By: Ari Ross, Broadcaster

The Battle Creek Bombers pitched and hit their way to a 8-2 victory over the Kenosha Kingfish Friday night, behind a quality start from Malcolm Grady and big performances at the plate from Dean Miller and Nick Podkul.

The Kingfish got on the board in the top of the first, as after Blake Reese singled and stole second, Marty Bechina knocked him home with a single of his own, giving Kenosha a 1-0 lead.

But the Bombers would tie things up in the bottom of the second as back-to-back singles from Nick Podkul and Nick Poirier put runners at the corners for Daniel Patzlaff, who tied the game up with a sacrifice fly.

Reese and Bechina would once again give the Kingfish the lead in the top of the third as Reese led off the inning against Grady with a double, stole third and scored on Bechina's single, but that would be all the Kingfish would get the rest of the game.

Battle Creek tied things up and took the lead in the bottom of the inning with a two-out rally, starting with a solo shot by Miller. Jacob Blunt, Cody Young and Nick Podkul followed Miller's solo homer with back-to-back-to-back singles to give the Bombers a 3-2 lead before Poirier reached on an error to extend the lead to 4-2.

After a shutdown inning from Grady, the Bombers tacked on three more, as Miller continued his monster day at the plate. With runners on first and second and one out, Miller tripled to deep right center, scoring Daniel Jipping and Ryan Dorow and extending Battle Creek's lead to 6-2.

Young would knock in Miller from third on a sacrifice fly, as the Bombers led 7-2 heading to the fifth. Miller finished the game for the Bombers 2 for 4 with a home run, triple, two runs scored and three runs batted in.

It was truly a team effort at the plate, as every single Bomber had a base hit while Miller, Podkul, Patzlaff, Poirier and Blunt each had two.

Grady would pitch two more scoreless innings, as the Bombers' starter finished his fifth start of the season, throwing 6.0 innings for the Bombers, allowing two runs on six hits, while striking out a season high four batters in his second win of the year.

Colton Bradley would relieve Grady in the seventh, making his first appearance for the Bombers, and he'd make it a good one. Bradley struck out five of the seven batters he faced, including the first three all looking as he pitched two scoreless innings for the Bombers.

Patzlaff picked up his second RBI on the night in the bottom of the seventh as Battle Creek would extend their lead to 8-2, and Chi-Ping Wu would nail down a scoreless ninth as the Bombers picked up the win, snapping a two-game losing streak.

With the win, the Bombers move to 24-26 on the season and 6-8 in the second half, while the Kingfish drop to 20-30 and 4-10 in the second half.

The Bombers finish off their four-game homestand with a two-game set against the Madison Mallards starting Saturday night at 6:05 at C.O. Brown Stadium.