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Published On: July 13th, 2014

By Nick Winstead

Battle Creek, Mich.—The Battle Creek Bombers returned to C.O. Brown after an eight day road trip during which they played nine games going 2-7. The Bombers had all of the comforts of home working for them as they demolished the Wisconsin Woodchucks 18-6.

Andrew Mitchell (LSU) got his fourth start of the year for the Bomb Squad, he had a very solid day on the hill—striking out seven while walking just two. The Woodchucks jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on the Bombers in the top of the first by stringing together three solid two-out hits.

The Bombers responded in a big way, however. Battle Creek scored seven runs in the bottom of the first through a combination of solid at-bats, good base-running, and some Woodchucks’ mistakes. The Bombers knocked the Wisconsin starter, Zach Barr, out of the game before the inning was over. Seth Davis, a typical starter for the Woodchucks, was forced into action early and didn’t fare much better.

Justin Stawychny (Louisiana-Monroe) had a great day at the plate, going 3-3 with 4 RBIs and coming across the plate twice himself.

“I just was staying relaxed and letting the ball get deep” commented Stawychny after the blowout win. The Bombers right fielder saw the ball well today and hammered it to the deepest part of the park, dead center, several times. The first turned into an RBI ground-rule-double, the second and third were sacrifice flies. He also hit a stand-up RBI double to left-center in the 8th. His day at the plate earned him Player of the Night honors from the Northwoods League.

Stawychny did not do it all himself, though. Every Bombers starter had at least two hits and scored at least one time. The Bombers kept piling on the runs until the score was 18-6 when it was all said and done.

It wasn’t just hitting that got the job done for the Bombers, though. Strong defense and solid pitching kept the Woodchucks out of the game. Matt Rhodes (Hardin-Simmons) came in to take over for Andrew Mitchell in the 5th and threw four innings of one-hit baseball, allowing his defense to make play after play.

“Today it came together out on the mound” Rhodes said of the recent work he had put in with pitching coach and co-manager Bill Murphy.

“It’s awesome when your defense can make great plays behind you. Obviously I used them with a ton of fly-outs on the night.”

Manager Rob Robinson was happy for his squad following the convincing win over the visiting Woodchucks.

“This is what we’ve been talking about on the road trip what we need to piece together: Quality pitching, throwing strikes, eliminating walks; good hitting, we were really attacking pitches.”

 The team looked solid in every facet of the game and the scoreboard reflected as much as the Bombers took what was theirs—a well-deserved victory.

The Bombers will look to keep it rolling against the Woodchucks tomorrow, 5:05 first pitch.

Game Notes:

WP: Matt Rhodes (2-1) 4.0 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 1K.

Justin Stawychny: 3-3, 2 R, 4 RBI, GRD, 2 Sac-Flies.

Connor Panas: 3-4, 4 RBI, 3 R.

Brandon Van Horn: 3-6, 2 R.

 

The Battle Creek Bombers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 115 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (DET) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). For more information, visit http://www.battlecreekbombers.com