By Nick Winstead
Battle Creek, Mich. –The first game of the second half of the 2014 season is in the books. The Bombers went toe-to-toe with the South Division victors of the first half, the Lakeshore Chinooks, and did not blink. The Bombsquad had to wait until the 11th to plate their first run, but the wait was well worth it as it was the game winner.
Jacob Waguespack was on the mound for his seventh start this summer. He did not allow a base runner until the third inning and held the Chinooks to just three hits through 8 innings on the mound.
“Henri [Lartigue] called a great game” said Wags following the Bombers victory. “To the righties I was throwing fastball & cutter and to lefties I was going away and throwing in some changeups.”
The Ole Miss battery of Wags and Lartigue combined to let just two Chinooks into scoring position through eight innings. Unfortunately for the Bombers they were up against equally tough pitching. Going into the fifth the Bombers did not have a base runner. They would get two that inning and an infield hit from David Richards IV (Savannah State) broke up the no-hitter in the bottom of the sixth.
The Bombers would have just one more hit before extra innings in the scoreless tie, however.
Lartigue hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the 10th but would be stranded, forcing the game into the 11th.
Spencer Thronton (San Diego State) was hitless going into the 11th, his first hit of the day could not have been better timed or more impactful. He ripped a triple off of the right center wall to lead off the bottom of the 11th. One batter later, with Colby Bortles (Ole Miss) at the plate, Thornton would score on a wild pitch, sending the Bombers home in a walk off.
“After a rough day it’s nice to get rewarded with something that ended up helping the team out to win the game” commented Thornton following the extra innings victory. “That’s why you keep battling every at bat, you never know what’s going to happen—it ended up good in the end.”
The Bombers will go for the sweep of the Chinooks tomorrow, a 7:35 first pitch at C.O. Brown.
Game Notes:
Jacob Waguespack: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K.
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”
