The Battle Creek Bombers allowed six runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning and fell to the Rockford Rivets 8-5 in Loves Park, Illinois Wednesday night.

After the Bombers put up three runs in the second inning yesterday, it was the Rivets who got on the board first in the second game of a two-game set. Matt Higgins delivered a sacrifice fly in the first inning for his 30th RBI of the season to give the Rivets a 1-0 lead. Higgins would add a sacrifice groundout in the third inning to double the lead over Battle Creek starter Seth Tucker. 

The Bombers offense continued to stall early on, mustering only one hit in five innings off of Rockford starting pitcher Hunter Keim. Rockford’s offense then exploded in the sixth inning, sending ten batters to the plate and scoring six runs to break open the game. A home run from third baseman Alex Steinbach, along with a two-run single from Anthony Fumagalli, hilighted the inning to give the Rivets command of the game. 

Battle Creek would respond, though, with one run in the top of the seventh as an error on Steinbach pushed across the first run of the day for the Bombers. Michael Morrissette delivered a single in the eighth inning as well as Battle Creek continued to chip away, making the deficit 8-2.

Battle Creek came into the ninth inning needing their second six-run comeback of the season against Rockford, and got off to a strong start. Four straight Bombers batters reached base off of three walks and a hit, and a wild pitch added another run to bring the lead to 8-4. Battle Creek added a sacrifice groundout from Caleb Balgaard, but the threat fizzled and the Rivets won 8-5.

With the win, Rockford moves to within four games of the Kalamazoo Growlers for the final playoff spot for a Great Lakes East team. Battle Creek finishes their six-game road trip with the loss, and return home on Thursday to face the Madison Mallards for the first time this season.