stats on players. 

By: Ray Jensen

Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. –  While Mother Nature continues to be indecisive about what season it is, the Rafters-to-be are only heating up as the regular season for collegiate baseball has little over a month to go. Take a break from chastising your local meteorologist or yelling at snow and check out how the 2018 Rafters fared this week in our team report:  

Stevens Institute of Technology (18-13, E8 11-3) went 2-1 losing to SUNY-Old Westbury to begin the week and then swept a doubleheader at conference opponent St. John Fisher College to finish it. Charlie Ruegger pitched a seven-inning complete game in game one of the Friday doubleheader. Ruegger (4-2, 2.29 ERA) allowed just one run on seven hits and nine punchouts. The junior now leads the Ducks in ERA, wins, complete games (2), innings pitched (51.0), and strikeouts (63). Chandler Brierly pitched a third of an inning in the Ducks’ sole loss on Wednesday, scattering a hit and an unearned run.

Jonathan Hernandez pitched 1.1 relief innings for Chapman University (26-8, SCIAC 11-7) in game two of Saturday’s doubleheader at Claremont-M-S. Hernandez had a scoreless outing and fanned two. In his last six appearances, the junior hurler has only allowed two runs lowering his ERA to 3.95.

Stephen F. Austin (13-22, Southland 5-10) went 2-2 in four games but lost a three-game conference series to Sam Houston State. Josh Campbell was limited to a base hit in the Sam Houston State series. Trayson Kubo pitched a scoreless fourth with a strikeout in Tuesday’s game at University of Texas at San Antonio.

Chandler Greenfield and Brecken Lewis rested up this week as the Dixie State Trailblazers have a much-needed week off. Dixie State resumes play on Thursday visiting Biola University.

Tyler Osik went on a tear this week as UCF (25-12, American 6-6) won three out of their four games including a home series win over Cincinnati.  Osik hit .513 with nine hits, a double, homered in three straight games and collected 13 RBIs.  Osik batted in five on Saturday with an RBI double and a grand slam. Brody Wofford went 2-for-4 at Miami on Wednesday.

SIU Edwardsville’s (7-26, OVC 3-15) rough season continued with an 0-4 week at home. Bret Fehr worked two walks in the opening game of the series hosting Morehead State on Friday. Mason McReaken pitched a total 2.1 relief innings striking out four across his two appearances. 

The UNLV Rebels (26-12, Mountain West 9-6) secured a win in the season series with Air Force this week taking two out of three contests at home. Jack-Thomas Wold kept his hot bat going with a .333 average, five hits, two runs scored and a walk. Seth Mullis hit .250 and scored a run in two games behind the plate during the three-game Air Force series.

No. 16 ranked Texas A&M (27-9, SEC 8-7) had an impressive week going 4-0 including a three-game sweep of the Alabama Crimson Tide at home. Will Frizzell has clearly left his struggles from two weeks ago behind him. Frizzell batted .375 with four singles, a double, scored twice and drove in three. Out of his 33 hits this year, 11 have been for extra bases.

Payton Robertson was limited to a defensive substitution appearance at shortstop in Tuesday’s home game vs. Northwestern State. Lamar University (10-26, Southland 6-12) went 3-1 and swept their series on the road at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Jarrod Watkins hit .263 with five hits, two RBIs and two walks as the Indiana State Sycamores (17-13, The Valley 3-6) went 1-3 dropping two out of three at home to Illinois State in a conference matchup.

Ty Duvall had a big week for the No. 10 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores (22-14, SEC 9-6). The sophomore backstop started his week with a 1-for-3 performance at the plate Tuesday vs. Western Kentucky. Duvall was called upon again to start game two of a doubleheader Sunday hosting Ole Miss. The catcher did not disappoint. Duvall hit a go-ahead three-RBI double in the bottom of the 6^th to give Vandy an 8-7 lead and the win. Duvall also hit an RBI triple earlier in the night and led all players with four batted in.

Steven Rivas did not make an appearance this week but cheered on his Long Beach State (15-22, Big West 3-3) teammates to a 3-1 performance as the Dirtbags beat UCLA at home 5-2 and then hit the road and took two out of three at California State University, Northridge. 

The 2018 Wisconsin Rapids Rafters will begin their season on the road against the Madison Mallards on Tuesday, May 29^th. The Home Opener is slated for Friday, June 1^st against the Wisconsin Woodchucks. The entire 2018 Rafters schedule is available at www.raftersbaseball.com.

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The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Entering its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods 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, 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR).  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.