By Luc Carter

After being blown out on home turf Thursday night against Madison, the Rafters bounced back
in Green Bay, sweeping the Rockers in two thrilling 7-inning games on the road. Winning game
one 7-6 and game two 6-3.

These would be the first two games of the season for Grant Stevens who arrived after winning a
national championship as a pitching coach with the University of Oklahoma. His first 2 with
Wisconsin Rapids are both ones to remember.

Colton LaFave got the start in game one. LaFave pitched 2 scoreless innings to start the game
and would receive support from his offense. In the top of the 2nd Jack Zeller led-off with a
single and would steal both 2nd and 3rd base. Esteban Olazaba brought him in via a fielder’s
choice for the game’s first run. Jax LeGrand would then come through with a 2 out single to
score Josiah Palomino who walked to take a 2-0 lead.

Wisconsin Rapids would keep the bats hot in the top of the third both Harrison Engskov and
Connor Harvie drawing walks to begin the inning. Then Zeller would single to right to bring in
Engskov. A walk to Palomino loaded the bases for Olazaba who would stay patient and draw the
4th walk of the inning to bring in Harvie. LeGrand was up next and he did his job hitting a fly
ball deep enough for Zeller to tag up from third to score and make it a 5-0 game.

Trailing by five Green Bay needed a spark and that’s exactly what they got in the bottom of the
third. With one out Coleman Lewis laced a double to left field, next up came Max Humphrey. He
smacked a 2-run home run over the wall in right field to cut the deficit to three. After getting the
second out of the inning following the 2 run shot, LaFave would run into command issues. He
issued four consecutive free passes, 3 walks and a hit by pitch to load the bases and bring in
another run. The lineup flipped over and brought Aidan Kuni up to the plate. Kuni crushed a
triple to center field, clearing the bases and giving Green Bay the lead. A six run inning for the
Rockers.

The Rafters did not stay down for long however as in the top of the 4th inning they would get an
instant response. Zach Gingrich led off with a single and Engskov would follow that up with a
long ball to right center for a go ahead 2-run home run. His sixth home run of the season.
The Rafters were extremely thin on arms for the double header today only having 4 total pitchers
available for the 2 games. This meant LaFave had to shake off the six run inning he just allowed and get back in the zone. He did just that, throwing a scoreless inning, striking out two in the bottom of the 4th.

The Rafters turned to Blaine Davis next. Davis turned in 2 innings of fantastic work retiring 6 of
the 7 Rockers he faced to preserve the Rafters 7-6 lead headed into the 7th and final inning.
In the 7th David Lajevic took the mound and slammed the door on the Rockers in game one
pitching a three up, three down inning striking out two earning the save. A 7-6 win for
Wisconsin Rapids to improve to 8-22 on the season.

Game two would begin just 30 minutes after the conclusion of game 1 with Spencer Lanz on the
mound for Wisconsin Rapids.

Green Bay had immediate retribution on their mind as Aidan Kuni launched a solo home run on
just the second pitch of the game from Lanz. Green Bay would continue the hit parade in the first
with 3 of the next 4 Rockers singled and Eli Selga driving in the game’s second run. Stevens
made his way out to the mound for a mound meeting and settled Lanz down who was able to get
the last two outs of the inning and keep it at a 2 run deficit for Wisconsin Rapids.

The Rafters got a run back in the top of the 2nd with Olazaba driving in Harvie on a 6-3 fielder’s
choice.

This started a stretch of 4 consecutive scoring innings for Wisconsin Rapids. In the top of the third inning the Rafters leader in RBI Dylan Frank hit his 4th home run of the season, a 2-run shot to put the Rafters on top 3-2, a huge momentum swing in the game.

In the top of the 4th Rafters Carter Bennett would come through with a 2 out RBI double to drive
in Nico Defazio to make it 4-2 Rafters.

In the 5th inning Engskov who hit his 4th home run of the year in game one put the exclamation
point on the offensive run for the Rafters. He crushed his team leading 5th home run of the year
out to deep left field, a 2-run home run to put the Rafters up 6-2.

Spencer Lanz held down the fort giving the Rafters everything he could as he was the last pitcher
available on the day for the Rafters. He threw 106 pitches, striking out 7 Rockers and delivering
5 innings just giving up 2 runs.

The Rafters needed 6 outs with a 6-2 lead, but with no pitchers left they needed position players
to get them to the finishing

Josiah Palomino was the first position player called upon. Palomino had not pitched since
playing travel ball during high school. He walked the first batter he saw and gave up a double to
Kuni. With runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs Palomino got a massive first out of the inning
getting Ben Fishel to pop out in foul territory. Palomino then walked Coleman Lewis, loading
the bases for Max Humphrey who came to the plate 3-3 in the game and having homered in the
first game of the double header. Humphrey hit a high fly ball all the way to the wall in left field
but it just barely stayed in the park with Gingrich making a catch up against the wall for the
second out. Payton Fort tagged up from third on the play to make the score 6-3. Then with 2 outs
facing Eli Selga, Palomino gave up a hard line drive but it hit the base runner Coleman Lewis on
the fly on his way to second for out number three. A huge break for the Rafters, somehow
surviving the sixth.

After a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 7th it was up to Zach Gingrich to earn the save. Gingrich
had a little more experience on the mound than Palomino as he was a pitcher full time in high
school, but it had still been quite some time since he stepped on the mound in a competitive
fashion, let alone in a save situation. Gingrich got the first out on his first pitch of the inning
getting David Ballanilla to ground out to short. The next three batters would all reach for Green
Bay with 2 singles and a walk which meant Kuni stepped up to the plate as the winning run with
the bases loaded. Gingrich had no fear as he attacked Kuni and struck him out looking for the
second out. Fishel would then ground out to third securing the save for Gingrich and the win for
the Rafters, sweeping the doubleheader on the road in miraculous fashion. An incredible start to
Grant Stevens tenure as field manager for the Rafters.

The Rafters and Rockers square off once again today, this time at Witter Field with first pitch at
6:35 with Tristin Crusenberry taking the mound for the Rafters.