Milton Crescents improve to 2-0 on young Rock River League season

The Milton Crescents upped their record in the Rock River League to 2-0 Sunday in Hustisford with an impressive 11-5 win over the Astros.

With the win, the Crescents are off to the fast start that eluded the team in last year’s run to the league’s Grand Championship series. It wasn’t until the ninth week of the season a year ago that the Crescents collected their second win.

On Sunday, the Crescents received production up and down the lineup to flog one of the traditionally talented RRL North Division teams. The Crescent offense pounded 12 hits and drew 11 walks to put up their 11 runs.

“Husty’s always one of the top teams in the North, and we were a bit surprised at their pitching depth,” Milton general manager Doug Welch said. “They had a Friday game against Kewaskum, so they burned a guy there. But their first two throwers really had a tough time finding the strike zone. Credit our guys for being patient and not swinging out of the zone. That patience really paid off as we had guys all over the bases all day.”

Crescent leadoff hitter Jake Raisbeck was one of the guys on base all day, finishing with three hits, three walks and three runs scored. Jack Ryan had two hits, including an RBI double, and drove in three runs. Carter Schneider, Gavyn Novak and Sam O’Leary each chipped in two hits.

The Crescents began the game by loading the bases with no outs in the top of the first on two walks and a single. But it took a two-out single by Dave Sagitis to plate the Crescents’ first two runs. O’Leary added an RBI single to score Schneider and give Milton a 3-0 lead.

After Ryan, the Crescents starter, was touched for a two-run homer in the bottom of the first, the Crescents went to work with four runs in the second. Ryan had an RBI double and Novak drove in two with a single to give Milton a 7-2 lead.

Ryan left the mound with two out in the fourth after surrendering three runs to make it a 7-5 contest. Justin Schnell tossed 2 1/3 innings of scoreless ball to pick up the win. The Crescents added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings and two more in the seventh to put the game away.

“We did what we had to do to take advantage of the opportunities that came our way,” Welch said. “We got some timely hits and we hit three sacrifice fly balls. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but that’s a little thing that is difficult to execute.

“We talked before the season about the importance of getting off to a fast start this year,” Welch said. “Last year we started 1-7 and it took an eight-game win streak to get us into the playoffs. A slow start like that really puts you behind the eight-ball come playoff time and makes your road a lot longer with no home games. We need to keep this up and keep stacking wins to make that end-of-the-year path a lot smoother.”

The Crescents host their home opener at 1 p.m. Sunday at Schilberg Park against Farmington. It’s the first of a five-game homestand that will include a Friday night matchup against Clyman on May 31, followed by a Sunday game against Johnson Creek on June 2.