Wisconsin Rapids were out-hit 10-4 and struggled on the defensive side of the ball for a second straight night.

Wisconsin Rapids, WI–The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters have dropped five of their last six games following Saturday night’s 5-2 series-opening loss to the Traverse City Pit Spitters. The Rafters’ offense struggled again, putting up just four hits, and saw just five men reach scoring position. 

After both sides traded a scoreless first inning, the Pit Spitters grabbed the early advantage. Evan Orzech broke the scoring seal with a leadoff home run to right-center field to begin the second inning. Two batters later, Tyler Minnick homered to left-center field. It was the first home run for each hitter and Traverse City saw a 2-0 lead. But, they weren’t done yet. Following the home run, back-to-back hits from Cooper Erikson and Andrew Mannelly put runners on second and third with only one out. Rafter starter Brycen Parrish threw a wild pitch allowing Erikson to score. With one out in the inning and runners on the corners, Glenn Miller hit a routine double play ball that was botched at short by Garrett Broussard, allowing a fourth run to score in the inning. The Pit Spitters would add a fifth in the top of the fifth after Colin Summerhill scored on an error made by Chris Conniff at second base. 

From there, Traverse City went on cruise control thanks to the excellent work of their starter Aren Gustafson. The left-handed pitcher threw seven innings of four-hit, one-run baseball, and he only had two strikeouts. 

Wisconsin Rapids’ lone run against Gustafson came in the fifth inning of play. Jorge De Goti led off the inning with a single and would later come around to score on a two-out single by Ty Johnson. The RBI for Johnson was his 20th of the summer, good for third on the team. 

The Rafters would make the game interesting by grabbing one more run in the eighth inning. After Logan Hugo led off the inning with a walk, he proceeded to steal second base in the ensuing at-bat. With Hugo on second, Jack Gurevitch grounded out to short which allowed Hugo to advance an additional 90 feet. With Garrett Broussard at the dish, new Pit Spitter lefty Noah Samol threw a fastball behind Broussard, scoring Hugo from third on the wild pitch. 

The Rats were only down three going into the ninth inning but proceeded to go down in order to end the game. Wisconsin Rapids falls to 21-19 this summer and 1-4 in the second half. Entering play on Sunday the Rafters will have sole possession of last place in the Great Lakes West, they’ll look to salvage the series on Sunday with the first pitch at 1:05 pm. 

For rafters ticket offerings visit Raftersbaseball.com, call the Rafthouse at 715-424-5400, or come visit us over at historic Witter Field. The Box Office is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday at Witter Field, 521 Lincoln Street in Wisconsin Rapids.

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 proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Now in its’ 30^th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 24 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 325 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (NYM), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2021 All-Star, MLB Gold Glove winner and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. League games are viewable live at watchnwl.com and on ESPN+. For more information, visit 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.