Matt Sanders, Bombers broadcaster

The Battle Creek Bombers fell to the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters 14-5 in a shortened seven-inning game Saturday night at C.O. Brown Stadium, splitting the doubleheader. With the loss, the Bombers fell to 38-33 on the season and 20-15 in the second half.

The Bombers got on the board early. Catcher Jacob Blunt led off the first with a single. He advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Second baseman Christian Helsel followed by grounding out, which advanced Blunt to third. First baseman Nick Podkul followed by grounding out. Blunt came home to score to give the Bombers the 1-0 lead.

The Rafters’ bats woke up, and scored 12 runs from the second inning through the fifth inning.

With the Bombers trailing 12-1 in the bottom of the fifth, left fielder Eric Gilgenbach led off the inning by lining a homerun over the left field wall to make it a 12-2 game.

The Rafters added two more runs in the sixth inning to increase their lead to 14-2.

With the Bombers down in the sixth, designated hitter Daniel Jipping reached on a one-out single. Third baseman Storm Joop followed with a single, and Jipping advanced to second. After Cooper Marshall flied out, right fielder Nick Poirier hit a single through the left side of the infield, which scored Jipping to make it a 14-3 game.

With one out in the seventh inning, Helsel reached after he was hit by a pitch, and advanced to second when Podkul walked. Both runners advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch. Center fielder Dean Miller followed by hitting a single, scoring both Helsel and Podkul to make it a 14-5 game, which was the final result of the game.

The Bombers and Rafters square off Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale at 5:05 before Battle Creek heads to Madison for the playoffs on Monday.