Wisconsin Rapids, WI \u2013 It was a sour Opening Day for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters on
\nMonday night, dropping their first game 6-2 against the visiting Green Bay Rockers. The
\nRockers were led by starting pitcher Alex LePage (1-0), who dealt five innings allowing just one
\nrun, and bullpen arm Caden Crask-Weeks, who totaled three innings without a run or hit
\nallowed. The Rafters saw a strong debut from reliever Brennan Cohen with four, one-run innings
\nand a 2-4, two-RBI game from Brent Gallegos.<\/p>\n
Green Bay broke onto the board first, with Brandon Rogers getting on base thanks to a hit-by-
\npitch before swiping two bags and scoring on an RBI from Justin Journette off Wisconsin Rapids
\nstarter Tristin Crusenberry (0-1). The Rockers scored again in the top of the second, building a
\n2-0 lead on Diego Urreta\u2019s RBI single, sending home Cooper Smith.<\/p>\n
The Rafters were still held scoreless into the third inning when Green Bay added another run on
\nAnthony Mazza\u2019s sac fly off Crusenberry. The next batter, Rockers\u2019 Journette launched a two-
\nrun shot, sending home Rogers as well and making it 5-0 Green Bay.
\nFrom then, the teams traded scoreless frames before the Rafters were finally able to get on the
\nboard in the fifth. In the top of the frame, Wisconsin Rapids\u2019 Cohen relieved Crusenberry and
\nstarted with a three-up, three-down inning. The Rafters\u2019 Gallegos picked up an RBI single,
\nsending home Hiroto Kobayashi and cutting the deficit to four.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin Rapids\u2019 Cohen continued perfection in the top of the sixth, and Green Bay\u2019s Crask-
\nWeeks followed suit, relieving LePage between innings. Both pitchers dealt shutout sevenths,
\nwith Cohen retiring his ninth batter in a row to start his Rafters career.<\/p>\n
In the top of the eighth, the Rockers added one more to their lead when Collen Helms hit an RBI
\ntriple to center field on a ball that was misplayed by Rafters\u2019 outfielder Royce Clayton Jr.,
\nmaking it 6-1 Green Bay. Wisconsin Rapids couldn\u2019t respond in the bottom of the frame, but the
\nRockers followed suit in the top of the ninth.<\/p>\n
In the bottom of the final inning, Jack Fortner came in to pitch for Green Bay, and started off
\nrough, issuing three-straight walks to load the bases. He struck out the next two batters, but
\ndown to their last out, Wisconsin Rapids\u2019 Brent Gallegos ripped an RBI single to left field.
\nUnfortunately for the Rafters, Jack Guerrero pushed his luck rounding third and was thrown out
\nat the plate to end the game.<\/p>\n
The Rockers prepare to take on the Rafters again tomorrow night after winning the opener while
\nWisconsin Rapids will hit the road looking for an away win to get back on track. The Rafters are
\nplanning on throwing RHP Anthony Mateo to start while Green Bay is expecting RHP Maddox
\nLong to go. First pitch is at 6:35pm CT and can be caught televised on NWL+ or through radio
\non WFHR Wisconsin Rapids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wisconsin Rapids, WI \u2013 It was a sour Opening Day for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters on Monday night, dropping their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":17028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,768,718,53,15,19,1,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-categories","category-current-news","category-permanentslider","category-player-signings","category-team-news","category-the-hot-corner","category-uncategorized","category-update-ticker-all-categories"],"yoast_head":"\n