Grawn, Mich. – Frustration continued for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (11-22) as another down-to-the-wire game went the direction of the Traverse City Pit Spitters (19-13) Saturday night 5-4. The loss sends the Rafters on a long bus ride back to Wisconsin Rapids after going 2-4 over the six-game road trip. In the game, the Pit Spitters scored almost all their runs in the first inning, while a ninth-inning comeback from the Rafters left the tying runner on third. Mason Onate went 2-4 in the game while Royce Clayton Jr. reached base three times and the bullpen allowed just one run in five innings, but the home team won anyways.

After an over 40-minute delay for mound maintenance, the Pit Spitters got aboard in the bottom of the first thanks to five straight batters reaching against Rafters starter Seth Spencer (0-3). Brandon Sanchez capitalized with an RBI single, Cade Collins had a two-RBI double and Brooks Sartain hit a sac fly to make it 4-0.

Neither team scored again until the sixth inning, where Trent Reed relieved Traverse City starter Logan Pikur (1-1) after five shutout innings, but allowed an RBI from Wisconsin Rapids’ Madden Ocko to cut the lead to 4-1.

The Pit Spitters responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the sixth, seeing Aaron Piasecki pick up an RBI off Rafters reliever Brent Gallegos to bring the lead back to 5-1.

The pitching took over again from there, but in the top of the ninth, the Rafters took on Traverse City reliever Jaylen Merchant, who allowed a hit by pitch, two walks and a Hiroto Kobayashi RBI single before he was pulled with runners on the corners in a 5-2 game.

Andrew Cotton relieved Merchant for the Pit Spitters, but allowed a two-RBI double from JJ Garcia to make it a one-run game. From there, a wild pitch sent Garcia to third, but Traverse City’s Cotton retired the final batter to keep him stranded and earn the save (1).

The Rafters finished the first half of the season with a 7-11 road record after the loss and now are just half a game ahead of the Chinooks in the standings. Wisconsin Rapids will host Madison for a two-game series starting Sunday afternoon. First pitch in that game will be 3:05 P.M. and will be broadcast for video on NWL+ and for radio on WFHR 97.5 FM/1320 AM.