BATTLE CREEK, M.I.- Both the bats and the gloves came up clutch in the Bombers 7-4 victory over the Pit Spitters Friday.
The Bombers had a 5-4 lead in the eighth when they ran into trouble. The Pit Spitters had runners on second and third with one out when Zach Dehn came in. He got Christian Faust to fly out to right field for out number two and with Zeb Roos tagging from third base, Ray Hilbrich delivered a dart to catcher Jimmy Wressel who applied the tag to get the Bombers out of the eighth still leading by one.
The Bombers were able to add insurance in the eighth as they loaded the bases for Trevor Patterson who hit a two-run single to make it 7-4. Patterson went 4-5 with 3 RBI in the game. It was the second time Patterson has gone 4-5 in a game this season.
Patterson also came up big in the field as well. The Bombers were up 5-3 in the seventh when an intentional walk to Mario Camilletti put him at first for Tito Flores, who doubled into left field. Camilletti looked to score but the Bombers had other ideas. Matt Catalfo hit the cut off man Patterson who fired a bullet to Wressel who tagged out Camilletti. Earlier that inning it was Wressel who three out Logan Hylek at second who was caught too far off second base.
The Bombers defense helped out the Battle Creek relievers. Adam Gonzalez threw 3.1 innings to record his first win of the season. He was on the mound for the web gems in the seventh and it was Gonzalez who gave way to Dehn in the eighth when Hilbrich threw out Roos. Dehn recorded a four out save for his first save of the season. The righty completed the game by getting the league leader in RBI Chris Monroe to fly out to end the game with Monroe representing the tying run.
The Bombers went with Bryce Trail to start who went four innings giving up three runs on four hits striking out four. The Pit Spitters started with Nolan Belschner on the mound who went 5.2 innings giving up five runs on nine hits.
After Battle Creek opened the scoring with a run in the first off Belschner, the Pit Spitters responded with three in the second on a run scoring single by Hylek and two-run double by Camilletti. Camilletti and Hylek accounted for three of the four Pit Spitter RBI on the night. The other one came from Trey Yunger, who led the Pit Spitters going 2-3.
To complement Patterson’s 4-5 performance, the Bombers got multi-hit games from Cameron Dalrymple and Brain Zapp. Zapp has been the hot bat in the Bombers lineup as of late as he is hitting .471 over the last five games.
The win for Battle Creek was just their third against the Pit Spitters this season with all three of them coming at C.O. Brown Stadium. They will look for one more in the season finale tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
Written by Harris Eisenberg
