Northwoods Green Bay Rockers

Martinez, Bullfrogs Look to Bounce Back in Series Finale

Published on June 18, 2015 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Green Bay Rockers News Release


Fun at a Green Bay Bullfrogs Game
Fun at a Green Bay Bullfrogs Game
(Green Bay Rockers)

Green Bay, Wis.- Now with an even 10-10 record, the Bullfrogs attempt to salvage the home stand finale against the Duluth Huskies (14-8) this evening. This is the last time inter-division baseball will be played at Joannes Stadium this season.

First pitch is 7:05PM for the Festival Foods Cheesehead bobblehead giveaway. FLOW Parkour will also be performing throughout the game.

Pitching coach, Luke Prihoda, will give the ball to Alex Martinez (RHP/De Anza College). After Martinez starts tonight, it is likely Sam Brunner (Dayton) will get a start for a second time as Mike Ellenbest (Saginaw Valley State) also tries to meld back into the rotation this weekend.

Martinez has been great ever since a rocky debut on May 28th against St. Cloud (2IP/5R/6H). In his last three outings (two starts), the hard-throwing right-hander has pitched for a total of 11 innings, two earned runs, and nine hits.

A hope in this start is that Martinez can go longer into the game especially considering the Bullfrogs bullpen threw 5 2/3 innings last night. He has not had a start of over five innings because of high pitch counts. In starts on June 4th and 12th, he has thrown 77 and 84 pitches.

Field Manager, Skip Handelsman, is also awaiting the resurgence of a Bullfrogs lineup that swatted 45 hits in four games from June 13-15. Over the last pair of games, the Bullfrogs have scored an aggregate of four runs.

Despite 15 hits in their last two losses, the Bullfrogs have failed to plate runs. Only once did the Bullfrogs manage to get the lead-off hitter in an inning on base and they left eight runners in scoring position. On June 16th, in a 2-1 loss against the Woodchucks, the Bullfrogs stranded seven runners on base.

A dramatic shuffle to the starting lineup should pay dividends for the Bullfrogs in the long-term. Shortstop Mikey Duarte (UC-Irvine) reached base three times with a double in his first game as a Bullfrog. First baseman, Danny Rosenbaum (Louisville), joins fellow Cardinal, Logan Taylor, as a potential top-of-the-order player.

Defensively, the Bullfrogs have also started to clean up their act. They have not had more than a two-error game since June 12th, including three contests without any errors at all during that stretch.

Kings of the North

Duluth storms into the final game with the Bullfrogs first place in the North Division, a half-game ahead of the Rochester Honkers. A major part of their success, they exhibited yesterday, was their ability to put the ball in play and string together successive hits.

Duluth has a league-low 120 strikeouts at the plate, and they are hitting .261 as a team. A core of temporary players including infielder Jimmy Heck (Minnesota-Duluth), first-baseman Alex Wojciechowski (Minnesota-Duluth), and outfielder Jean Figueroa (West Florida) combined for five hits and four runs against Green Bay in game one.

And the Huskies' starter last night, Ryan Tapani (St. Olaf), looked just like dad (13-year MLB veteran Kevin Tapani) finishing with a season high six innings, two runs, and six hits. He is also a temporary contract signee.

Duluth rolls the dice tonight with their starting hurler, right-hander Kevin Folman (North Dakota State). He lost to Mankato his last start lasting just 2 1/3 innings on five runs on seven hits. In 12 1/3 total innings he sports a 5.83 ERA.

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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Fun at a Green Bay Bullfrogs Game
Fun at a Green Bay Bullfrogs Game
   



Northwoods League Stories from June 18, 2015


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