Watkins Slam, Telfer Gem Highlight Win
ASHWAUBENON, WI – The Wisconsin Woodchucks (33-21) continued their dominance against the Green Bay Booyah (23-31) with a 6-2 win at Capital Credit Union Park Tuesday.
A fifth-inning grand slam from shortstop Brock Watkins would prove decisive in a game where Pepperdine southpaws Shane Telfer and Tyler Murrah held the Booyah to two hits.
The Woodchucks took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Clayton Mehlbauer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The score held until the top of the fifth. Harrison Long led off with a base-on-balls before Kevin Kilpatrick singled and Jacob Burke drew a walk to load the bases for Watkins.
The opposite-field grand slam was Watkins’ first homer as a Woodchuck and the team’s third bases-clearing blast of the series.
Long drove in Noah Fitzgerald with an RBI single one inning later to pad the lead to 6-0.
In his first start but team-high 16th appearance of the season, Telfer did not allow a hit until the bottom of the sixth inning. He struck out a season-high nine batters, walking two and allowing two runs. Telfer earned his fourth win, improving his record to 4-1 with four saves.
Murrah needed just 30 pitches to retire nine of ten batters in a three-inning save – his first of the season. He induced eight ground-ball outs and tallied a strikeout. Through 19-plus innings this season, Murrah’s ERA sits at a team-low 1.37.
The two hits allowed by Woodchuck pitchers were the fewest of the season thus far. The Woodchucks are now 9-0 against the Booyah with a plus-38 run differential.
Wisconsin remains in second place in both the second half (12-7, 0.5 games behind Fond du Lac) and overall standings (33-21, 1 game behind Fond du Lac.)
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The Wisconsin Woodchucks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 27-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.woodchucks.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Woodchucks as your favorite team.
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]
