{"id":17687,"date":"2026-06-27T13:41:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-rapids-rafters\/?p=17687"},"modified":"2026-06-27T13:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:41:33","slug":"thrilling-doubleheader-sweep-caps-stevens-memorable-debut-in-green-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/wisconsin-rapids-rafters\/2026\/06\/27\/thrilling-doubleheader-sweep-caps-stevens-memorable-debut-in-green-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Thrilling Doubleheader Sweep Caps Stevens&#8217; Memorable Debut in Green Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Luc Carter<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After being blown out on home turf Thursday night against Madison, the Rafters bounced back<br \/>\nin Green Bay, sweeping the Rockers in two thrilling 7-inning games on the road. Winning game<br \/>\none 7-6 and game two 6-3.<\/p>\n<p>These would be the first two games of the season for Grant Stevens who arrived after winning a<br \/>\nnational championship as a pitching coach with the University of Oklahoma. His first 2 with<br \/>\nWisconsin Rapids are both ones to remember.<\/p>\n<p>Colton LaFave got the start in game one. LaFave pitched 2 scoreless innings to start the game<br \/>\nand would receive support from his offense. In the top of the 2nd Jack Zeller led-off with a<br \/>\nsingle and would steal both 2nd and 3rd base. Esteban Olazaba brought him in via a fielder&#8217;s<br \/>\nchoice for the game&#8217;s first run. Jax LeGrand would then come through with a 2 out single to<br \/>\nscore Josiah Palomino who walked to take a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n<p>Wisconsin Rapids would keep the bats hot in the top of the third both Harrison Engskov and<br \/>\nConnor Harvie drawing walks to begin the inning. Then Zeller would single to right to bring in<br \/>\nEngskov. A walk to Palomino loaded the bases for Olazaba who would stay patient and draw the<br \/>\n4th walk of the inning to bring in Harvie. LeGrand was up next and he did his job hitting a fly<br \/>\nball deep enough for Zeller to tag up from third to score and make it a 5-0 game.<\/p>\n<p>Trailing by five Green Bay needed a spark and that\u2019s exactly what they got in the bottom of the<br \/>\nthird. With one out Coleman Lewis laced a double to left field, next up came Max Humphrey. He<br \/>\nsmacked a 2-run home run over the wall in right field to cut the deficit to three. After getting the<br \/>\nsecond out of the inning following the 2 run shot, LaFave would run into command issues. He<br \/>\nissued four consecutive free passes, 3 walks and a hit by pitch to load the bases and bring in<br \/>\nanother run. The lineup flipped over and brought Aidan Kuni up to the plate. Kuni crushed a<br \/>\ntriple to center field, clearing the bases and giving Green Bay the lead. A six run inning for the<br \/>\nRockers.<\/p>\n<p>The Rafters did not stay down for long however as in the top of the 4th inning they would get an<br \/>\ninstant response. Zach Gingrich led off with a single and Engskov would follow that up with a<br \/>\nlong ball to right center for a go ahead 2-run home run. His sixth home run of the season.<br \/>\nThe Rafters were extremely thin on arms for the double header today only having 4 total pitchers<br \/>\navailable for the 2 games. This meant LaFave had to shake off the six run inning he just allowed and get back in the zone. He did just that, throwing a scoreless inning, striking out two in the bottom of the 4th.<\/p>\n<p>The Rafters turned to Blaine Davis next. Davis turned in 2 innings of fantastic work retiring 6 of<br \/>\nthe 7 Rockers he faced to preserve the Rafters 7-6 lead headed into the 7th and final inning.<br \/>\nIn the 7th David Lajevic took the mound and slammed the door on the Rockers in game one<br \/>\npitching a three up, three down inning striking out two earning the save. A 7-6 win for<br \/>\nWisconsin Rapids to improve to 8-22 on the season.<\/p>\n<p>Game two would begin just 30 minutes after the conclusion of game 1 with Spencer Lanz on the<br \/>\nmound for Wisconsin Rapids.