With the score tied at 1-1 heading into the eighth, the Kokomo Jackrabbits were on the verge of securing their first home win of the season. However, with one out in the top of the eighth, Kalamazoo’s Myles Beal connected on a fastball from Dolan Ramsey, sending a triple to right field. Then, with two outs, Reagan Paulina hit a sacrifice fly to left field, driving in the go-ahead run and making it a 2-1 game.

From that point on, the Kalamazoo Growlers continued to pour on the runs, handing the Jackrabbits their 8th loss of the season. The Jackrabbits suffered a 6-2 home loss on Wednesday, making them 1-8, now with four straight losses. 

The bright spot of Kokomo’s day came from their starter Christian Keel. Keel, who plays college baseball at Brown University went six innings, giving up just one run on four hits. Wednesday was Keel’s second outing of the season, and holds a 1.69 ERA through 10 ⅔ innings pitched this summer. 

“He’s [Keel] given us a chance to win and we haven’t helped him out, we come in and we blow the game,” Jackrabbits manager Johnston Hobbs said. “We’ve got to have more guys like Christian so that we have more opportunities to win games.” 

Keel gave the Jackrabbits a real opportunity to win on Wednesday, but a collapse in the ninth inning allowed four Kalamazoo Growlers runs to score, all but sealing the road victory. 

As the Growlers led 2-1 heading into the ninth, a Korbin Griffin leadoff ground-rule double kickstarter the Kalamazoo rally. Later in the top of the ninth with the bases loaded, Kokomo walked in two more runs which made it 5-1. Finally a Reagan Paulina sacrifice fly to left brought in the sixth and final run of the game for Kalamazoo. 

With the Jackrabbits trailing 6-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Kokomo had just three outs left to work with. The Jackrabbits were able to muster a bases loaded situation with two outs left in the ninth, and scored their second run of the game via the walk. A Bodee Wright strikeout with the bases loaded was the nail in the coffin, as Kokomo still stands winless in the month of June. 

After Wednesday’s loss, the Kokomo Jackrabbits gear up for a rematch against the Growlers on Thursday, June 6th for a 7:05 p.m. first pitch. 

Article written by Charlie Huiras