Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. – Another Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (7-16) comeback attempt was stifled Thursday evening as the visiting squad fell 9-6 on the road to the Madison Mallards (15-7). The Rafters were down 7-0, cutting the deficit to 7-6 at one point before the Mallards finished it off. In games that come down to the last at bat, the Rafters have now lost nine in a row, but have kept nearly all of their losses close during their recent struggles. Ashton Zacher had a strong performance launching a homer in his 2-4 night while Kenny Schultz threw 2.2 innings of one-run ball in his return to the mound.

After a scoreless first inning, the Mallards took the lead in the bottom of the second, using a two-run shot from Madison’s Noah Sheffield over the left field wall off Rafters starter Anthony Mateo (0-2) to go up 2-0.

In the bottom of the third the offense kept rolling, tacking on four more runs on the line of Mateo and one on Rafters reliever Kenny Schultz. In the inning, the Mallards picked up RBIs from Mikey Bell, Davis Hamilton, Noah Sheffield and Jimmy Anderson, going up 7-0 heading into the fourth.

From there, Schultz began to shut down the Mallards and gave the Rafters some momentum for the top of the fifth, when Mason Onate and Gunnar Myro each had an RBI on Madison starter Tyler Guerin (4-0) to cut the deficit to 7-2.

The Rafters offense continued rolling in the seventh, when they made it a one-run game by scoring four times. All four came off Mallards reliever Nolan Buss, first with Wisconsin Rapids’ Jack Guerrero stealing home before Gunnar Myro had an RBI single and Ashton Zacher ripped a two-run opposite field homer to left.

The Mallards clapped back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, both inherited runners of Cannon Restine’s that came to score when Carson Hansen and Cole Kosciusko had RBIs off Rafters reliever Tony Torres, making it 9-6.

From there it remained scoreless, in part thanks to Joe Husak who earned the save (5) by retiring the only batter he faced with runners on the corners in the ninth.

The Rafters will return to Madison on Friday for a doubleheader, but now sit alone in sixth in the Great Lakes West while the Mallards are one game up in first place. The first game of the doubleheader will be played at 1:05 P.M. while the second game will begin at 6:35 P.M. Both games will be broadcast for video on NWL+ and for radio on WFHR 97.5 FM/1320 AM.