Fond du Lac, Wis. – Offense was at the forefront of a 17-13 shootout between the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (4-15) and Fond du Lac Dock Spiders (10-10) Tuesday night, but it was the Dock Spiders who ended up on top. The Rafters trailed most of the game, but put together a comeback effort at the end, only to fall short with the tying runner at the plate. The Rafters had six individual multi-hit games, including Hiroto Kobayashi who smashed a homer and three doubles as part of the Rafters season-high 20 hits.

The Rafters offense shot out of a cannon in the first inning, tacking on three runs off Dock Spiders starter Dylan Immel and taking a 3-0 lead.

The lead didn’t last long though, as Fond du Lac scored five runs in the bottom of the first off Rafters starter Jeremy Jones, although only two of them were earned due to a couple of errors.

A shutout second kept the game 5-3, but the Rafters tied it up in the top of the third with a pair of RBIs off Fond du Lac reliever Camden Broske (2-1).

The Dock Spiders followed with four runs of their own, grabbing a 9-5 lead at the end of the third as Rafters reliever AJ Buenaseda (0-1) couldn’t work through a second shutout frame.

The offense continued climbing for the Dock Spiders in the bottom of the fourth, adding six runs on Rafters reliever Preston Steiner to build the lead to 15-5.

From there, the Rafters began to cut back, but it took until the top of the seventh for them to score again. In the inning, Wisconsin Rapids scored four runs off Fond du Lac’s Elden Santana, starting with Kobayashi’s solo homer before a slew of RBIs made it 15-9.

The Dock Spiders bit back in the bottom of the seventh with two runs off Wisconsin Rapids’ Brent Gallegos on a couple of RBIs, extending the Fond du Lac lead back to 17-9.

The Rafters didn’t give up, making it 17-10 against Dock Spiders reliever Jacob Arndt in the top of the eighth before he was pulled from the game with the bases loaded. Two of those runners came home to score against Fond du Lac’s Ben Kasten, cutting the deficit to 17-12 before he worked out of the inning.

Jack Wiessinger had a three up, three down bottom of the eighth for the Rafters, and they once again rallied in the top of the ninth. Eric Harper hit a sacrifice fly to make it 17-13 and the Rafters then loaded the bases, but Fond du Lac’s Kasten got out of the jam to finish the game there.

The loss was the Rafters’ fourth in their last five games, which keeps them 2.5 games back of the Lakeshore Chinooks in the standings. The Rafters will return to Fond du Lac once more Wednesday night for a rematch with the Dock Spiders. That game will be broadcast for video on NWL+ and for radio on WFHR 97.5 FM/1320 AM.