<\/p>\n<p>Green Bay had immediate retribution on their mind as Aidan Kuni launched a solo home run on<br \/>\njust the second pitch of the game from Lanz. Green Bay would continue the hit parade in the first<br \/>\nwith 3 of the next 4 Rockers singled and Eli Selga driving in the game&#8217;s second run. Stevens<br \/>\nmade his way out to the mound for a mound meeting and settled Lanz down who was able to get<br \/>\nthe last two outs of the inning and keep it at a 2 run deficit for Wisconsin Rapids.<\/p>\n<p>The Rafters got a run back in the top of the 2nd with Olazaba driving in Harvie on a 6-3 fielder&#8217;s<br \/>\nchoice.<\/p>\n<p>This started a stretch of 4 consecutive scoring innings for Wisconsin Rapids. In the top of the third inning the Rafters leader in RBI Dylan Frank hit his 4th home run of the season, a 2-run shot to put the Rafters on top 3-2, a huge momentum swing in the game.<\/p>\n<p>In the top of the 4th Rafters Carter Bennett would come through with a 2 out RBI double to drive<br \/>\nin Nico Defazio to make it 4-2 Rafters.<\/p>\n<p>In the 5th inning Engskov who hit his 4th home run of the year in game one put the exclamation<br \/>\npoint on the offensive run for the Rafters. He crushed his team leading 5th home run of the year<br \/>\nout to deep left field, a 2-run home run to put the Rafters up 6-2.<\/p>\n<p>Spencer Lanz held down the fort giving the Rafters everything he could as he was the last pitcher<br \/>\navailable on the day for the Rafters. He threw 106 pitches, striking out 7 Rockers and delivering<br \/>\n5 innings just giving up 2 runs.<\/p>\n<p>The Rafters needed 6 outs with a 6-2 lead, but with no pitchers left they needed position players<br \/>\nto get them to the finishing<\/p>\n<p>Josiah Palomino was the first position player called upon. Palomino had not pitched since<br \/>\nplaying travel ball during high school. He walked the first batter he saw and gave up a double to<br \/>\nKuni. With runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs Palomino got a massive first out of the inning<br \/>\ngetting Ben Fishel to pop out in foul territory. Palomino then walked Coleman Lewis, loading<br \/>\nthe bases for Max Humphrey who came to the plate 3-3 in the game and having homered in the<br \/>\nfirst game of the double header. Humphrey hit a high fly ball all the way to the wall in left field<br \/>\nbut it just barely stayed in the park with Gingrich making a catch up against the wall for the<br \/>\nsecond out. Payton Fort tagged up from third on the play to make the score 6-3. Then with 2 outs<br \/>\nfacing Eli Selga, Palomino gave up a hard line drive but it hit the base runner Coleman Lewis on<br \/>\nthe fly on his way to second for out number three. A huge break for the Rafters, somehow<br \/>\nsurviving the sixth.<\/p>\n<p>After a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 7th it was up to Zach Gingrich to earn the save. Gingrich<br \/>\nhad a little more experience on the mound than Palomino as he was a pitcher full time in high<br \/>\nschool, but it had still been quite some time since he stepped on the mound in a competitive<br \/>\nfashion, let alone in a save situation. Gingrich got the first out on his first pitch of the inning<br \/>\ngetting David Ballanilla to ground out to short. The next three batters would all reach for Green<br \/>\nBay with 2 singles and a walk which meant Kuni stepped up to the plate as the winning run with<br \/>\nthe bases loaded. Gingrich had no fear as he attacked Kuni and struck him out looking for the<br \/>\nsecond out. Fishel would then ground out to third securing the save for Gingrich and the win for<br \/>\nthe Rafters, sweeping the doubleheader on the road in miraculous fashion. An incredible start to<br \/>\nGrant Stevens tenure as field manager for the Rafters.<\/p>\n<p>The Rafters and Rockers square off once again today, this time at Witter Field with first pitch at<br \/>\n6:35 with Tristin Crusenberry taking the mound for the Rafters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Luc Carter After being blown out on home turf Thursday night against Madison, the Rafters bounced back in Green  [&#8230;]<\/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-17687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-stories","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Thrilling Doubleheader Sweep Caps Stevens&#039; 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