By Sedric Granger

Green Bay, WI – The Green Bay Rockers (30-25, 9-10) staved off the Battle Creek Battle Jacks (21-34, 11-10) in a competitive game at Capital Credit Union Park.

This game was a solid mix of big offensive plays and pitching excellence. No team had a lead of larger than two runs throughout the entire game. With the right-field wall being only 280 feet away from home plate (which is 50 feet shorter than it is at MCCU Field), lefty batters who can pull hit with power were bound to have a field day. 

Brock Daniels (Missouri) wasted no time by hammering a homerun over the right field wall to give the Battle Jacks an early advantage 1-0. Later in the game, Coltrane Rubner (Davenport) followed suit in the 6th inning by hitting his first homerun of the season, which was once again to the right field wall. After their respective strolls around the bases, both Daniels and Rubner were mobbed by their teammates in excitement once they crossed home plate. The other big offensive play of the nine-hit day also came from Rubner when he blooped an RBI double to left field in the fourth driving in Jake Allgeyer (Southern Illinois). The Blue and White were close on that play to putting one more across, but Blake McRae (Eastern Michigan) was put out just a split second before he could graze home plate.

On the contrary, the Battle Jacks once again fell victim to striking out a lot. Over the last eight games, Battle Creek has struck out 11 or more times in four of those games. Relative to ground outs, strikeouts are not the worst way to get out, especially if they drive up the pitch count. However, the problem with strikeouts is that they can be a huge confidence boost for a pitcher which could throw the Dog’s offense into disarray. Early in the game, Green Bay’s pitching staff struck out five Battle Creek players looking. Although the Jacks responded by turning up the aggression at the plate, Green Bay increased their frequency of off-speed pitches to pick up their final six strikeouts on swing and misses. 

The Battle Jacks pitching staff registered a decent outing with some highs and lows. Jake Kampf (SIUE) started his first game as a member of the Battle Jacks, striking out three and yielding four earned runs in a season high six innings of work. Left-handed pitcher Jaylen Morgan (Southern Wesleyan) shined in his two innings out of the bullpen through striking out four batters, including an 8th inning where he impressively struck out the side. Due to the short right field wall, the Rockers stack a ton of lefty batters in their lineup. As a result, having a solid lefty pitcher like Morgan in the bullpen is a huge asset, especially in this specific matchup.

The main problem for the pitchers was giving up the big plays. Green Bay came into the game with an insane 21 home runs at Capital Credit Union Park alone, so the Jacks knew they would have their work cut out for them. The Rockers smoked a two-run shot in the first and a solo bomb in the fourth inning. Since Battle Creek’s home runs were each solo shots while the Rockers plated one extra run in their two homers, that factor proved to be a difference in the game.

There was some late game drama due to a forty-minute weather delay in the bottom of the 8th inning. However, the stop in play could not help the Battle Jacks rally to score in the 9th. Green Bay prevailed over Battle Creek, 4-3.

With this loss, the Battle Jacks plummet into fourth place in the Great Lakes East due to a Traverse City win. Despite the loss, Battle Creek still has an opportunity to finish with a winning record in the seven-game road trip. The Battle Jacks will look to split the series with the Rockers on Sunday.

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The Battle Creek Battle Jacks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 27th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 250 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB Gold Glove finalist and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.battlejacksbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set Battle Creek as your favorite team.