The Bombers reached the seemingly unreachable star on Friday night, slaughtering the Mankato Moondogs 13-0 in front of a packed house a C.O. Brown Stadium, completing the 2011 Northwoods League season on an 11-game winning streak, and securing the first-ever championship in the five-year history of the franchise.

Battle Creek blew the game open in the first, erupting for six runs on four hits, forcing Mankato starter Matt Mazzoni out of the game after recording just one out. The Bombers pulled ahead with singular runs in the third and fourth, and put the dagger in the Dogs’ heart in the sixth with a four-run rally before one final burn in the seventh. Every single Bomber reached base. Danny Rockett hit his third homerun of the two game series, and Ryne Otis knocked a solo shot with a still-broken thumb.

Matt Dearden re-joined the Bombers after three weeks off for surgery and threw arguably his best start of the season: five scoreless innings while allowing just four baserunners. Caleb Vincent tossed near-perfect relief in two innings, and Kristian Calibuso hurled the final frame before the team rushed and dogpiled on the field.

Donnie Scott, in his first year coaching at the college level, turned the Bombers around after an awful 20-50 campaign in 2010 with the help of new pitching coach Brandon Higelin and second-year hitting coach Thad Frame.