The Battle Creek Bombers rallied back from a three-run deficit to beat the Kenosha Kingfish 7-3 Monday night at C.O. Brown Stadium.
Battle Creek trailed 3-0 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, and the Bombers offense then erupted. A leadoff double by pinch-hitter Michael Morrissette and walks to Erik Owen and Rhett McCall gave the Bombers a bases-loaded, nobody out situation for the top of the Battle Creek order. Kelby Weyler delivered an RBI groundout, and back-to-back singles by Josh Sears and John Malcom knotted the game at three.
Battle Creek was not done, though. After Pablo Arevalo worked a scoreless frame in the top of the eighth, the Bombers offense had another outburst in the bottom of the inning. Five straight Battle Creek batters reached to begin the inning, including a Roy Thurman double. Kolby Johnson had an RBI single to score Thurman and give Battle Creek the lead, but the Bombers would add on three more runs. Owen’s two-RBI double broke the game open and gave Battle Creek a 6-3 lead, and Sears would add an RBI single to extend the cushion.
Kenosha jumped out to an early lead against Lyle Hibbits, as the Kingfish scored two runs in the top half of the second inning. Singles from Ryan Knernschield and Roberto Pena, coupled with aggressive base-running, gave Kenosha the early advantage. The Kingfish would plate another run in the sixth inning off of a Hibbits wild pitch to give Kenosha a 3-0 lead.
Caleb Larson had a good start for the Kingfish in his longest outing of the season, resulting in a no-decision. Larson threw five innings, allowing just three hits and one walk, along with six strikeouts. Four Kenosha relievers struggled, though, for manager Duffy Dyer’s club, who fell to 7-14 after the loss.
Battle Creek improved to 10-10 and now sit just one game back of the first-place Kokomo Jackrabbits.
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.
