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Northwoods Wisconsin Rapids Rafters

Rafters Beat Rain and Bombers

June 16, 2012 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Wisconsin Rapids Rafters News Release


Wisconsin Rapids, WI - Franchise history once again. In a drizzle that turned to a steady rain by the final out, the Rafters claimed victory for the fourth straight game, a franchise first. This time, in their first meeting of the season, the Bombers of Battle Creek were the victims. The Rafters broke a 6-6 tie in the ninth to win it 7-6 in front of 1,186 at Witter Field.

For the first time in the four game stretch, the Rafters scored first in the game, plating two in the third on RBIs by Pat Kelly (FR, Univ. of Nebraska) and Josh Cyr (JR, Univ. of North Alabama).

Kyle Wormington (JR, Valparaiso Univ.) put forth his best effort of the year. The Norman, OK native went seven-plus innings, tying the longest Rafters start of 2012, scattering ten hits and a pair of walks. He allowed only two runs while he was pitching, although back-to-back singles he gave up in the seventh scored off the bullpen to his ledger. All-in-all the line wasn't beautiful, giving up four runs, all earned, and ten hits, but he did enough to keep the Rafters in it and induced a ton of weakly hit balls.

After the Bombers tied it at 2-2 in the fifth, the Rafters scored in the next four innings, getting two in the fifth and one in each of the next three. The final one came after the Bombers scored four in the eighth to tie it at 6-6. Austin Neary (FR, Western Carolina Univ.) lead off the eighth getting hit by a pitch. Two batters later, Brandon Hohl (JR, Univ. of Illinois), who had his first two errors of the year in the Bombers' four run eighth, smacked a ball that nearly got out. The ball hit off the wall to score Neary for the game-winning run.

As the rain picked up, Ronnie Muck (SO, Univ. of Illinois) closed the door on the Bombers. He got the final five outs of the ballgame to pick up his first win. The final out of the game was the rare batter's interference ruled on Kyle Figgins on the steal attempt by Daniel Rockett. The loss went to Brian Heldman (1-2).

The Rafters (9-9) win was their fourth straight, third straight at home. The historic winning streak comes at the heels of the season's worst losing streaksix games.

When asked how his team was able to turn it around so dramatically, Rafters manager Jake Martin said, "we founds way to win. The guys battled. We focused on the little things. Pitchers

have limited the walks, and as a team, we refocused. This team worked on being mentally tough."

Battle Creek (9-9) dropped to just 3-6 away from home and play at Witter Field against the Rafters once again on Sunday. Father's Day at Witter Field will be the site of Bull's Eye Credit Union Play Catch with Dad Day for the second day game of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 pm.

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Northwoods League Stories from June 16, 2012


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