GREEN BAY — A few weeks ago, the (22-11) Green Bay Rockers were sitting under .500 and struggling. Since then, they’ve come together and put together quite a run. After defeating the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders on Monday night, they have now won eight in a row, and this past weekend they booked a trip to the playoffs by winning their division in the first half.
“The wins started piling up and then guys started to believe that we weren’t going to lose, so that’s kind of what it’s been,” said Rockers manager Josh Merrill.
Merrill attributes his team’s success in the first half of the season to his players being yard rats, always wanting to be on the field and around each other.
“I said it in the beginning meeting at the start of the summer, like, ‘Hey, these guys are going to be some of your best friends; let’s embrace it.’ Our guys have embraced it,” Merrill said.
Hear what the Rockers had to say about their impressive win steak:
“Spending every day with these guys has been amazing. I’m excited for the future – to win the whole thing,” said shortstop Parker Martin.
The Rockers’ success has a lot to do with their pitching; they have the third-best ERA (4.33) in the Northwoods League. Their pitcher, Maddox Long, is statistically the best pitcher in the entire NWL with a 0.93 ERA. However, Long and most of their pitching staff won’t be around for the second half of the season, but Merrill sees the positives in that.
“Having a fresh set of arms coming in is going to be great,” the Rockers manager said. “I think the guys that we have are going to continue the culture of having fun and keeping things light, and these new guys are going to come in fresh and hungry.”
They are returning most of their position players and as for how his team plans to avoid complacency in the second half of the season before the playoffs:
“Their college coaches are still looking at their stats," said Merrill. "Some of these guys are in the portal looking for a new school. None of these teams care about the first-half standings; they care about what their guys are doing.”
The players say they welcome the challenge that comes with winning the division in the first half of the season.
“A lot of people are coming for us; we’ve got a target on our back. They want to beat Green Bay. I think that’s a lot of fun and keeps it interesting,” said Rockers utility player Aidan Kuni.
