River Bandits build on Wood County baseball tradition

WOOD COUNTY – The game of baseball is nearly as old as America itself, and much of that history has deep roots in Wood County.
Since the late 19th century, baseball has been a community pastime here and across the country, from grassroots amateur leagues to minor league affiliates. Wood County’s baseball history is defined by fiercely competitive town rivalries, local industry-sponsored teams, and decades of professional play at historic Witter Field in Wisconsin Rapids.
Formed in the late 1920s, the Wood County League featured local teams from Arpin, Auburndale, Lindsey, Marshfield, Milladore, Rudolph, Seneca, Port Edwards, Pittsville and Wisconsin Rapids.
The Wisconsin State League formed with six clubs in the summer of 1940 and added two teams the following season. Seven of those eight cities stayed in the league for the duration of its 11-season run, including the Wisconsin Rapids White Sox.
The popularity of youth baseball continued to climb throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with the growth of American Legion clubs.

Then came semi-pro/amateur men’s baseball teams like the Marshfield Chaparrals, as well as franchises in Waupaca, Shawano, Bonduel and elsewhere.
Affiliated with the Wisconsin Baseball Association (WBA), the Dairyland League eventually expanded to include clubs in Abbotsford, Wisconsin Rapids and Pittsville.
“We started in 2015,” Pittsville River Bandits co-founder and manager, Justin Rayburn told us recently. “The River Bandits were independent at the time. We weren’t in a league. We were just playing exhibition games.”
The River Bandits joined the Dairyland League in 2020.
“There’s a Dairyland Large [Division] and Small [Division] now. We’re in the Small, but we still play some crossover games with some of the Large teams,” Rayburn added.
The divisions are directly sanctioned under the WBA to standardize regional play and determine qualifiers for the state championship brackets.
“At the end of the season there’s a playoff and they just recently went to an A and a B Division, large and small towns, and those are in various regional locations throughout the state,” Rayburn said.
Rayburn, also the head baseball coach at Pittsville High School, has recently started incorporating some of his high school players into the River Bandits lineup.
“I think it’s been a positive thing for the development of our high school team, because those high school kids are now seeing college kids pitching, they’re seeing a little more velocity and they’re using a wood bat, so I think it’s good for our high school kids to get that experience,” he told us. “Major League Baseball rules, aside from a few variations.”
Like many teams in the Dairyland League, the River Bandits use the local high school’s field as their home diamond.
“I actually enjoy going to all the different fields,” the Pittsville native admitted. “There are some fields that are probably multi-million-dollar complexes, and then there are some fields that are back at a campsite somewhere and they’ve got a backstop and bases, and that’s pretty much it. Growing up in a small town, I always say I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for some of those small-town baseball fields.
“I hear stories of on Sunday morning after church guys that were on the team driving down Main Street and picking up a few guys off the street to go play in a Sunday league game, so I think those stories are kind of cool,” Rayburn added.
Rayburn isn’t going down Main Street to look for players just yet. He’s got a healthy 23-man roster, all of whom are Pittsville natives.
“Typically I’ll give my returning varsity players the option to play with the River Bandits. From there, we’ve got a few kids back from college. And then you have some of the more experienced, older guys playing, like myself and Sam Schwanebeck.”
The River Bandits roster also includes Logan Zickert, who is coming off his freshman season at UW-La Crosse, as well as Ben Friday, a key member of the Pittsville High School team that made a WIAA State Tournament appearance last year.
Other recent or current Panthers include Evan Haley, Dylan Luther, Daryn Luther, Grant Rademan, Liam Parkison, Zach Roberts, Corbin Leigh, Brody Withers, Logan Vollert, and Christopher Zawislan.
The roster also includes veterans like Jordan Rayburn, Chris Downs, Jake Mancl, Sawyer Ladick, and Ben Buettner.
The River Bandits won their season opener on May 31, defeating Medford, 12-2.
Logan Zickert was the winning pitcher. He gave up 1 run and no hits while striking out 12 Medford batters.
The Bandits will host Whittlesey and Interwald June 13 and 14 in Pittsville. Both games begin at 1:30 p.m.