By: Ari Ross, Broadcaster
The Battle Creek Bombers topped the Madison Mallards, 4-2, behind a dominant outing on the hill from Scott Sency to sweep the two-game set.
The Bombers got to Mallards' starter Westin Wuethrich early, scoring three runs over the first three innings. With one out in the bottom of the first, back-to-back singles from Nick Poirier and Ryan Dorow put runners at first and second before Dean Miller reached on an error to load the bases against Wuethrich. An RBI-groundout by Jacob Blunt would give the Bombers a 1-0 lead, before they'd extend it in the second.
Eric Gilgenbach, at the plate with one out in the bottom of the second, launched a solo shot over the wall in deep center to give the Bombers a 2-0 lead. And then in the third, Christian Helsel doubled with two outs and came around to score on Cody Young's single as the Bombers led 3-0 heading to the fourth.
And that was all Sency would need as he cruised through the first six innings, allowing just three hits, while striking out three.
The Mallards would finally get to Sency in the seventh, as Nelson Maldonado led off the inning with a double, coming around to score on an error to cut the Bombers' lead to 3-1. Sency, though, would work around a runner at third in the seventh to keep the lead at two.
And Battle Creek would get the run back in the bottom of the inning as Ryan Dorow led off with a single, moved to second on an error and scored on Jacob Blunt's bloop single. Blunt finished the game 1 for 4 with 2 RBIs.
In the eighth, Madison would threaten again as Sency would be relieved by Brandon Guske with runners at the corners and two outs. Guske would get out of the eighth with the Bombers' lead at 4-2 and then come in to pitch a scoreless ninth to nail down the save.
Sency pitched 7.1 innings for the Bombers, allowing 2 runs, only one of which was earned, on 6 hits. Sency struck out three and didn't walk a batter as he picked up his third win of the season. Wuethrich took the loss for the Mallards while Guske earned his 11th save of the season.
With the win, the Bombers move back to .500 on the season at 26-26 and 8-8 in the second half, while the Mallards fall to 31-21 and 8-8 in the second half as well.
After an off day Monday, the Bombers will head to Wisconsin Rapids to take on the first-place Rafters for a two-game set, starting Tuesday night at 7:05 CST/8:05 EST.