BATTLE CREEK, M.I.- It was a tale of two games for the Bombers Sunday in their doubleheader against the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters.

Game one:

After last night’s postponement, game one began with the Bombers leading 3-2 with one out in the third facing a first and third jam. Lucas Bixby got out of the jam by getting Marco Castillo to ground into a double play to retired the side.

Bixby gave the Bombers the lift they needed out of the gate going 3.2 innings giving up just four hits and striking out two. The Bombers bullpen did not give up any runs as Bixby was relieved by Zach Dehn who threw two scoreless innings, followed by Davis Burgin who recorded the save throwing a scoreless ninth.

The Bombers made it 4-2 when Trevor Patterson tripled and then scored when Drew Dyer got caught in a rundown.

Patterson was a tough out for Rafters pitchers as he went 4-5 in  his Bombers debut. Battle Creek had eight hits while Wisconsin Rapids edged them with nine. Castillo and Sterling Hayes each had two-hit games.

Game two:

After a win in game one, the Bombers squandered in game two falling to the Rafters 9-0.

The loss was the fourth time the Bombers have been shutout this season and the second time in three games.

The Bombers had just three hits as they could not touch Ben Schoneman IV who went five scoreless innings and recorded a season-high five strikeouts. It was the complete opposite for Bombers starter Gunner Morris who gave up five runs on six hits in three innings of work.

The Rafters really broke things open in the sixth off reliever Payton Carney who gave up four runs on five hits. The Rafters had 13 hits in game two lead by McKinley Erves and Couper Cornblum who each went 3-4.

Cornblum had three RBI, two of which came on a single in the sixth. His first RBI came on a groundout in the first, an inning where the Rafters scored two runs off Morris, who needed 19 pitches to record the first out of his outing.

The bright spot for the Bombers was once again Trevor Patterson who went 2-3 and is 6-8 in his first two games as a Bomber.

Battle Creek falls to 5-13 in the second half while the Rafters improve to 8-12. The Bombers were begin a two-game series in Kalamazoo with the Growlers starting tomorrow. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.

 

Written by Harris Eisenberg