FOND DU LAC, WI- The Dock Spiders (19-24) lost by one run for the second consecutive night as they fell to the Rockford Rivets (22-19) 7-6.
Rockford claimed the first lead of the game off of Dock Spiders starter Ryan Connolly in the 1st inning. After walking the leadoff batter, Connolly allowed four hits that drove in three runs and gave the Rivets a 3-0 lead after one.
However, the Dock Spiders offense would tack on a run of their own in the first inning on an error charged to Rivets starting pitcher Jeffrey Barton.
Rockford would answer back the next half inning on a Zach Watson RBI single. Watson finished the night 3-5 on his debut with the Rivets.
Fondy had an answer for Rockford's answer as the Dock Spiders scored single tallies in the 2nd and 3rd innings on a Thomas Luevano double and an AJ Lewis single. The Dock Spiders trailed 4-3 headed to the 4th inning.
On a sacrifice fly, the Rivets extended the lead to 5-3. Both offenses were clicking through five innings. Spiders starter Connolly finished the night allowing four earned runs, one unearned, on nine hits and one walk. While Rivets starter Barton finished five innings and allowed only one earned run, two unearned, on six hits and three walks.
Down two headed to the 6th inning, the Dock Spiders would erase the deficit with Jason Santana scoring on a pass ball and Andrew Bullock driving in his team leading 27th RBI of the season with a sacrifice fly.
Fast forward to the final couple of innings and with one out and a runner at 3rd, the Rivets took the lead on an RBI double from catcher Brett Whelton in the 8th inning. Rockford would add an insurance run in the 9th inning that would prove important.
The Dock Spiders were down to their last out and off the bench Nick Fortes drove an RBI triple to the left-center gap to cut the lead to one. Unfortunately, that's all the Spiders got. The tying run was left stranded as the game ended for the second straight night.
Rockford is now 5-0 against the Dock Spiders this season. Game two of the series is slated for a 6:35 first pitch tomorrow evening from Marian University's Herr-Baker Field.
The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders 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 170 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.dockspiders.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Dock Spiders as your favorite team.
