BATTLE CREEK, MI., – The Bombers got to see the Green Bay Booyah for the first time in 2021 tonight and lost 12-4. It was a game that showcased many new faces for Battle Creek including their starting pitcher, Sean Hoey.

Hoey pitched well throughout his first four innings only allowing four runs on five hits, but the fifth is when he started to labor. Hoey got the loss as he allowed eight earned runs on 10 hits but didn’t walk a single batter through four and a third innings. Only two other starters for Battle Creek have done that through 50 games this season. Burrell Jones did it when he only pitched two innings in Kokomo, and Lyle Hibbitts did it when he only faced one batter before leaving with an injury against Kalamazoo in June.

The game was back and forth through the first four innings. Green Bay scored one in the top of the first on an RBI single by Max Wagner driving in Dalton Pearson. Pearson went 3-5 on the night with three singles and a walk.

The Bombers tied it in their half of the first as Nicholas Powell got the RBI ground out that scored Aaron Beck from third. Beck reached on a walk and also recorded a single in the game so his on-base streak has been extended to 21 games. In the bottom of the second, Battle Creek took the lead. New Bomber, Cameron Dalrymple reached on an error and was driven in by Brian Zapp on an RBI single making it 2-1 Battle Creek.

The Booyah would take the lead back in the third though. Nadir Lewis singled to lead off, Pearson drove him in with an RBI single, then scored during Wagner’s at-bat on a wild pitch. Lewis had stolen two bases to get to third. In the top of the fourth, they extended that lead as Kaden Hollow hit a solo home run to lead off the inning and made it 4-2 Green Bay.

That’s when the wheels fell off the bus. Hoey got the first out in the fifth, but then the next seven batters got on straight. Four singles, a double, a hit batter, and an error brought five runs and made it 9-2.

Green Bay tacked on one in the top of the seventh, then Roman Kuntz drove one deep to right in the bottom of the seventh for Battle Creek. A two-run home run for Kuntz, his second at C. O. Brown in as many games, made it 10-4 in favor of the Booyah.

Green Bay added two more runs in the top of the ninth and closed out the game 12-4. Hoey gets the loss for Battle Creek. Logan Lee, local from Rockford, Michigan, got the win as he pitched six innings only allowing two runs on six hits.

The Bombers fall to 4-12 on the second half and try to split against Green Bay with the finale on Friday. First pitch is set for 6:35 PM.

By Josh Baker