MADISON, Wis. – The Rockford Rivets got a fantastic outing in a spot start by right hander Anthony Dahl, but could not hold the lead and lost to the Madison Mallards 5-1 in ten innings on Wednesday night at Warner Park.
The Rivets wasted little time in scoring on Mallards starter Heath Renz. After an out, Cade Bunnell extended his hit streak to twelve with a single, David Cronin singled, and Ricardo Ramirez walked before Jordan Hovey scored Bunnell with a groundout to make it 1-0 Rivets.
That lead would stand until the bottom of the eighth. Josh Stowers led off with a single and moved to third after a sacrifice bunt and groundout. Joe Romero then threw a wild pitch, allowing Stowers to score from third to tie the game.
The score remained tied until the tenth. Stowers, Nico Hoerner, and Nick Roark all singled off Zach Olszewski (1-3) before Zach Jarrett launched a walk-off grand slam to left field to win it for Troy Bacon (3-2) who had pitched the top of the inning.
The Rivets will open a two game series at home against the Kalamazoo Growlers Thursday night at 6:35 p.m. 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 150 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.