Former
Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) and Plover Black Sox American
Legion baseball standout Cal Giese won the Summer Collegiate World Series with
the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters of the Northwoods League.

A
redshirt freshman pitcher on the NCAA Division II St. Cloud State (Minn.)
baseball team last spring, Giese played for the Rafters this summer, who swept
the best-of-three series against the Eau Claire Express Thursday and Friday,
Aug. 18 and 19, to claim the Rafters’ first Northwoods League Title.

“It
was a great experience for me to be able to live at home again and play with
the Rafters,” said Giese. “We did something the team has never done before,
with winning a World Series, and that was a really cool experience, playing in
front of that many fans.”

In
high school, Giese helped SPASH make three consecutive trips to the WIAA Division
1 State Tournament, including a State Runner-up finish in 2013, as he was a Third
Team All-State pitcher as a junior and a Second Team All-State selection as a
senior in 2014, as well as the Most Valuable Player of the Wisconsin Baseball
Coaches Association All-Star Game.

He
also helped lead the Plover Black Sox to three straight AAA Wisconsin Legion
State Championship Game appearances, as they won the 2014 State Title, and made
three trips in a row to the National Regionals.

As
a redshirt freshman pitcher at St. Cloud State last spring, the left-hander
went 7-2 with a 4.03 ERA, with 61 strikeouts in 44 and 2/3 innings, while the
team advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament and finished 43-10 overall.

“My
freshman year went pretty well,” said Giese. “Not a good ERA compared to what I
would like to have, but getting out on the mound and throwing 45 innings and
going 7-2 and being on a team that’s competitive and always looking to get to
the World Series was a lot of fun.

“Both
teams I played for, for St. Cloud and the Rafters, were just great groups of
guys,” he said. “It just felt like a family.”

This
summer he was selected to play for Wisconsin Rapids in the Northwoods League, a
wooden-bat summer league that features some of the top college baseball players
from throughout the country.

“It
was a lot of fun to meet a bunch of new people from all over the United
States,” said Giese. “A lot of high-end Division 1 baseball players, and just
really, really great guys.

“Everyone
on the team I feel like I connected with, and it was a lot of fun to make those
friends,” he said. “Playing every single day, some people might think it gets
old, but I love that. I love being at the field every day.”

Giese
got off to a strong start, as he was 2-2 with a 2.25 ERA in six appearances
through July 1, before a pair of late-season starts inflated his numbers, as he
finished 3-3 with a 5.35 ERA in 40 and 1/3 innings and 12 games pitched,
including seven starts.

“It
was a great experience for me to play there,” said Giese. “It’s a lot more
difficult in the Northwoods; people hit mistakes.

“If
you leave the ball up above the knees, it tends to get hit, and you can’t walk
people,” he said. “It’s challenging, I had my ups and downs, but I just took it
more of as a learning experience, and I was happy for that.”

The
Rafters went 49-23 during the regular season to advance to the playoffs, where
they opened with a 19-3 win over the Lakeshore Chinooks in their first playoff
game in franchise history Monday, Aug. 15, and then beat the Battle Creek
Bombers (Mich.) 7-3 Tuesday, Aug. 16, to advance to the best-of-three Summer
Collegiate World Series.

There,
Giese and Wisconsin Rapids faced the Eau Claire Express, which featured his
former SPASH and Plover teammate in NCAA Division 1 University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee pitcher Austin Schulfer.

“It
was awesome to play the Express, and it was a really cool experience to see him
playing for them,” said Giese. “He had a great summer with them, and to see
even Daulton Varsho from Marshfield, he was playing for them, and he had a
spectacular season also.

“It
was just cool to play against that close of friends, and people that you used
to be teammates with,” he said.

In
the first game of the World Series in Wisconsin Rapids Thursday, the Rafters
trailed 4-3 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, when catcher Rob
Calabrese of the NCAA Division 1 University of Illinois-Chicago hit a walk-off,
two-run home run on the first pitch he saw to give the Rafters a 5-4 victory.

In
Game 2 in Eau Claire Friday, Wisconsin Rapids used a six-run sixth inning to
jump out to a 9-2 lead, and rolled to an 11-4 win to claim its first Summer
Collegiate World Series Title in franchise history.

“The
walk-off on Thursday was unbelievable,” said Giese. “They were thinking they
had it won, and then our catcher Rob Calabrese had an unbelievable hit in the
ninth, and we ended up getting that first game.

“And
then I think we carried that momentum into their place,” he said. “It was
pretty even to start, but that sixth inning, we jumped out to six runs, and
that kind of put them down.

“And
at that point we were just waiting to get the final out in the ninth,” he said.
“And once that happened, the dogpile and all of that stuff, and hearing the
fans yell, it was just an unbelievable experience.”

After
the win, the Rafters returned home to Witter Field Saturday, Aug. 20, where
they were welcomed home by fans with a victory celebration.

“That
was awesome,” said Giese. “The Rapids fans are the best in the Northwoods, they
show the most respect, and they stay for the entire game.

“There
were some fields you’d go to and the fans would leave if their team was down,
but ours stuck with us the entire game,” he said. “They were always extremely
supportive, and that was great.”

Giese
was back at St. Cloud State for the new school year’s first day of classes
Monday, Aug. 22, while fall practice began for the baseball team Wednesday,
Aug. 24, as he hopes to use his experience from this summer going forward.

“I
learned a lot from the pitching coach (at Rapids),” said Giese. “I’m looking to
take some of the tools, and I’m hoping to get stronger in the weight room and
develop, and hopefully I can have a successful fall here and then to carry that
into the spring.

“It’s
going to be a new team here in St. Cloud, but we’re excited,” he said. “And
we’re hoping we still are on the right track and can get to that World Series.”