Grawn, Mich. – Another heartbreaking loss came the way of the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (11-21) Friday night as they dropped the first of a two-game series 3-2 in extra innings against the Traverse City Pit Spitters (18-13). Playing as their alternate identity Up North Cork Dorks, the Pit Spitters saw six, one-run innings from Jack Griffiths and lockdown dealing from the bullpen to win on Isaac Sturgess’ walk-off single. The Rafters had elite pitching on their side as well, with Jeremy Jones tossing a shutout through five, but they ultimately fell short in the end.

The first run of the game didn’t come until the top of the sixth inning, where the Rafters finally got to Traverse City’s Griffiths thanks to Madden Ocko’s sac fly that made it 1-0.

Quickly, the Cork Dorks responded, leading off the bottom of the sixth with a homer from Grady Mee off new pitcher Tristin Crusenberry to knot it at 1-1.

After Crusenberry found his footing, the Rafters were able to take the lead back off Traverse City reliever Max Hammond, grabbing a 2-1 advantage on Ashton Zacher’s two-out RBI single in the top of the eighth.

That didn’t hold long though, as the Pit Spitters picked up a run of their own in the bottom of the frame on a wild pitch from Wisconsin Rapids’ Crusenberry before he was pulled.

A scoreless ninth inning led us to extras where the Rafters would once again fail to push a run across. In the bottom of the 10^th, it was Traverse City’s Sturgess who came up clutch, notching a one-out RBI single off Wisconsin Rapids reliever Jafet Martinez (1-4) to walk it off at home.

The Rafters loss continues their struggle with winning back-to-back games, as they now sit 2-9 in games following a win. They remain 1.5 games ahead of Lakeshore in the Great Lakes West standings, while Traverse City sits half a game out of first in the East. The two will rematch Saturday evening for one last game this season. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 P.M. ET and will be broadcast for video on NWL+ and for radio on WFHR 97.5 FM/1320 AM.