By Sedric Granger

Battle Creek, MI-The Battle Creek Battle Jacks (26-46) finished off their 72nd and final game of the season, falling to the Kokomo Jackrabbits (27-45) 8-2.

In many ways, this game was the inverse to the first matchup of the two-game series. In the prior showdown, Kokomo took an early lead while Battle Creek dominated the rest of the game. In this battle, the Dogs took the early lead while the Rabbits controlled the late game.

In the bottom of the 1st inning, Jay Adams (Concordia) drove in Coltrane Rubner (Davenport) on an RBI double to put the Jacks ahead. Despite the Rabbits taking the lead, 2-1, in the 2nd inning, starting pitcher Cole Giesige (Albion College) posted his best outing of the season. The freshman left-handed pitcher yielded only two earned runs in a season-high five innings of work. 

The Battle Jacks tied the game once again in the 5th inning when Adams drove in Nik Clark (Davenport) on an RBI single. Unfortunately for the Blue and White, Kokomo rattled off six unanswered runs and struck out the Jacks 14 times en route to an 8-2 victory.

One of the coolest stories from the game was Spencer Verburg (Central Michigan). Verburg played all nine positions in baseball throughout the nine innings of the game. Verburg kicked off a 6-4-3 double play, secured groundouts as a first baseman, registered a base hit as a batter, and pitched two-thirds of an inning. Verburg pulled off a positional cycle, which is a very rare feat in baseball.

The Battle Jacks improved their win total from 10 victories in half one to 16 of them in the second half. This truly was a season full of great memories. Every player and fan will have joyful stories to tell for the rest of their lives!

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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.