KENOSHA, WI., – Battle Creek drops the first game of two against the Kenosha Kingfish with a final score of 12-2. A combination of quiet bats and a loss of control on the mound leads to the fifth straight loss for the Bombers. Kenosha only had eight hits in the victory, however, they walked 14 times which is one shy of their franchise record.

New pitcher, Alec Thomas, got the start for Battle Creek. He walked six and gave up four hits in his four innings of work which led to three runs. Kenosha scored in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by one of their best bats, Kirk Liebert. The other two runs off Thomas came in the bottom of the fourth. Xavier Watson walked, stole a base, then came home on a single E5 by Cam Collier. Then, Cam Redding drove Collier in two batters later on an RBI single.

Adam Davis would relieve Thomas in the fifth however the walks continued. Davis gave up three hits and four walks in an inning and a third. A double to start the fifth for Luke Stephenson and then an RBI double by Luke Crenshaw on the next at bat drove him in to make it 4-0. This is when it went from bad to worse. In the bottom of the sixth, Davis would walk the first three batters. Liebert would drive in two on a single and then Justin Janas would hit an RBI sac fly.

After a fielder’s choice allowed Stephenson to reach first base, Caleb Smith would take the mound for Battle Creek. Smith entered with a 2-0 count to Crenshaw and would walk him along with the next four batters making it 11-0 Kingfish. Liebert would come up to bat with the bases loaded again in the same inning and hit another RBI single.

After the 12 runs in the first six innings, the bright spot on the mound for Battle Creek was David Williams. He pitched a perfect two innings striking out five of the six batters he faced. However, Kenosha had good pitching of their own. It was the Brock Weirather show as he when seven innings allowing no runs on four hits, a walk, and two strike outs. He only threw 68 pitches in those seven innings. Weirather would be aided by two double plays and a picked off runner and would only face two batters above the minimum.

Battle Creek did score two runs in the last two innings of the game. In the top of the eighth, two walks and a single would load the bases for Blake Bean. Bean grounded to short and drove in Mason Sykes. In the ninth, Jacob McKeon walked to start the inning and after a hit by pitch and a fielder’s choice, McKeon scored the second Bombers run on a wild pitch.

Weirather gets the win in the 12-2 game while Thomas gets the loss in his first appearance this season. Battle Creek looks to take one of the four games this road trip with a 2:05 EST game on Sunday, June 20.

By Josh Baker