Dock Spiders Hit Their Way to Victory

FOND DU LAC, WI – The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders scored in six of their final seven innings at the plate to overcome an early 2-0 deficit, and defeated the Wausau Woodchucks, 11-3, on Saturday night at Herr-Baker Field.

The Dock Spiders improved to 31-27 on the year, and 12-12 in the second half. The Woodchucks fell to 29-29, 12-10 in the second half. The win gave the Dock Spiders a two-game lead on the Woodchucks and Lakeshore Chinooks for the second-best overall record in the Great Lakes West Division, meaning if the season ended today, the Dock Spiders would make the playoffs.

Nick Mitchell (Western Illinois), Branden Comia (Illinois), Parker Noland (Vanderbilt), Daylen Reyes (UCLA), and Andrew Sojka (CSUN) all tallied a multi-hit night. Mitchell became the third Dock Spiders in franchise history to reach the 40 RBI mark in a season with a sacrifice fly and a two-RBI double. Reyes set a career-high with four hits and became the second Dock Spiders in as many nights to reach the mark after Sawyer Smith (St. Cloud State) notched four on Friday.

The Woodchucks took an early 2-0 lead in the first when Chase Hug (Evansville) notched his seventh home run of the year to right. The Dock Spiders, however, would battle back and scored one in the second of an error and another in the third off a wild pitch to tie it at two.

In the fourth, the Dock Spiders would use a sacrifice fly from Mitchell and Cole Messina (South Carolina) to take a 4-2 lead, and never looked back. They would tally another in the fifth off a triple from Sojka and three more in the sixth when Nolan Tichy (UMass), Noland, and Reyes combined to make it 8-3 in an eight-batter inning. In the eight, they would tally their final three off an RBI double from Sojka and a two-RBI double from Mitchell to make it 11-3.

Nate Leibold (2-1, UCLA) earned the win with three scoreless innings while Woodchucks starter Nate Madej (1-2, Florida Southern) took the loss. The two teams will meet tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m. in Wausau.