For the City Times

Opening day festivities capped off with 3-0 victory and combined one-hitter

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Pitching proved to be the story of opening night at Witter Field, with dominating performances from both sides controlling the bats.

The Rafters downed the Kingfish, 3-0, to begin their title defense.  Rafter’s starter Jack Eagan threw six strong innings, striking out seven and allowing the lone Kingfish hit on the very first pitch of the game.  The Kenosha offense was quieted by Eagan, along with reliever Cameron Busby who tossed two innings in relief with four strikeouts.

The Rafters opened up the scoring in the 3rd after the first seven Rafter batters were retired by Kenosha starter Colan Treml.  Tyler Krabbe was hit by a fastball and advanced to second on a line drive single to left field by Shaq Robinson.  The first run of the 2017 campaign was scored on a Bryson Stott blooper to centerfield, scoring Krabbe from 2nd and advancing Robinson to third.  With runners on first and third a failed pickoff attempt to first dribbled into right field and resulted in the second run of the game, and the Rafters led after three full innings, 2-0.

Scoring would subside until the bottom of the 8th, where the Rafters tacked on an insurance run on a Mitch Mallek drive to right field, which scored Jake Guenther.  The Rafters carried a 3-0 lead heading to the 9th and handed the ball off to closer, Layne Henderson, who shut the door and brought the Rafters the first win of the 2017 campaign.

Eagan earned the win, with Colan Treml garnering the loss.  Treml finished the day with eight strikeouts and two runs in 6.1 innings of work.  Layne Henderson picked up the save to finish off a strong outing from Rafters pitching.

The Rafters will be back in action tomorrow night against the Kenosha Kingfish, first pitch set for 7:05 p.m.  The world famous ZOOperstars will be performing  presented by Paper City Savings.