The Battle Creek Bombers notched their first series sweep of the 2019 season with a 6-2 win vs. the Kenosha Kingfish.

 

Battle Creek, who has won three in a row and four of their last five, started the scoring in the top of the first. Josh Sears doubled, and came around to score on a wild pitch from Kenosha starter Ben Stephens. The Bombers added one more in the top of the third, as Jack Merrifield reached on an error by second baseman Ethan Owens.

 

In the bottom of the third inning, Bombers starter Dillon Champagne ran into trouble. The Longwood University commit walked four batters in the inning, forcing in a run when he allowed a free pass to Nate Thomas.

 

Champagne then gave way to Amani Godfrey, who gave up one run on two hits over his two innings of work. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Thomas hit a home run to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth, belting a solo shot that traveled 343 feet.

 

The game remained tied at two until the top of the seventh inning, when two walks began the Bombers inning. Josh Sears delivered an RBI single to give Battle Creek the lead, and John Malcom added a sacrifice fly to put the Bombers up by two.

 

From there, manager Mike Ruppenthal turned to, arguably, his best bullpen arms. Beaux Bonvillain, Pablo Arevalo, and Burrell Jones combined to throw four hitless innings, allowing only one walk while striking out five Kingfish batters.

 

The game was put out of reach in the top of the ninth inning when Malcom came to the plate with Roy Thurman on first base. Malcom unloaded on a Harry Orth fastball, depositing a two-run home run over the right field wall. The home run was measured at 413 feet, and the four-bagger had an exit velocity that was  tracked at 104 mph off of Malcom’s bat.

 

The home run gave Battle Creek a 6-2 lead, which would hold to be the final score. The Bombers improved to 6-8, remaining two games back of the top of the Great Lakes East Division.

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