By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
ASHWAUBENON – Before a nice crowd, the Green Bay Rockers fell to the Madison Mallards July 1 at Capital Credit Union Park in Ashwaubenon, 6-3.
The Northwoods League (NWL) loss dropped the Rockers to 10-23 overall.
The Mallards hit a pair of solo home runs in each of the first two innings.
With Madison leading 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning, the road team scored three runs to make it 5-0.
Green Bay scored a single run in the fifth inning on a fielder’s choice groundout before the Mallards surged ahead 6-1 in the next inning on another solo home run.
“That’s simply our ballpark,” Rockers Manager Chris Krepline said. When the right-field porch is only 260 feet, that’s going to happen. We hit a couple, too. A couple of those are normal routine fly balls in other parks. That’s the reason you stack your lineup with lefties or look for a pitch up and away.”
Shane Gipson and Owen Jackson each blasted solo home runs for the Rockers in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, to close the scoring.
Green Bay collected only six hits, with all of them coming from three players – Jackson, Gipson and Griffin Stevens.
Chris Sleeper took the loss on the mound for the Rockers, going 3 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on only two hits while walking five and striking out three.
“Sleeper beat Wisconsin Rapids in his last start, but he struggled with his off-speed pitches tonight,” Krepline said. “I asked him in the dugout how it was going, and he said, ‘I don’t have a feel for it.’ Typically, he’s good for us.”
Krepline said his squad left too many runners on base.
“We left three or four in scoring position, and that’s a little too much,” he said. “Overall, it was a competitive game.”
Krepline said he classifies a competitive game as one that is within three runs or less.
“That makes 17 or 18 (completive games) for the season now,” he said. “That’s a walk and a swing of the bat, pretty much – especially at our ballpark. You’re right back in the game. We had our chances – we were down by three from the seventh inning on. We couldn’t get the key hit.”
The teams will finish up the two-game series Saturday, July 2, at Capital Credit Union Park, with game time slated for 6:35 p.m.
Clean slate
Beginning with the club’s July 6 road game in Madison, the second half of the NWL season will officially begin.
The winner of each half of the season makes the playoffs, so Krepline said there’s lots of motivation to turn it around.
“The guys are looking forward to the second half,” Krepline said. “We are trending up and in competitive games. Our starting pitching has been consistent but has hit a rough patch in the last week.”
Trending up
Krepline said his team has improved greatly from the first two weeks of the season.
“Our first-pitch strike percentage (from our pitchers) has gone up 20% and our batting average has improved 30 points. The Boston Red Sox started the season 10-20 and flipped it around and got back to .500 – we’re not far off.”
Krepline said other teams in the NWL are trending down.
“Other teams are losing a bunch of guys and losing arms,” he said. “We have the second-highest retainment rate in the league. Our guys want to be here and are sticking around.”