Rapids takes tie game into seventh, falls to Madison in game one

After winning the Great Lakes West Division second-half championship, the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (0-1) dropped game one of a best-of-three playoff series against the Madison Mallards (1-0) by a final of 9-2.

Madison struck first in the top of the third, but Richie Schiekofer notched an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to tie the game 1-1. Wisconsin Rapids got a strong five-inning performance by Cal Djuraskovic, who gave up just one run on six hits.

The Rafters defense took a 1-1 tie into the seventh inning where the Mallard bats came to life and posted eight runs. Roman Trujillo got an RBI groundout in the eighth to pull the Rafters within seven, but Madison held on to win.

Hayden Petrovick gets the loss in relief and Madison’s Quinn Gudaitis earns the win with seven innings as the starter. Wisconsin Rapids now travels to Madison for game two of the series at the Duck Pond on Tuesday. Game three, if necessary would be back at Historic Witter Field on Wednesday.

As the Rafters gear up for a late-season run, you can experience the postseason action firsthand. For more information on playoff ticket offerings visit Raftersbaseball.com, call the Rafthouse at 715-424-5400, or visit historic Witter Field. The Rafters ticket office is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday at Witter Field, 521 Lincoln Street in Wisconsin Rapids.

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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 Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 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.