KENOSHA, Wis. – The Kenosha Kingfish (2-1) jumped on the K-Town Bobbers (1-2) early and hung on for a 9-7 win against their hometown rivals Friday night at Simmons Field.
The Kingfish scored one in the bottom of the first and blew the game open in the 2nd inning with six runs. Justin Barr (Akron) started the scoring in the second with an RBI double that scored Mitchell Buban (UW-Milwaukee). Evan Albrecht (Purdue) followed with an RBI single scoring Marc Filia (UC-San Diego). Kai Murphy (Arizona State) continued the rally with a two RBI double and Casey O’Laughlin (Northwestern) put the finishing touches on the inning by driving in a run on a base hit.
The Bobbers responded with three runs in the fourth against Kingfish starter Brock Weirather (Grinnell College) on three hits. Justice Bigbie (Western Carolina) started the inning with a single. James Shimashita (San Jose State) drove in Bigbie and Thomas Rudinsky (Montana State) on a two RBI single to centerfield. K-Town plated their final run of the inning on an RBI fielder’s choice by Jared Weber (Florida A&M) that scored Drew Benefield (Louisville).
The Bobbers tightened the game even more in the top of the sixth with two runs on a home run by Rudinsky. Kenosha responded with two of their own runs in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI fielder’s choice by Murphy and a bases loaded walk by K-Town reliever Kevin Napoleon (Miami of Ohio).
K-Town tacked on one run in the eighth and threatened to tie the game or take the lead in the ninth with the bases loaded and two outs. But Kingfish closer Nick Meyer (Otterbein University) slammed the door with three strikeouts in the inning allowing one run to pick up the save.
Murphy finished the game 2-5 with a double and three RBIs. Nathan Krueger (Quincy) picked up the win in his Kingfish debut, pitching one inning and striking out one while giving up two runs. Kohl Simas (UC-San Diego) took the loss for K-Town giving up seven runs, six of them earned, on six hits in one inning.
The Bobbers host the Kingfish for the first time in the 2020 Kenosha Series on Saturday night at Simmons Field. First pitch is slated for 6:05 PM CT.
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The Kenosha Kingfish are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). 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.
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