Having trailed quietly entering the eighth inning, the Kokomo Jackrabbits were waiting for a spurt of late game offense. 

Down 3-2 into the bottom of the eighth, Kokomo started the inning off on the right foot, as leadoff man Austin Hear drew a 3-2 walk. The full count walk gave the home crowd a sliver of hope, as the tying run stood at first base with no outs recorded. 

Team leader in stolen bases Eric Harper immediately entered as the pinch runner for Hear, and made quite the impression on the basepaths. 

With the home crowd and dugout on their heels in a tight game, Harper stole second and then third within the span of two pitches. Suddenly, the tying run was just 90 feet away, still with no outs.

However, one pitch later and within the same Aiden Schenk at-bat, Schenk sent a hard ground ball over to Kenosha third baseman Sebastian Mueller. Mueller gloved the ground ball, and tagged out Eric Harper as he frantically dove back to the third base bag.

Within an instant, Kokomo was back at square one, but not all hope was lost. A Jake Lambdin flyout to right put two outs on the board with nobody on base for Kokomo. 

Michael Flaherty then rekindled the energy with a single to right. Moments later, Tyler Floyd drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Facing a do or die moment, Kokomo’s plate discipline allowed two more walks from Cj Difiglia and Kielan Lamarr, drawing in two runs and giving Kokomo a 4-3 lead. 

Despite Eric Harper being tagged out at third, the Jackrabbits were able to string together a base hit, and three straight walks to grab hold of the lead for the time being.

Nonetheless, Kokomo still needed to get out of the ninth inning unscathed to find a win, a task that was deemed too tall yet again.

Kokomo’s Derek Cabrera took the mound for his second straight inning in the ninth, and allowed the first two batters to reach base via the walk and a base hit. 

Runners now on first and second, Kokomo reliever Seth Benes entered the game. In Benes first at-bat on the mound, Kenosha’s Will Plattner put the ball in play on the right side. The ground ball would go right in between first and second basemen Aiden Schenk and Cj Difiglia and into right field, scoring both baserunners to make the score 5-4. 

A fatal miscommunication in the infield was all she wrote on a rainy Friday night, as the Jackrabbits fell 5-4 to cap off the four game homestand. 

The Jackrabbits will embark on their final roadtrip of the season for a four game series against the Royal Oak Leprechauns before returning home one final time. 

 

 

 

Article written by Charlie Huiras