Madison, Wis. \u2013 A long-awaited win was finally seen by fans of the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (8-17) Friday evening as they split the doubleheader with the Madison Mallards (16-8). Game 1 went the way of the Mallards, who took on the identity of the Space Cows for both matchups. In that game, the Rafters lost 15-9 as a 13-run inning from the hosts saw them take the lead late. In Game 2, the Rafters pitching dominated, allowing just two unearned runs over the night to win it 4-2. Chris Diaz and Mason Onate both reached five times over the two games while Erik Parker had five RBIs to pair with four hits.<\/p>\n
In the afternoon game, the Rafters had all the momentum early on, thanks in part to Drew Thompson\u2019s four scoreless innings.<\/p>\n
The first runs of the game came for the Rafters in the top of the third when Parker ripped a two-RBI single off Madison starter Charlie Oschell, grabbing a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
The lead grew to 5-0 in the top of the fifth when Wisconsin Rapids loaded the bases for Andre Modugno, who slapped a bases-clearing double to left field off Space Cows\u2019 reliever Kade Durning.<\/p>\n
Another three runs came around in the top of the ninth, with both Mason Onate and Chris Diaz picking up RBI singles before Diaz scored on a double play, extending the lead to 8-0.<\/p>\n
From there, Madison stormed back for their 13 runs in the bottom of the sixth, tagging Jack O\u2019Brasky with six runs, Ashton Poole (0-2) with four and Jafet Martinez with three.<\/p>\n
The Space Cows picked up another two runs in the bottom of the seventh, both unearned, after an error extended the inning, making it a 15-8 lead for the hosts.<\/p>\n
Just one more run came across as the Rafters had a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth, but it wasn\u2019t enough to make the comeback.<\/p>\n
The second game began similarly to the first, with Rafters starter Noah Marschke dominating through four innings and the visiting squad taking an early lead.<\/p>\n
That lead came on just one run, finally scoring on Space Cows\u2019 reliever Merritt Jay (2-1) after four shutout innings from starter Brandon Cahill. Wisconsin Rapids\u2019 Mason Onate had the RBI, a grounder off Jay that allowed Wisconsin Rapids\u2019 Parker to score and make it 1-0.<\/p>\n
Kameron Douglas (1-0) pitched another two innings scoreless for the Rafters on top of Marschke\u2019s start, and Parker came up big again in the top of the sixth with a two-RBI single off Max Winders to extend the lead to 3-0.<\/p>\n
The Rafters\u2019 shutout of the Space Cows finally ended in the eighth as two runs came across, first on an error by Wisconsin Rapids second baseman Noah Ruiz before an RBI groundout sent home Carson Hansen to cut the gap to 3-2.<\/p>\n
In the ninth, the Rafters scored one more when Wisconsin Rapids\u2019 Chris Diaz hit a sacrifice fly off Madison\u2019s Jack DeTienne, and Tony Torres locked it down with a perfect inning to earn the save (2) and help the Rafters win 4-2.<\/p>\n
The win put the Rafters back in the win column, moving them just half a game behind the Lakeshore Chinooks in the standings. They will head home for a two-game series with the Chinooks coming up next. First pitch for the game on Saturday night is scheduled for 6:35 P.M. and will be broadcast for video on NWL+ and for radio on WFHR 97.5 FM\/1320 AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Madison, Wis. \u2013 A long-awaited win was finally seen by fans of the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (8-17) Friday evening as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"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":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n