Wausau Woodchucks
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Heading into Friday night’s game at Athletic Park, Green Bay was the only team with a winning record against the Woodchucks this season. That changed with Wausau’s decisive 6–2 victory over the Rockers.
The Woodchucks have now won 16 consecutive games at home, which is one shy of the franchise record set back in 2012. Wausau is now 25-5 at home and has gone more than a month without losing a game at Athletic Park.
The win also kept Wausau’s lead in the Great Lakes West second-half standings, as the Woodchucks look to beat Madison out for the second and final playoff spot in the division. The Mallards won at home against Fond du Lac Dock Spiders tonight, which means the Woodchucks hold a two-game lead in the standings at the end of the night, with just eight games remaining in the regular season.
Once again, Wausau had to work from behind, as the Rockers scored their only runs of the night in the first. A two-run home run helped Green Bay to a quick 2-0 lead, but that offense was short-lived.
The Rockers would only register one more hit in the game, as Amar Tsengeg (Northwestern) put together his best start of the season. Facing the Rockers for the eighth time in his Northwoods League career, the right-hander went seven innings—his longest start of the summer.
Tsengeg walked no hitters and struck out three, only allowing four Green Bay players to reach base. He faced the minimum number of hitters in his last five innings of work and retired the final ten batters in his start. Wausau has now won five of the last six games when Tsengeg has started.
Wausau’s offense would make Tsenegeg’s effort on the mound worth it. In the third, the Woodchucks got on the board when Dom Rodriguez (Arizona) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Then, in the fourth, Max Soliz Jr. (Kansas/Hawaii) delivered an RBI single to tie the game, 2-2. Soliz now has a league-leading 59 RBIs, which is 11 shy of Wausau’s single-season franchise record set last year by Max Galvin.
In La Crosse, the Wausau Ignite fell to the Steam 8-6 to close out their inagural season.
La Crosse took hold of the lead in the bottom of the second, as four hits and a pair of fielding errors helped bring across three runs. Wausau responded right away in the third, as Brooklyn Hofer (North Dakota) tripled to right and was brought home two batters later from a Molly Fitzgerald (Missouri S&T) single.
The Steam took advantage of another Ignite error in the bottom of the third, taking back the lead, 4-1. Then, in the fifth, Wausau’s bats erupted, scoring five runs on three homers.
First, Mia Johnson (UW-Parkside) launched her ninth long ball of the summer, bringing home Hofer to make it a one-run game. Fitzgerald would tie it on the very next pitch on a deep drive to left, her fifth homer of the season. To cap the huge inning off, Alysa Lowe (Northern State) hit a two-run bomb of her own to left to take the lead for the Ignite.
The offensive explosion from the Ignite prompted a fiery response from the Steam in the sixth, where they scored three on a bases-clearing triple by Jackie Larsen and an additional run on a bases-loaded walk, making it 8-6.
The Woodchucks take on Fond du Lac tonight at home. The Ignite finish their season at 12-30.
The Northwoods League Softball Championship Series will match Madison and Minot. The regular season concludes today with one final game between Mankato and La Crosse.
Other scores from Friday in the Northwoods League- Great Lakes Division:
Lakeshore 10, Wisconsin Rapids 8
Rockford 9, Battle Creek 4
Traverse City 3, Royal Oak 0
Kalamazoo 5, Kenosha 6
Madison 13, Fond du Lac 5
Eau Claire 2, Rochester 1
Waterloo 7, La Crosse 6
Softball
Madison 6, Minot 2 (Game One)
Madison 8, Minot 6 (Game Two- eight innings)
Comments