Kenosha Bats Catch Fire Late In Game
Historic Simmons Field, WI- It’s not about how you start; it’s about how you finish.
The Kenosha Kingfish embodied this phrase when they took out the Kokomo Jackrabbits 12-5 after being no-hit through the first four innings.
Kenosha opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first when Parker Stinson took ball four with the bases loaded to send James McCoy trotting past home plate.
After three walks, a hit-by-pitch and an error, Kokomo starter Nick Rispoli’s night ended with just three outs recorded.
The Jackrabbits quickly took a 3-1 lead in the second after a RBI single by Connor Throneberry, scoring Alex Neff, and a two-RBI single by Angel Galindez, scoring Throneberry and Brant Voth.
Kenosha cut the temporary lead in half in the bottom half of the inning, as Antonio Brown hit Michael Dallas home on a RBI groundout in both players’ Kingfish debuts.
After eight walks, two hit-by-pitches and two baserunners reaching on error, the home squad’s first hit was crushed over the right field wall by Stinson to score Drake Westcott in the fifth frame to go up 4-3. This was Stinson’s first homer of the year.
Kenosha put up a six spot in the bottom of the seventh inning to blow the game wide open.
Ian Collier allowed Kevin Bushnell to sprint the last 90 feet on a sac fly to center, Brown scored Stinson and Westcott on a bloop single to left field with the bases loaded and James McCoy hit his second homer of the young season to send Ben Loyd and Brown jogging home before the frame concluded.
Kokomo’s Jon Jon Gazdar responded in the eighth and hit a two-run blast to left center that sent himself and Cole Sheehan home to make the game 10-5.
Kenosha got the last laugh, and the win, as Brady Counsell sent Bushnell and Westcott home on a pinch-hit two-RBI single in the bottom half of the frame.
Richard Kiel (0-1) picked up the loss after giving up four earned runs, two hits and striking out two batters through 3 innings of relief work.
Jacob Gehring (1-0) picked up the win after fanning four and giving up two earned runs and one hit in 3.2 innings.
Kingfish starter Luke Patzer earned a no decision after allowing three earned runs on four hits with two strikeouts through 4.1 innings.
Stinson, Brown and McCoy all finished the night with three RBIs in Kenosha’s highest scoring game of 2022 thus far.
Kenosha bested Kokomo in the hit column eight to five, and every Kingfish batter reached base on at least one occasion.
The Kingfish (4-1) and Jackrabbits (2-3) will play the last game of their four game series tomorrow, June 4, with the first pitch being at 6:05 p.m. CST.
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