By Max Gun, Radio Broadcaster 

Battle Creek, Mich.– The Battle Creek Bombers’ had their hitting shoes on tonight against Madison, beating the Mallards 8-0 to earn a series split.

The Bombers got their first runs in the second inning. Dre Gleason (Austin Peay) and Spencer Hemphill (Louisiana-Monroe) led off the inning with a walk and a hit by pitch, respectively. Then Matt Simmons (Gardner-Webb) laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners to second and third base. That set up Trek Stemp (Washington State), who promptly delivered a single up the middle to score both Gleason and Hemphill to make it 2-0 Bombers.

The Bombers got two more runs in the third inning when Cayce Bredlau (Austin Peay) and Tyler Walsh (Belmont) led off with singles and advanced to second and third base on a fielders choice. Simmons plated them both with a single to right field, extending the Bombers lead to 4-0.

In the fourth, Dan Swain (Siena) singled to score Tim McKeithan (Brown) to make the score 5-0 in favor of Battle Creek.

That’s when Madison’s starter Andrew Beckwith (Coastal Carolina) departed the scene. Beckwith was making his first start of the year after appearing in three games out of the bullpen for the Mallards. He lasted just 3.2 innings, allowing eight hits and five earned runs. He took the loss, giving him an 0-1 record.

The Bombers got their final three runs of the game on one swing of the bat in the seventh inning. With the bases loaded, Bredlau hit a bases clearing triple with two out, on a ball that one-hopped off the wall in dead center field. That made the Bombers lead 8-0, and that completed the game’s scoring.

Lane Bruner (Washington State) started for Battle Creek, and he lasted 4.1 innings and allowed just two hits. It was his best start of the season, as he didn’t allow a run and struck out six, but the walks were an issue once again. Bruner walked five, which drove up his pitch count and prevented him from going the necessary five innings to qualify for the win.

Edgar Sanchez (Cedar Valley College) came on in relief of Bruner and pitched the rest of the way. Sanchez went 4.2 innings, allowing just two hits and no runs while striking out three. Sanchez was never in trouble until the ninth inning, when the Mallards loaded the bases with two hits and a walk, but Sanchez was able to get out of it unscathed. He earned the win, giving him a 2-1 record this season.

The Bombers, now 9-12 through the seasons first 21 games, will now travel to La Crosse and Wisconsin Rapids to start a four-game road trip. The La Crosse Loggers are up first Wednesday night.

First pitch on Wednesday in La Crosse is at 8:05 p.m. Eastern Time.

The Battle Creek Bombers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd 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 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (BOS) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). For more information, visit www.battlecreekbombers.com.

(Story photo courtesy of Battle Creek Photography and Design – Levi Green)