For the City Times

Wisconsin Rapids scored five unanswered, but Lakeshore walks off on single

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – With a tie score heading to the bottom of the ninth, Lakeshore (20-19) walked off against Wisconsin Rapids (30-10) on Saturday from Kapco Park in an 8-7 victory.

For the third straight game, Rapids scored a run in the first inning. Bryson Stott led off with a walk, and Dustin Woodcock singled to advance Stott to third. On a double steal, Stott scored from third to give the Rafters a 1-0 lead.

Lakeshore wasted no time in tying things up in the first inning. Matthew Mika led off with a walk, stole second, and advanced on a groundout to third before scoring on a passed ball to even the game 1-1 after one.

In the second, Caleb Dean of Lakeshore doubled with two outs, and scored on a single from Jack Dunn to put the Chinooks on top 2-1 after two.

Down by a run, Rapids got a jolt from Stott, who led off the third with a double to left center. Jacson McGowan grounded out up the middle to score Stott, tying the game at two.

A four-run fifth inning propelled the Chinooks in front, with 10 batters coming to the plate. The Rafters walked five batters in the inning and gave up three hits as Lakeshore took a 6-2 lead after five.

Nick Gatewood smacked a solo home-run for Lakeshore in the sixth inning to extend the lead 7-2 for the Chinooks.

Rapids tagged on two runs in the seventh when Woodcock mashed a 1-0 fastball over the right field wall to pull the Rafters within 7-4.

Not going down easily, Christian Jones drilled a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to tie the game. Woodcock led off with a double and McGowan walked to give Jones the chance to tie the game. But in the bottom of the inning, the Chinooks put a man on for Dunn. Dunn roped a two-out hit to center to walk-off the game and beat Rapids 8-7. Mason McReaken (1-1) is charged with the loss as Joe Heineman (2-0) picks up the win.  

Wisconsin Rapids heads to Kenosha for the first time this season. The Rafters are 2-0 against the Kingfish this season, with both wins coming in the opening series of the season at Witter Field. Coverage of Sunday’s game starts at 3:50 p.m. for a 4:05 p.m. first pitch in Kenosha on AM 1320 WFHR and WFHR.com, the Rafters Radio Network.