By: Pat Mullen

Battle Creek, Mich. – The Bombers (5-9) were right there with the Madison Mallards (10-4) until the final out, but were unable to overcome a costly error in the second, falling 1-0.

Kyle Slack (Toledo) pitched a heck of a game for Battle Creek going six innings, giving up one run (unearned) and having four strikeouts. He leads the team in innings pitched and has an impressive 1.15 ERA.

“Slack dealt tonight. That was a quality, quality outing,” Coach Trivett said post-game. “He was keeping the team that is leading the league in hitting at bay and kept them off balance.”

Slack, though frustrated with a loss for the team, was happy with his performance on the mound.

“I had really good fastball command,” the Toledo Rocket stated. “I was able to pitch off the fastball all game and spot up, and that really helped today.

Coach Trivett added in about Kyle that “truthfully I do not know if he knows how good he is… honestly. He is a guy with so much upside, it’s unbelievable.”

That could be said for many of the Bomber’s ball players, though they could not get it done tonight. As a team, Battle Creek finished with four hits, comparable to the Mallards’ six.

The main difference was the sole error of the game, made by usually sure-handed Brandon Van Horn (Dallas-Baptist).

“We had a couple opportunities (on offense) and we were missing a couple key hits,” the skipper said. “When a game gets in a flow like that, it is going to be the team that makes les mistakes and we made one mistake and you know, it cost us the game.”

The team does not seem to be too worried about the rest of the season, though, as Slack and the rest of the Bombers still have confidence.

“Honestly, I think we could have beat them (Mallards) both games and I believe we are a better team,” Slack said in the dugout after the loss.

“We saw a lot of promising signs the last couple games and we are going to turn things around, it’s going to happen. I know it will.”

 

Game Notes:

(LP) Kyle Slack-  (1-1) 6 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 4 K
Bryan Daniello (UConn)- 1-3, SB

 

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 www.battlecreekbombers.com