Mequon, Wis. – The road success continued for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (8-21) Saturday evening, taking down the Lakeshore Chinooks (11-18) at Moonlight Graham Field 13-6. The win clinched the Rafters the season series over Lakeshore and Wisconsin Rapids has now split their last eight games away from home. The Rafters saw starter Justin Battle (3-0) dominate over his six innings, allowing just one run. That was backed up by a three-hit game from Mike Maanum and a grand slam as part of the five times on base for Jake Beauchaine.
The first runs came across in the top of the second when the Rafters added on Luke Skinner’s RBI double, Lachlan Maude’s RBI fielder’s choice and Maanum’s RBI single off Chinooks starter Diego Garcia (0-1).
Wisconsin Rapids added another three runs off Garcia in the top of the fourth, making it 6-0 behind an error and Kerim Orucevic’s two-RBI double.
The Chinooks finally got a run off Battle in the bottom of the fifth on Grant Gray’s RBI double, but the Rafters immediately responded with four runs in the top of the sixth, all coming on Jake Beauchaine’s grand slam off Lakeshore’s Carter Szohr. The grand slam was the Rafters first of the year and made it 10-1 while it also moved Beauchaine ahead of Junior Barajas for the solo team lead in home runs this season with seven.
The onslaught continued in the top of the seventh with another three runs off Lakeshore’s Szohr thanks to Hiroto Kobayashi’s two-RBI double and Orucevic’s sac fly which made it 13-1.
From there, the Rafters wouldn’t score again, although they didn’t need to despite damage from the Chinooks.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Rafters finally turned to the bullpen, giving Preston Steiner a shot after Battle’s quality start. Battle didn’t allow a walk in his six innings while throwing just 63 pitches, starting for the first time this season. That resulted in the third Rafters quality start of the year.
After Steiner came in, Lakeshore saw a bases-loaded sac fly bring home their second run of the game, but a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth made things interesting, bringing the score to 13-6.
Following the slam, Wisconsin Rapids turned to Ashton Poole, who got back on track, going 1.2 scoreless innings to finish the game.
The Rafters now sit 2.5 games back of the Chinooks in the overall season standings and will look to pass them up over the final week of the season. The two teams will face off one final time Sunday afternoon at 1:05 P.M in Mequon. The game will be broadcast for video on NWL+ and for radio on WFHR 97.5 FM/1320 AM.