Northwoods Green Bay Rockers

Bullfrogs Have Their Swagger Back; Madison to the Jo' for Round Two

Published on July 31, 2015 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Green Bay Rockers News Release


Matthew de la Rosa of the Green Bay Bullfrogs
Matthew de la Rosa of the Green Bay Bullfrogs
(Green Bay Rockers)

Green Bay, WI- For the final time this regular season, the Mallards (35-26/15-11) take on the Bullfrogs (37-26/15-13) at 7:05PM from Joannes Stadium. It is WFRV Local 5 Train Conductor bobblehead giveaway.

Ryan Radue (RHP/UConn) starts having completed two of his best start outings of the season the last couple times out against La Crosse and St. Cloud. He faces one of Madison's front line arms, A. J. Bogucki (RHP/North Carolina).

Rout In Order: Bullfrogs Serve Mallards 10-2 Victory

Basking in a 10-2 win last night against the Mallards, the Bullfrogs know they put together one of their most complete victories this season.

First, their pitching was fantastic. Starter Alex Martinez (De Anza) pitched 5IP/5H/1R(1ER)/2K-1BB en route to his first victory since June 25th. Although his secondary pitches were offline, he kept his fastball in there for strikes.

He gave way to Connor Donovan (RHP/Lehigh) who went two scoreless frames, and so did Jake Stolley (LHP/Northwestern) who shut the door at the end.

Knowing how critical this series is for playoff posturing, Skip Handlesman held nothing back by going with two primary bullpen options in what was otherwise an unclose game.

Second, the offense garnered 18 hits, a high this season, and plated 10 runs for the sixth time. And they could have done more as they left 17 runners on base.

Everyone in the starting lineup reached base. Seven of the nine starters had two hits or more. And Desi Ammons (Belmont), Jack Strunc (Washington State), and Robb Paller (Columbia) each had three hits or more.

Those three players combined were 10-for-13 with four runs and five RBI.

Jack Strunc was hitting .214 on July 8th, and now is hitting .268 with three hits in each of his last two games starting at shortstop.

And as Brian Celsi (California) finished 2-for-4 with a double, his sixth this summer, he raised his batting average to a team high .353 with Paller not far behind at .340.

With a double against Madison's Troy Kenkel (UW-La Crosse), Celsi is now 18-for-31 against left-handed pitching, an unlikely statistic considering he himself is a left-handed swinger.

The victory puts the Bullfrogs with the second best overall record in the South Division, a half game better than La Crosse (36-26) and a full game ahead of the Mallards.

Radue Leads Remolded Starting Rotation For Chance At Series Sweep

The starting pitching is the main headline during this three-game win streak. Over the last six games, Green Bay's starters have lasted five innings or more.

Ryan Radue (UConn) has pitched during that streak and he will start tonight against the Mallards on four days of rest. Radue pitched Sunday against the Loggers and logged 85 pitches.

As the opposing offenses have improved, so has Radue's pitching. The Loggers and Rox both have offenses in the top five of the league, and in both starts against them Radue went 5+ IP/2ER.

He will face the Mallards for the second time at home this season. Last time out against Donnie Scott's group, the Bullfrogs won, as Radue was tagged with the no decision on 4IP/1ER/3K-3BB.

The starting rotation is becoming clearer now with only nine games remaining on the regular season schedule. After Radue starts tonight, new Bullfrogs Clayton Uselman (LHP/Madison College) and Austin Hancock (RHP/Lenoir Rhyne) make their inaugural starts against Kalamazoo this weekend.

Other starters down the line will include Sam Brunner (RHP/Dayton), Luke Lind (RHP/North Dakota State), Alex Martinez (RHP/De Anza), and Parker Hamilton (RHP/Florida Gulf Coast).

Over the last five games, the Bullfrogs have allowed only 11 earned runs in 45 innings.

While the decisions on starting pitching remain in flux, Skip Handelsman has fully developed his playoff game plan with his starting lineup. Taylor, Paller, and Rosenbaum have continued to provide dynamic offense in the upper third of the order.

Now qualified for the leaders board with 147 at-bats, Paller ranks fourth in the league with a .340AVG and fifth with a .428 on-base percentage. His 50 hits (40 games played) rank second on the club.

Over their last 10 games the Frogs are hitting .295 (100-for-339) with an average of five runs scored per game during that span.

Mallards Give Ball To Bogucki; Look To Change Top Heavy Offensive Support

In last night's game, the Mallards' Dalton DSpain (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) entered with the most wins (5) on the club and the most innings pitched (47 2/3 IP) but was rocked last night.

DSpain lasted just 4 1/3IP marking the third straight start he has totaled less than five innings in an outing. Seven hits against was his second highest yielded, and three walks extended his outing, making Donnie Scott use five pitchers thereafter in a 10-2 loss.

Intelligently, Scott put out two of his new pitchers Sterling Sharp (RHP/Eastern Michigan) and Jake Johnson (RHP/University of Mary) to see if they could muster any kind of help in the future, but quickly pulled them when they did not get the job done.

They will go to another one of their most reliable starters tonight, A.J. Bogucki (UNC). Bogucki will make his ninth start and third already against Green Bay. In total he has pitched 5 1/3IP/5R(4ER)/8H/3K-1BB against the Bullfrogs.

In yesterday's affair the Mallards only produced six hits, five of them coming from stars Logan Regnier (Central Michigan) and Anthony Gonsolin (St. Mary's).

Despite an uneventful night, this Madison team has pro prospects up and down their roster. In addition to Regnier and Gonsolin, Jean Ramirez (Illinois State) is one impressive player to watch at catcher.

He stops balls well in the dirt, can gun out runners at bases, and is hitting for a .312 batting average. Ramirez is 5-for-13 over his last trio of contests.

The Bullfrogs should also expect to see Ro Coleman (Vanderbilt) in the lineup at second base, one of the SEC's top hitters who joined the Mallards on July 1st.

Single game tickets are on sale now. Visit www.greenbaybullfrogs.com to purchase tickets. The Bullfrogs' business hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Matthew de la Rosa of the Green Bay Bullfrogs
Matthew de la Rosa of the Green Bay Bullfrogs
   



Northwoods League Stories from July 31, 2015


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