{"id":17611,"date":"2026-06-03T12:42:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-rapids-rafters\/?p=17611"},"modified":"2026-06-03T12:42:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:42:24","slug":"rafters-ride-early-power-surge-pitching-depth-to-7-2-win-in-interim-coach-brickers-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-rapids-rafters\/2026\/06\/03\/rafters-ride-early-power-surge-pitching-depth-to-7-2-win-in-interim-coach-brickers-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafters Ride Early Power Surge, Pitching Depth to 7\u20132 Win in Interim Coach Bricker\u2019s Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Luc Carter<\/strong><\/p>\n

KALAMAZOO, Mich – The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters made the long trip to Kalamazoo for the first of 4 games in
\nMichigan this week. The Rafters entered Tuesday\u2019s game with a 1-5 record squaring off against
\nthe 7-2 Kalamazoo Growlers who are off to their best start to a season in franchise history.<\/p>\n

With head coach Grant Stevens still with the University of Oklahoma as the Sooners advanced to
\ntheir super regional, and Interim head coach Jake Hom away from the team for this trip to
\nMichigan to attend his brother\u2019s wedding, Assistant coach Dom Bricker is thrusted into the role
\nof head coach for the next four games, making his professional debut as a head coach.<\/p>\n

The Rafters wasted no time as Jax LeGrand would blast a solo home run on the second pitch of
\nthe game for his first Home Run of the season. Later in the inning, after a single and two walks,
\nErick Soto would be hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to put the Rafters up 2-0 in the top of
\nthe first.<\/p>\n

Cade Queen started on the mound for the Rafters today. He would walk the first two batters of the
\ngame, but then Bricker would call for a mound meeting to settle Queen down. Bricker’s
\ndiscussion worked as Queen would bounce back to get the next two batters to fly out, and get out of
\nthe inning only giving up one run on a sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n

Growlers starting pitcher Crittendon would have to leave the game after throwing 35 pitches in
\nthe first inning due to the Northwoods League rule. The Rafters kept the bats hot in the second
\ninning against Logan Cotton as Jax LeGrand would pick up his second hit of the day and then
\nsteal second base to get into scoring position for Zach Gingrich, who would lace a double off the
\ncenter field wall to put the Rafters up 3-1. The next batter, Nico DeFazio, would get aggressive,
\nlining the first pitch into center field to put the Rafters up 4-1.<\/p>\n

DeFazio would pick up a second RBI in the 4th inning, when he would ground into a fielders
\nchoice with the bases loaded to score Jax LeGrand, and then Dylan Frank would score on a
\nthrowing error from Growlers second baseman Landon Stewart to extend the Rafters lead to five
\nwith the score 6-1.<\/p>\n

Queen would finish his day with five innings pitched, three hits allowed, four walks, eight strikeouts and two
\nearned runs after the Growlers would score one run on a wild pitch in the 5th inning.<\/p>\n

Braden Burness would be the first out of the bullpen for the Rafters, and he was on his game
\ntoday. He faced the minimum across two innings, striking out five Growlers, all swinging.<\/p>\n

Erick Soto would lead off the top of the 7th inning with a solo shot to the opposite field, his first
\nhome run of the year to make it a 7-2 ballgame.<\/p>\n

Bricker turned to Blaine Davis, the submarine throwing reliever, to get the final six outs and he
\ndid just that, sitting down six of the nine batters he faced giving up no runs and striking out three to give
\nthe Rafters their second win of the season by a score of 7-2.<\/p>\n

The player of the game was Gingrich, who finished the day 3-3 with two walks, reaching base
\nsafely all five times he stepped up to the plate.<\/p>\n

The Rafters will be back in action tomorrow at 10:05 EST (9:05 CST) for game two against the
\nGrowlers. Kade Irons will make his first start. Irons has not given up a run in 4.2 innings pitched
\nin relief this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Luc Carter KALAMAZOO, Mich – The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters made the long trip to Kalamazoo for the first of […]<\/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":[775,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-stories","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\nRafters Ride Early Power Surge, Pitching Depth to 7\u20132 Win in Interim Coach Bricker\u2019s Debut - Wisconsin Rapids Rafters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-rapids-rafters\/2026\/06\/03\/rafters-ride-early-power-surge-pitching-depth-to-7-2-win-in-interim-coach-brickers-debut\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rafters Ride Early Power Surge, Pitching Depth to 7\u20132 Win in Interim Coach Bricker\u2019s Debut\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Luc Carter KALAMAZOO, Mich – The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters made the long trip to Kalamazoo for the first of [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-rapids-rafters\/2026\/06\/03\/rafters-ride-early-power-surge-pitching-depth-to-7-2-win-in-interim-coach-brickers-debut\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wisconsin Rapids Rafters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T17:42:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin-wisconsin-rapids\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin-wisconsin-rapids\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-rapids-rafters\/2026\/06\/03\/rafters-ride-early-power-surge-pitching-depth-to-7-2-win-in-interim-coach-brickers-debut\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-rapids-rafters\/2026\/06\/03\/rafters-ride-early-power-surge-pitching-depth-to-7-2-win-in-interim-coach-brickers-debut\/\",\"name\":\"Rafters Ride Early Power Surge, Pitching Depth to 7\u20132 Win in Interim Coach Bricker\u2019s Debut - 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