Rafters and Mallards Meet for Two and Finish Season Series 

Wisconsin Rapids and Madison end season series at Warner Park 

 

Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. – With two games left in the season series, Wisconsin Rapids (39-17, 12-8) takes on Madison (30-25, 11-9) on the road at Warner Park for two games on Friday. The Rafters are 4-2 vs. the Mallards after a 2-1 win at Witter Field on Thursday. 

 

Madison opened the scoring in the third inning on an Andrew Baker RBI single with two outs. Cole Daily singled and stole second base before coming around to score on Baker’s hit to put the Mallards up first in the battle of South Division foes.

 

The Rafters tied the game in the fourth, taking advantage of a wild pitch to even the score. Bryson Stott singled and advanced to third before racing home on a wild pitch off the hand of the Mallards Sam Cottingham-Beard on his first pitch in relief of starter Logan Wonn.

 

Wisconsin Rapids took the lead in the fifth inning, scoring on an error with two outs by third baseman Thomas Smart of Madison. Charlie McConnell came in to score the unearned run after singling with one out. The go-ahead run proved to be the difference in the ballgame as the Rafters hung on to earn the 2-1 victory.

 

Isaiah Carranza (5-0) earned his fifth win on the season, tossing seven innings of one-run baseball and striking out five batters. Henderson earned his league-tying 14th save of the year, striking out the side in the ninth to seal the victory.

 

Set to take the mound in game one of Friday’s double-header is All-Star Jesse Slinger (6-1). In his last appearance, the right-hander tossed eight shutout innings in Kenosha, not giving up his first hit until the fifth. Slinger allowed three hits in eighth innings, lowering his ERA to 1.98 on the season, which is second best in the league this year. 

 

In game two, the Rafters will send Jack Eagan (7-0) to the hill. The lefty also pitched against Kenosha last week, surging through the lineup of the Kingfish to toss a no-no into the seventh inning, surrendering one hit on an infield single to lead off the inning. The All-Star finished with seven shutout innings, allowing the one hit. Eagan holds a 3.30 ERA in nine starts, striking out 52 batters compared to 26 walks. 

 

The Rafters offense is led by Bryson Stott, as the infielder currently owns a 13 game hitting streak. Stott has three, three hit games in the last four he has played, while notching two ore more hits in seven of the 13 games during his streak. 

 

The Rafters and Mallards meet for a double-header, with both games scheduled as two, seven inning games that will begin at 5:00 p.m. Coverage starts at 4:50 p.m. on AM 1320 WFHR and WFHR.com, the Rafters Radio Network.

 

 

 

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The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, 180 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.comor download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rafters as your favorite team.