Ashwaubenon, Wis. \u2013 A nine-run comeback attempt couldn\u2019t come to fruition for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (8-23) as they fell 9-6 with the tying runner at the plate against the Green Bay Rockers (17-14) Monday night. It was a hot start for Green Bay and although the Rafters offense heated up in the late innings, it wasn\u2019t enough to finish the game. The Wisconsin Rapids bullpen allowed just two runs in five innings while four batters had multi-hit games, but Evan Miranda worked his third save of the season for the Rockers to stop the comeback attempt.<\/p>\n
The offense for the Rockers was red-hot out of the gates, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first, starting with a solo shot from Green Bay\u2019s Collin Helms before Max Humphrey and Brayden Buchanan each had RBI singles off Rafters starter Tyler Pechetti to make it 3-0.<\/p>\n
The Rockers followed with another three homers across the ensuing innings; a solo shot in the second from Eli Selga, a two-run dinger in the third from David Ballenilla and another two-run blast in the fourth inning from Selga. Tyler Pechetti (0-3) was pulled before the fourth inning, and after Easton Zempel allowed the two-run shot to Selga, he turned it around for the Rafters.<\/p>\n
The Rockers wouldn\u2019t score again after the fourth, but Rockers starter Steve Marhefke (3-0) continued to dominate, tossing a shutout through his six innings.<\/p>\n
In the top of the seventh, the Rafters finally got to face the Rockers bullpen and put up three runs to cut the Rafters deficit to 9-3. Wisconsin Rapids\u2019 Lachlan Maude started the scoring with an RBI double and Hiroto Kobayashi followed suit with a two-RBI double of his own off Green Bay\u2019s Caden Watson.<\/p>\n
The offense kept buzzing for the Rafters in the eighth off Green Bay reliever Ethan Alexander, bringing the score to 9-6 behind a Madden Ocko RBI single, Payton Bryant RBI groundout and Lachlan Maude RBI grounder.<\/p>\n
The Rafters bullpen continued to shut down the Rockers, facing the minimum nine batters in the final three innings behind Zempel through the sixth, Jackson Phillipp in the seventh and Jack Wiessinger in the eighth.<\/p>\n
Turning to Green Bay\u2019s Miranda in the ninth inning, the Rafters put runners on second and third and brought the tying runner to the plate, but Wisconsin Rapids\u2019 Ocko struck out to finish the game and give Miranda the save.<\/p>\n
The Rafters have now dropped back-to-back games after falling in the series finale to Lakeshore on Sunday. The Rafters and Rockers will rematch one final time this season Tuesday evening in Green Bay. The game will be broadcast for video on NWL+ and for radio on WFHR 97.5 FM\/1320 AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ashwaubenon, Wis. \u2013 A nine-run comeback attempt couldn\u2019t come to fruition for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (8-23) as they fell […]<\/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-17218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n