KENOSHA, Wis. – A pair of strong pitching performances and a dose of timely hitting spurred the Wausau Woodchucks (26-24) to an 8-2 victory over the Kenosha Kingfish Friday night.
Cade Denton (Oral Roberts) started for Wausau, working four innings of one-run ball. The righty struck out three and allowed just two hits in what was likely both his longest and final appearance of the summer.
The Chucks grabbed an early lead thanks to an RBI single by Zach Levenson (Miami) in the top of the first. He drove in Ben Abernathy (UAB) who recorded three hits from the leadoff spot in the victory.
In the second inning, Maurice Gomez (Keiser) reached on an error and stole third base. Collin Reuter (BYU) plated him via groundout to put the Woodchucks back on top, 2-1.
An RBI triple by Chase Hug (Evansville) towered over the head of Kenosha’s center fielder and brought Levenson in to score all the way from first. He scored on a wild pitch to grow the Woodchuck lead to 4-1.
After Aaron Evers (Arkansas State) tossed a scoreless fifth, third-year Woodchuck Nick Marshall (West Texas A&M) dominated the Kingfish over the next three frames.
He struck out five batters and allowed just one unearned run, garnering his team-best fourth win of season.
Ryan Sepede (BYU) delivered the knockout punch in the top of the ninth. With the bases loaded, he worked an extended at-bat before roping a double into the right-center field gap. It was one of two doubles in the game for Sepede, who now leads all active Woodchucks in RBI with 27 in total.
Carter Heninger (San Jose State) shut the door in the ninth, tossing his 24th scoreless inning of the summer and keeping his 0.00 ERA intact.
With the win, the Woodchucks are now alone in second place in the second-half standings at 9-5.
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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]
