Ashwaubenon, Wis. – The Green Bay Rockers (11-9) loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the tenth inning against the Wausau Woodchucks (16-5). Then, Seth Farni (Campbell) came to the plate and launched a ball into deep right field, which brought home Nick Harms (Case Western Reserve) to win the game 705.
But the lead-up to that moment was a back-and-forth battle between two of the Northwoods League’s hottest teams.
The night started with an early Wausau flurry, as it got out to an early 3-0 lead after Collin Bruggemann (Oklahoma State) hit a solo-homer in the third inning. However, Green Bay instantly responded with a two-RBI single off the bat of Mateo Matthews (Wagner) in the fourth to draw within one.
Wausau still has the best record in the league, though, and showed why with runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh — highlighted by a home run from Hayden Christiansen (Xavier). The issue for the Woodchucks? Green Bay traded those one-run frames for two-spots.
The Rockers put up a pair of scores apiece in the fifth and seventh innings, with a two-run bomb from Mulivai Levu (UCLA) leveling the game at 6-6 in the seventh. Levu now has five long-balls on the summer and is first on Green Bay with his 0.336 batting average.
Following a seesaw affair for the entire game, neither team could score in the eighth and ninth. For the Rockers, Kameron Douglas (Alabama State) was nearly flawless on the mound. The reliever struck out three batters in as many innings, only giving up one hit. Douglas held the Woodchucks in check in the last two innings of regulation, and the top of the tenth as well.
That production from the righty set the stage for Seth Farni to walk the game off in the bottom half of the tenth. With his RBI, Green Bay not only took its first lead of the game, but won the game outright. Additionally, Farni’s sac-fly brought the Rockers within 4.5 games of the Woodchucks for the division lead.
Green Bay has a golden opportunity to continue its playoff-push over the next two days, as it has back-to-back dates with Wausau. The first of those two tilts is at Capital Credit Union Park tomorrow at 3:05 p.m.
Gates open at 2:00 p.m., and Grupo KN ZAVOR will be playing live music from then through the end of the third inning. Fans that show up early also have a chance to receive a Rockers spatula as a part of our Summer Grilling series presented by Bud Light.
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