LOVES PARK, Ill. – The Rockford Rivets earned their first victory in franchise history with a 14-6 blowout of the Wisconsin Woodchucks on Wednesday at Rivets Stadium.

The Rivets sent 14 batters to the plate and scored nine times in the fourth inning to take the lead. 

Kacey Murphy (1-0) earned the win, with five strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of one-run relief.

Wisconsin’s Jesse Philp (0-1) lost in relief after all five batters he faced reached base – three on walks and two on hits – and scored. Three Rivets walked with the bases full in the fourth, including David Cronin, who walked on four pitches to force home the go-ahead run. Cronin drew three of Rockford’s 13 bases on balls.

The Rivets and Woodchucks collected 12 hits each at the plate, but the Woodchucks couldn’t execute with runners on and allowed four errors in the field.

The Rivets will face the Madison Mallards at Rivets Stadium at 6:35 p.m. Thursday for the first game of the series. Broadcasts and live streams can be found at NorthwoodsLeague.com.

Rockford is a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League, which will play its 23rd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2016. The Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 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, more than 140 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (Washington Nationals) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (Chicago White Sox), Jordan Zimmermann (Detroit Tigers), Curtis Granderson (New York Mets), Lucas Duda (Mets) and Ben Zobrist (Chicago Cubs). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website, NorthwoodsLeague.com. For more information, visit RockfordRivets.com.