KENOSHA, Wis. — The Kenosha Kingfish bounced right back at Simmons Field.

One night after seeing their six-game winning streak snapped in the second game of a doubleheader at Madison, the Kingfish opened their four-game homestand with a 5-4 win over the Kalamazoo Growlers on Friday night.

Kenosha improved to 32-21 overall and 11-7 in the second half, using an early three-run answer, a two-run fifth and another strong start from Jackson Sobel to hold off Kalamazoo in the opener of the two-game set. Sobel earned his team-leading fifth win of the summer, allowing just two runs, one earned, on three hits over six innings. He struck out seven, walked one and threw 89 pitches.

Sobel set the tone immediately, striking out the side in the top of the first. Kalamazoo eventually broke through in the second, when Nicholas Frontino doubled, Charlie Wortham walked and DeMir Heidelberg singled home the first run of the night. The Growlers added a second run on an error, taking a 2-0 lead.

Kenosha answered right away in the bottom half.

Hunter Snyder walked, James Harrington was hit by a pitch and Brenden Stressler singled to load the bases. Matthew Cormier then delivered one of the biggest swings of the night, ripping a two-run double to left field to tie the game. Will Matuszak followed with a groundout that brought home Stressler, and the Kingfish had flipped the deficit into a 3-2 lead.

From there, Sobel settled back in. The left-hander worked around traffic and kept Kalamazoo off the board in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, giving Kenosha enough time to add on.

The insurance came in the fifth. Ezra Essex started the inning with a single, Jackson Brewer walked, and Noah Alvarez drove in Essex with a base hit to right field. Bennett Shealor followed with a sacrifice fly to score Brewer, stretching the Kingfish lead to 5-2.

Those runs proved massive.

Kalamazoo made its push in the seventh against Kaeb Stebbins. Heidelberg singled, Julian Contreras followed with another single, and Trevor Johnson later brought in a run with a base hit. A Kenosha error on the same play allowed a second run to score, trimming the lead to 5-4.

But the Kingfish never gave it up.

Stebbins escaped the seventh with the lead intact, then worked around a leadoff double from Frontino in the eighth. Jacob Vokal took over in the ninth and earned his first save of the season, striking out Julian Contreras, getting Josh Campbell to fly out, allowing a two-out single to Trevor Johnson, then ending the game with a flyout from Brock Sell.

Cormier led the offense with two RBIs, while Alvarez and Shealor each drove in a run. Snyder doubled and scored, Essex singled, stole a base and scored, and Stressler scored the go-ahead run in the second inning.

Kenosha and Kalamazoo will close the two-game series Saturday night at Historic Simmons Field.

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