For the Rapids City Times

WISCONSIN RAPIDS — The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters move to 3-1 on the season and sport a three-game win streak after the June 1 contest against the Wisconsin Woodchuck,s who are now 1-3.

The Rafters started off hot in the home opener. After a three-up-three-down inning,the Rafters responded heavily with four hits in a row. Steven Rivas (Long Beach State) started off the first with a single, followed by a single from Payton Robertson (Lamar). Jack-Thomas Wold (UNLV) bombed a double to left center to bring Rivas home putting the Rafters up 1-0. Batting cleanup, Caeden Harris (St. Cloud State) placed a single on the left side scoring Robertson. Two batters and one out later Bret Fehr (SIU Edwardsville) had a sacrifice fly to deep right field scoring Harris to give the Rafters an early and commanding 3-0 lead.

The score remained unchanged until the fifth inning when the Woodchucks put up two runs. The Rafters still led the game 3-2.

Wisconsin Rapids puts up another run in the sixth to answer the Woodchucks. With two outs, Bret Fehr advanced on an error and Jake Dunham (Northern Illinois) stretched a double to score Fehr making the score 4-2. The cranberry and gold also add two runs in the seventh, set up by a single from Robertson and an error. Those two came home when Jake Dunham collected two RBIs with a double to right field. This put the Rafters up 6-2.

Jake Dunham went 1-3 today with an RBI and a double to add to his stats. Steven Rivas went 2-5, with one run and one double.

In his debut for the Rafters, Ryan Byrd (SIU Edwardsville) pitched 6.0 innings pitching a no hitter through four innings. He gave up two unearned runs and struck out seven. Coming in for relief was Kyle Hodgson (Framingham State), the lefty pitched one inning tonight and struck out two. To finish the game, Johnathan Hernandez (Chapman) pitched 2.0 innings giving up one hit and striking out two.