KENOSHA, Wis. – First baseman Derek Bangert (Bradley) left the yard twice and drove in four runs in a monster offensive performance that helped the Kenosha Kingfish (18-10) cruise to a 9-1 win over the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders (11-17) at Historic Simmons Field on Monday.
Bangert’s first homer of the night came in his first plate appearance, when he stepped to the plate with right fielder Jack Yalowitz standing on first and two outs and launched a home run over the Bambino in left field to put Kingfish ahead 2-0 early.
The Kenosha first baseman wasn’t the only one with the power stroke in this one, though, as designated hitter Tyler Paulsen (Illinois State) proved in the next inning. On the eighth pitch of his first plate appearance of the night, Paulsen waited back and crushed an opposite field homer to right that gave the Kingfish a 3-0 lead. Each team added a single run in the fourth, and Kenosha maintained a 4-1 lead.
The Kingfish were shut out in the fourth and fifth innings, but couldn’t be held at bay for long. After a one-out walk by center fielder Connor Doyle (University of San Diego) and a subsequent double by left fielder Chris Botsoe (Iowa Central CC), Yalowitz came up with a 2-run single through the middle. Yalowitz later scored on a single by third baseman Tim Millard (Dallas Baptist), and the Kingfish had doubled their lead to 7-1.
In the eighth inning, however, Bangert proved one more time that it was his evening to shine. Again at the plate with a runner at first, Bangert crushed his second homer of the contest, extending his team-leading total to seven for the year.
Right-hander Logan Wiley (Missouri State) was excellent in his start, pitching seven innings and allowing just one run on five hits while walking one and fanning six. Gary Clift Jr. (Youngstown State) pitched the final two innings of the game, and held the Dock Spiders scoreless while striking out three.
Botsoe finished 3-for-5 with a double, a stolen base and two runs scored, while Millard finished 2-for-4 with a walk, and Yalowitz collected two RBI’s and two stolen bases. Catcher Jesse Wilkening (Nebraska) also went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.
The Kingfish will now go on the road for three games before returning home to face the Rockford Rivets on Friday. Follow along Kingfish games on the road at KingfishBaseball.com.
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The Kenosha Kingfish 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.kingfishbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Kingfish as your favorite team.
