For Wausau Pilot & Review
FOND DU LAC – In nearly seven hours of high-scoring baseball at Herr-Baker Field on Sunday afternoon, the Wausau Woodchucks (27-25) and Fond du Lac Dock Spiders (27-24) traded victories in a Northwoods League doubleheader.
Despite both games lasting just seven innings, the runs were plentiful in the doubleheader. The Dock Spiders claimed the opening game by a score of 12-4, but the Woodchucks stormed back to take game two with a 19-6 victory.
The doubleheader was scheduled after Saturday’s game was postponed by rain.
In the top of the first inning of the opening game, Chase Hug (Evansville) put the Chucks in front by driving in Ben Abernathy (UAB) on a base hit.
The Woodchucks built a 4-1 lead, but the Dock Spiders scored the game’s final 11 runs. They scored seven in the fourth inning after starter Aidan Major (West Virginia) allowed three runs over the game’s first three frames. Major struck out six but walked three in the no-decision.
Fond du Lac hit two homers in the 12-4 win. Tyler Denu (Evansville) was charged with the loss.
The Chucks grabbed the early lead in Game 2 thanks to a bases-loaded walk drawn by Maurice Gomez (Keiser), allowing Hug to score one of his four runs in the game. Zach Kluvers (North Dakota State) recorded his first hit and first run as a Woodchuck in the third inning.
Fond du Lac led 3-2 before the Woodchucks rallied for six runs in the fourth. Hug homered to right field, driving in three runs on his third blast of the summer. Nik Levensteins (North Georgia) added a two-RBI double and scored on one of Gomez’s three hits in the game.
Ryan Sepede (BYU) padded the lead with a two-run double in the fifth. He now leads the team with 29 runs batted in during his 32 games this summer.
In the top of the seventh, the Woodchucks scored nine runs, tallying seven hits in the frame. After Abernathy grounded out to start the inning, the next 10 batters all reached base, including a pinch-hit RBI single by Bradley Comer (UW-Stevens Point). In total, the Woodchucks scored 17 unanswered runs in the 19-6 victory.
Matt Milner (Southwestern Oklahoma State) earned the win, retiring nine of the 11 batters he faced in a scoreless relief outing. Nate Madej (Florida Southern) allowed three runs over two-plus innings in his start, and Aidan Corn (Pasco-Hernando State) threw a scoreless inning as well.
The Woodchucks’ first home game after the All-Star Break is Monday. The team will be hosting its 9th Annual Eat-A-Plooza. Gates open at 5:35 p.m. and first pitch is 6:35 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at woodchucks.com or by calling 715-845-5055.
