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Kalamazoo, MI. — <\/span><\/i>In a wild offensive slugfest, the Kalamazoo Growlers (32-29, 16-13) dropped their third straight game in an 11-8 defeat to the Rockford Rivets (30-33, 10-18) at Homer Stryker Field Thursday evening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Rockford struck first in the second on a RBI single by Anthony Fumagalli to grab an early 1-0 advantage. The Rivets added more damage in the third inning with another RBI single followed by a three-run double courtesy of Fumagalli to extend the lead to 5-0.<\/span><\/p>\n The Growlers attempted to rally back in the bottom of the third with back-to-back RBI doubles from <\/span>Austin Knight <\/b>(Tennessee) and <\/span>Shea Kramer <\/b>(Utah) to cut the deficit to 5-2. <\/span>Clay Owens <\/b>(USC) then delivered a RBI single to make it 5-3.<\/span><\/p>\n The Rivets soon opened the offensive floodgates in the fourth with five runs on six hits to extend their lead to 10-3. The frame began with a Matt Higgins RBI double followed by a two-run homer. Fumagalli struck again with a two-run single to cap-off the inning.<\/span><\/p>\n Kalamazoo plated a pair in the fifth on the first hit of the season for <\/span>Khale Showers <\/b>(Northwood) to trim the margin to 10-5. In the sixth, Owens tallied a sacrifice fly and then <\/span>Jimmy Sullivan <\/b>(Virginia) scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-7.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Rockford tallied a huge insurance run in the seventh on a Higgins two-out RBI single to go up 11-7. The Growlers tried to claw back in the eighth as Owens drilled a solo shot to cut the margin to 11-8, but it would not be enough as the Rivets held on for the three-run triumph.<\/span><\/p>\n