ROCKFORD, Ill. — The Kalamazoo Growlers (15-10) scored 21 runs across two contests en route to a doubleheader sweep over the Rockford Rivets (9-16) on Thursday.<\/p>\n
In Game 1, Kalamazoo hopped on starter Keith Eusebio<\/strong>, ignited by a\u00a0Josh Campbell<\/strong> solo home run in the first inning.<\/p>\n On the pitching side,\u00a0Dylan Wipf<\/strong> was strong in a spot-start, throwing 4.1 innings and exiting with an 8-4 lead after five innings. In relief, Wolf Braasch<\/strong> and\u00a0Christian Forniss<\/strong> combined for 1.2 innings of two-run action, before\u00a0Chris Mata<\/strong> earned a three-inning save, allowing one run.<\/p>\n “We always talk about losses revealing character, I really like the fact they used that for motivation this morning,” coach Piechocki said following game one.<\/p>\n Offensively, Kalamazoo was led by Josh Campbell who finished 3-3 with three runs, three RBI, and three walks, reaching in all six of his plate appearances. In the seventh, Nick Frontino<\/strong> hit the Growlers’ second home run, bringing in three off his second home run in as many games.<\/p>\n “We ran into trouble yesterday, but we came out here swinging, throwing strikes, pounding the zone and we did our job,” Campbell said following the first win.<\/p>\n Game 2 was a different story with Brady Louck\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Jeremiah Holder<\/strong> entering a pitchers’ duel, with Rockford taking a 1-0 advantage after four innings.<\/p>\n The Rivets sent out Ryan Sigale<\/strong> to pitch the fifth, where Nick Frontino<\/strong>\u00a0led the inning off with a double, later scoring on a double-steal between himself and Joshua Algarin,<\/strong> marking Kalamazoo’s 99th and 100th stolen bases of the season.<\/p>\n “It’s a big key of our team, to steal 100 bags in 25 games is awesome, we get on base and do our job,” Frontino said following the second win.<\/p>\n The third baseman finished the night 2-3 while scoring two of the Growlers’ six runs.<\/p>\n Following Holder’s five innings of one-run ball,\u00a0Liam Golden<\/strong> threw two shutout innings, followed by\u00a0Preston Cosby<\/strong> and\u00a0Peyton Williams<\/strong> striking out five in the eighth and ninth, en route to a 6-2 win.<\/p>\n “We decided to use our athleticism and get the bunts in play and the stolen bases,” Piechocki said postgame. “Once we got that run, we knew what we had in the bullpen and the guys got a lot of confidence.”<\/p>\n The Growlers and Rivets finalize their four-game series Friday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:35 p.m. EDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ROCKFORD, Ill. — The Kalamazoo Growlers (15-10) scored 21 runs across two contests en route to a doubleheader sweep over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,15,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-recaps","category-team-news","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n