Battle Creek, Mich. – Battle Creek was on top early on the Madison Mallards, but couldn’t hang onto the lead in front of a sellout crowd at C.O. Brown Stadium. The Bombers (23-16, 3-1) fell 2-1 to Madison (20-19, 1-3).

Battle Creek scored first in the third, Cody Hawken (University of Portland) roped a double down the third base line to to start the inning. Alex Howard (Arkansas State) brought him in with an RBI single to left.

Andrew Click (Davenport University) was on the mound for his seventh start of the summer, he pitched his longest outing of the year despite a couple jams down the road. Click only surrendered one run in his six innings of work. He allowed seven hits, but snuck out of every situation that was dealt to him.

The game changed tides in the seventh. Click walked the leadoff batter and had a 2-0 count on the next Mallard, then a pitching change was called for and Jake Hawken (University of Portland) was summoned to throw. Hawken threw a wild pitch that advanced the runner to second, walked the current batter and let up a single to tie the game. Madison was gifted a one out walk from Hawken, which called for another pitching change. Zachary Helsel (Miami-Dade)  was brought in to clean up the mess, but threw a wild pitch with a runner on third to take a 2-1 lead.

Nick Walker (Austin Peay) singled to open the eighth inning but Battle Creek fell short of bringing him around. The Bombers went in order in the ninth to end the game.

 

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

He is thirteen, going on fourteen…

• Walker extended his hit streak to fourteen games, it’s the longest streak of any Bomber this season. The Spring Hill, Tennessee native is 20-50 (.400) with 10 RBI, 5 doubles and 7 runs scored.

#HowieWowie

• Howard continues to roll, with 26 hits in his last 64 at-bats (.406), the Northwoods League All-Star is batting .438 (14- 32) in the month of July. He has recorded 5 RBI in his last four games.

Saucin’ Hawken

• Hawken totaled his second three-hit game of the summer, and second three-hit game in three games. He doubled for a seventh time tonight. The Vancouver, Washington native is 13-38 (.342) in his last 11 games.

Click Is Clickin’

• Even though he went five innings combined in his last two starts, Click threw six shutout innings before allowed a run in the seventh inning. It was his longest outing of the season.

Battle Creek will hit the road for the next four days, the Bombers will visit Athletic Park as a team for the last time to face the Wisconsin Woodchucks (16-23, 1-3). Then in their first visit to Witter Field, The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (30-10, 3-1) will host the Bombers on Tuesday and Wednesday. The first game in Wausau on Sunday is at 3:05 ET. Jake Hromada will have the call on the Bombers Radio Network starting at 2:55 ET.

This update is presented by OnStaff Group. OnStaff Group is the largest human resource services firm in Southwest Michigan, maintaining an exceptionally experienced and stable staff. Learn how your company can benefit from over 168 years of expertise from a vast variety of organizations and industries today.

 

# # #

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.