In the longest game of the season for both the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters and the Kalamazoo Growlers, the Rafters fell heartbreakingly, 4-3 in 11 innings of play. The Rafters left 11 men on base throughout the ballgame, stranding six of them in scoring position, in a one-run defeat.
For the first time since June 8th, a Rafter starting pitcher showed he was human. Calen Graham toed the slab for Wisconsin Rapids and got through two scoreless frames before running into trouble in the third inning. The leadoff hitter, Savi Delgado, took Graham yard to left field to give Kalamazoo the early advantage. Two hitters later, Graham would be taken deep again, this time a solo shot by Korbin Griffin.
The 2-0 Growler lead would hold until the bottom of the fifth, after Ty Johnson led off the inning with a base hit, two hitters later, Brandon Rogers clubbed a two-run homer to left field. His second of the season would tie the game and the 2-2 score would remain until the 11th inning.
However, the score had flirted with change in both halves of the 10th. In the top half of the inning, the Growlers had runners on second and third with nobody out. Julian Tristan, the Rafter pitcher, proceeded to strike out the next three hitters to keep the game tied and see the Rafters come up to bat with a shot to win it in the bottom of the inning. After Wisconsin Rapids had a perfectly executed bunt by Chris Conniff, sending the ghost runner Nolan Sailors to third, Brendan Bobo was given a free pass with one away. The Rafters had a golden opportunity with runners on the corners, but a strikeout and flyout would end their threat.
In the top of the 11th, the Growlers would load up the bases, this time Tristan recorded two outs, one via a sacrifice bunt, the other a strikeout. Kevin Krill from Kalamazoo worked the count full and took a 3-2 fastball away for ball four. Giving KZO the one-run lead. Colin Blanchard went down in a two-strike hole against Tristan, but the right-hander hit Blanchard with his offering.
Chasing two runs in the bottom of the 11th, Wisconsin Rapids saw their ghost runner Garrett Broussard cross on an infield single by Brandon Rogers, cutting the deficit to one. But it was too little, too late. Growlers reliever Jared Berkenpas induced a groundout to end the ballgame with the tying run aboard.
Kalamazoo’s sweeping of Wisconsin Rapids sees the Rafters drop to 9-8 on the season and they remain in third place in the Great Lakes West
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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]
