To open the second half of the season, the Jackrabbits remain in search of their first win. Fresh off a seven-game win streak that closed the first half of the season and gave the team newfound life, Kokomo looks to build on their mid-season momentum.

With a new group of players joining the roster for the remainder of the season, the Jackrabbits will have to summon their winning formula once again: limit free passes and avoid blow-up innings.

Despite a 9-4 loss to the Traverse City Pit Spitters on Friday, the Jackrabbits fought hard throughout all nine innings.

Traverse City got off to a hot start, scoring a run in the first inning and five more in the second. The Pit Spitters opened the floodgates in that second inning. The first of five runs came off a wild pitch from debuting Kokomo starter Kaegan Baker to make the score 2-0.

Then, RBI singles to center from Michael Tchavdarov and Ethan Guerra gave Traverse City a 4-0 lead with two outs in the second. The Pitt Spitters poured on two more runs off of a two-RBI single from Aaron Piasecki, giving Traverse City a controlling 6-0 lead after two.

Defensively for the Pit Spitters, starter Jake Brown struck out four Kokomo batters in the first two innings, allowing Traverse City to take charge early on. Brown went on to pitch seven innings, striking out seven while allowing just two earned runs, picking up the win.

With the score at 6-0, Kokomo’s offense mustered two straight infield singles in the fourth inning. Lukas Farris scored from third off a J.J. Dutton infield single to third. In the ensuing at-bat, debuting Jackrabbit Chandler Tuupo plated Kokomo’s second run on a wild pitch to make the score 6-2 after four.

The dagger came from Vahn Lackey, who sent a fastball 364 feet to left-center for a two-run home run, expanding Traverse City’s lead to 8-2 in the seventh.

The Jackrabbits put the Pit Spitters on their heels one last time in the bottom of the eighth, as they loaded the bases. A one-out double from Vincent Temesvary sparked the short-lived rally. Ethan Rossi then lined an RBI single into left to reduce Kokomo’s deficit to 8-3. A wild pitch then allowed Chandler Tuupo to score Kokomo’s fourth and final run.

Rossi, who has now played in three games, is 5/11 with four RBIs in his first stint in a Jackrabbit uniform. 

Friday’s game totaled nine hits for Traverse City and seven for Kokomo, with both teams committing two errors each. Despite Kokomo’s rocky second inning, the Jackrabbits outscored Traverse City 4-3 the rest of the way. 

Kokomo’s 9-4 loss gives the Jackrabbits an 11-27 record for the summer. The final game of the two-game series concludes on Saturday, July 6th at Kokomo Municipal Stadium.

Article written by Charlie Huiras