WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. –  The Rafters closed down their homestand on a positive note Sunday, defeating the La Crosse Loggers 8-5. Greyson Shafer knocked four hits, Kyler McIntosh drove in three runs, and Tristin Crusenberry spun four elite innings out of the bullpen to lead Wisconsin Rapids to victory.

 

Thomas Burns got the start for the Rafters, and immediately ran into trouble. He managed to escape a first and third situation unscathed in the first, but let two runs score in the second off a Bryson Stripling error and a bases-loaded walk.

 

Crusenberry would settle things down after that in relief, at one point retiring 12 straight in his four innings of work. He would earn the win for his efforts.

 

In the bottom of the second, Jake Beauchaine hit a sacrifice fly and Mason Onate drove in a run off a grounder to tie up the ballgame. The Rafters tacked on three more in the fourth in a similar fashion, with Kyler McIntosh ripping an RBI double before Beauchaine and Onate drove in one more run each to increase the lead to 5-2.

 

Things quieted down until the seventh inning when Carlos Anziani let two cross the plate for La Crosse, which cut their deficit to 5-4. But the Rafters got one right back on a Bryson Stripling moonshot to left field.

 

The two biggest insurance runs came off the bat of McIntosh again in the eighth. His single scored Trotter Boston and Shafer, and that was all the Rafters needed to close things out.

 

Alex Honeyman got the call for the eighth and ninth innings, allowing just one run on one hit. He retired Derrick Mitchell on a comebacker to end the game for his first save of the season.

 

The win bumps the Rafters back to .500 on the season at 6-6, and the Loggers down to 8-5 overall. They will travel to La Crosse to finish the home-and-home set Monday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35. Andy Jachim will have the call on WFHR – 97.5 FM, 1320 AM.