The Battle Creek Bombers won their first game away from home, and their third in four games, in an 9-2 victory against the Kenosha Kingfish Sunday afternoon.
After an 8-3 victory against Kokomo the night before, Battle Creek turned in another complete performance. Starting pitcher Josh Hranicky delivered six strong innings, allowing two runs, only one of which was earned. Hranicky struck out six Kingfish batters while walking three and allowing three hits. Hranicky also set down the first 10 batters he faced.
Kenosha began the scoring with a manufactured run in the fourth inning, as Mitchell Buban singled with one out. A stolen base advanced Buban to second, and the shortstop advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Michael Lee passed ball. The Bombers, however, equaled the run in the top of the fifth inning when Jack Merrifield hit a home run to left field.
The offensive floodgates then opened for Battle Creek, beginning with a three-run sixth inning that chased Kenosha starter Kaleb Schmidt from the game. A walk and four straight singles, along with aggressive base running, gave the Bombers a 4-1 lead and set Hranicky up for the win, which he would earn.
In the seventh, Battle Creek sent 11 batters to the plate in a five-run explosion. Six straight Battle Creek batters reached base to open the inning, as two different Kingfish relievers were necessary to get Kenosha out of the inning. After one of the biggest offensive innings of the season, the Bombers led 9-1. In the bottom of the seventh, RJ Pearson notched a sacrifice groundout to cut the lead to 9-2, but it wasn’t nearly enough for Kenosha.
Kolby Johnson continues to improve offensively, and he had his biggest game of the season on Sunday. Johnson went 3-5 with three RBI and one run scored, as well as making diving catch in right field. The Battle Creek bullpen was once again impressive, as Jordan Rhodes and Ping-Chun Ho combined to allow just one hit over three innings of play.
The two teams will meet up again on Monday night in Kenosha at 6:35 p.m.
The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Currently in its’ 26th 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 200 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
