KALAMAZOO, MI., — The Battle Creek Bombers swept the Kalamazoo Growlers in a pair of five-inning games on Friday night, winning 6-1 and 3-2.
GAME No. 1
Pablo Arevalo (Southern Illinois University) got the start for the Bombers and threw all five innings in the victory.
The Growlers got on the board in the second inning when Jake Topolski (Duke University) hit a solo home run, taking the lead 1-0.
The Bombers responded in the bottom half of the second inning when Justin Van De Brake (Washington State University) scored Brad Goulet (University of Akron) on a sacrifice fly.
Battle Creek took advantage of two Growlers’ errors and six walks issued by the Kalamazoo pitching staff to break the game open in the third and fourth innings with Seth Tucker (Hendrix College), Michael Morisette (Miami (Ohio) University) and Justin Van De Brake (Washington State University) scoring, while T.J. McKenzie (Vanderbilt University) scored twice to take the lead 5-1.
Chris Brown (Triton College) took the loss for Kalamazoo after going just one inning, giving up two runs (one earned) on no hits and one walk.
GAME No. 2
In the second game of the doubleheader, Lyle Hibbitts (New Mexico State University) started the game for the Bombers and pitched 2.2 innings, giving up two runs on one hit and one walk.
Twon Harris (Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College) started on the mound for the Growlers. He pitched 2.0 innings and gave up two runs on three hits.
The Bombers got on the board in the first inning as both McKenzie and Joe Mason (University of Mount Olive) scored to give Battle Creek the early lead, 2-0.
Brett Barrera (Stanford University) tied the game up in the third with a two-RBI double off of Hibbitts.
Thomas Schultz (Vanderbilt University) came in to close the game for the Bombers, giving up no hits in his 2.1 innings of work, as he picked up the win.
Andre Orselli (Ball State University) took the loss for Kalamazoo as T.J. McKenzie’s single scored Josh Swinehart (Western Michigan University) in walk-off fashion.
The Bombers return to action Saturday, July 18 for another double header but this time against the Mac Daddies.
