Battle Creek, Mich. – In their first game at Kapco Park, Battle Creek (14-9) fell to Lakeshore (11-12) Wednesday night 11-6. In a back-and-forth game, Lakeshore pulled away with multiple two-run inning spurts and Battle Creek failed to respond offensively.

The Bombers struck first with two outs, Tom Stoffel (Virginia Tech) scored on an RBI triple to centerfield by Jordan Getzelman (UC San Diego). Lakeshore tagged three runs off Battle Creek starter Alex Smith (University of Memphis) in the bottom half of the first to take their first lead of the night 3-1.

The Bombers offense responded, putting up a three spot of their own. Alec Trela (University of Memphis) cranked his first home run of the year to left to cut the Battle Creek deficit 3-2. Nick Vasic (Southern Illinois) and Cale Hennemann (University of Memphis) hit back-to-back singles, while Alex Howard was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Stoffel brought home Vasic and Hennemann on a two RBI single giving Battle Creek back the lead 4-3. Smith put two Chinooks on base in the bottom of the third, but he struck out the side.

The third inning saw both teams scoreless, but the Chinooks would regain the lead in the fourth. Lakeshore put runners on the corners with no outs, and Battle Creek’s Smith was replaced with Jake Hawken (University of Portland) on the mound. With bases loaded, a ground ball to second base tied the game at four. Then a sac fly for Lakeshore with runners on second and third put the Chinooks up 5-4. Battle Creek wasn’t down for long, Getzelman socked his second solo home run in back-to-back games to tie it at five.

Lakeshore took their third lead of the game in the fifth with two more runs. The Chinooks started the bottom of the fifth with a double and single, then brought around both runners home for a Lakeshore 7-5 lead. Battle Creek had a golden opportunity to do damage in the sixth with bases loaded and no outs, but left them loaded with a pop out, strikeout and fly out.

With runners on second and third, Lakeshore tagged on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. A single and fielder’s choice brought both runners around to make it 9-5. Battle Creek tried to get something going in the seventh. Nick Walker (Austin Peay) worked a one out walk, and Justin Felix (Arkansas State) scored him with a single to cut the deficit the 9-6.

Lakeshore pulled away in the seventh and eighth. A two-run home run in the seventh and a double and single in the eighth made it a 12-6 Lakeshore final score.

The Bombers will face Lakeshore again tomorrow night at 7:35 ET at Kapco Park. Voices of the Bombers Neil Doyle and Jake Hromada will be live on the Bombers Radio Network ten minutes prior to first pitch.

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The Battle Creek Bombers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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, more than 160 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.battlecreekbombers.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Bombers as your favorite team.