Wisconsin Rapids, WI— It was a grueling loss for the Rafters as they suffered a 26-4 defeat against the Mallards. Madison just dominated from start to finish and were out hit 24-8.
Madison started right from the jump in the top of the 1st as Hamilton had a single followed by an error from Bobo and Owen Jackson walked. Isiah Jackson was disciplined at the plate and saw the 4th ball to bring in Hamilton. Jake Goolsby then drilled a ball into right field to send in both the Jacksons. Nick Williams got home on a passed ball and it was already 4-0 in the 1st.
The top of the second came around and Ryan Sprock singled to right field to score Tucker to put it at a 5-0 lead. The Rafters brought back some momentum in the bottom half of the inning as the leader in home runs, Brendan Bobo, belted a ball into left field for a solo home run. The very batter, Jack Gurevitch, grabbed a solo shot of his own by hitting a low fly ball that kept carrying into deep left center field. The Rats cut it to 5-2, but that was closest it was all game.
The Mallards let the bats fly once again as 3 hits in 4 batters brought the bases juiced. Jackson Tucker had a big day as he doubled into deep right field to send Goolsby and Fisher across the plate. Canyon Brown and Tucker then scored off of an error from the Rafter baseman off a hard grounded ball bounced into his chest and got away from him. Madison just kept the hit train going in 4th as they had their biggest inning yet. Cal Fisher smoked a 2 run homer to left field and that was just the start of it. Another run scored off an error from the Rafter 2nd baseman. Tucker got home on a passed ball and it just kept getting worse. 3 more runs scored off a walk and a double to right field from Sprock. The Rafters gave up 8 more runs and were down 17-2. It was only the top of the 4th.
In the 5th inning, the Rafters made some defensive changes to bring guys in and move some players into different positions. That did not slow down Madison unfortunately. 2 straight walks brought up Ryan Sprock. He saw the first pitch and belted a ball into deep center field to grab a 3 run home run. Another run scored on a double from Fisher to total another 4 run inning.
The bad just completely turned to worse for the Rafter as Madison kept on scoring. They grabbed 2 more runs in the 6th off a 2 run home run from the Sun Prairie native, Davis Hamilton. Rafter center fielder, Ty Johnson, recorded his first home run of the season as he drove a ball into right field. The Mallards just kept on rolling in the top of the 7th on an RBI single from Brown to bring Williams home. Then Fisher and Brown both got home on walks.
At least the Rafters got the last run of the night and it was the 4th solo home run of the night. This time it was the Coastal Carolina outfielder, Anthony Galason. He also grabbed his first home run of the year as it was a 1-1 fastball right down the plate and he blitzed it into left field.
It was the worst night of the year for the Rafters as their pitching was really off. Other than the abundance of runs and hits, their pitching staff gave up 13 walks as well. The good thing about this game was it was only one loss.
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Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
