WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WIS. – The Rockford Rivets used fantastic pitching and early offense to earn their fifth straight win, 3-1 over the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters Sunday afternoon at Witter Field.
Rockford RHP Drake Robison (1-1) collected the win with six shutout innings, while Cal Giese (1-2) suffered the tough luck loss for the Rafters. Zach Olszewski picked up his first save of the year with a one hit ninth inning.
The Rivets would jump out to a quick lead as for the third consecutive game, Rockford scored a first inning run. Hunter Steinmetz led the game off with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by Giese. Cory Wright then moved Steinmetz to third before Alex Maloney drove him in with a headfirst sliding infield single. The Rivets would get out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the bottom half, as Robison got Logan Mattix to pop out to first and Ben Fisher to pop out to second.
The scoring for Rockford would conclude in the third. After a single and stolen base by Wright, David Cronin hit his first home run of the season, a no-doubter to deep right field to make the score 3-0. The Rafters would get a run in the sixth on a run scoring double by Fisher, but would get no closer against relievers Tyler Thornton and Olszewski.
The Rivets will finish up the two game series with the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters Monday night at 7:05 at Witter Field. 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.
