KENOSHA, Wis. – The Kenosha Kingfish (12-11) beat the Battle Creek Bombers (7-16) by a final score of 10-7 at Historic Simmons Field on Friday night.
Luke Stephenson (Xavier) kicked off the scoring for Kenosha in the first inning with a bloop single into right field that plated Ethan Owens (Drury). Roberto Pena (College of Central Florida) scored on a Bomber error. RJ Pearson (Central Arkansas) dumped a line drive into center field to score two more and extend the Kingfish’s early lead to 4-0.
In the third inning, John Malcolm (Vanderbilt) doubled to deep center field to score a run and put Battle Creek on the board. Jorge Gutierrez (Lamar) knocked in Malcolm cut the Bomber deficit to 4-2, but Zach Nogalski (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) threw out Gutierrez trying to stretch the single into a double to end the inning.
Josh Sheck (California-Irvine) scored on a hit by pitch in the fourth inning. Malcom tied the game up at 4-4 with an RBI single.
Michael Morrissette (Miami [Ohio]) tripled home the go-ahead run for Battle Creek in the fifth inning. Morrissette scored on the next pitch on a wild pitch to push the Bombers ahead 6-4.
Brendan Hueth (Saint Joseph’s) brought the Kingfish within a run with an RBI double in the sixth inning. Then back-to-back bases loaded hit by pitches pushed Kenosha back in front. Stephenson cleared the bases with a double down the right field line to cap a six-run frame that put the Kingfish up 10-6.
Stephenson went 2-for-5 with four RBI on Friday.
Seth Tucker (Hendrix) scored on a wild pitch in the eighth inning to cut Battle Creek’s deficit to 10-7.
Jacob DeLabio struck out six batters in two scoreless innings in relief to earn the save and secure the 10-7 win.
Jon-Anthony Caban (Carthage) collected the win for Kenosha. Jordan Rhodes (McDaniels) suffered the loss for Battle Creek.
The Kingfish travel to Kokomo to play the Jackrabbits at 7:05 p.m. ET on Saturday.