LOVES PARK, Ill. – The Kalamazoo Growlers jumped out to big early lead and beat the Rockford Rivets, 11-1, on Friday at Rivets Stadium.  

 

The Rivets totaled 11 hits to Kalamazoo’s 12, but could not string them together for production.

 

Kalamazoo scored twice in the first inning when Jordan Verdon’s sacrifice fly was dropped, allowing both Matt Lloyd and Dan Robinson to cross the plate. In the second inning, the Growlers added five runs, three of them on a double to center field by Brandon Gomez, off Rockford starter Cole Bellair. Bellair (1-3) didn’t return for the third inning and took the loss. 

 

Kalamazoo starter Jacob Piechota (2-0) scattered a run on nine hits over seven innings for the win.

 

Rockford’s Ricardo Ramirez was 4-for-4 with three doubles.

 

The Rivets head to Kenosha to face the Kingfish twice on Saturday. They will first complete a suspended game that began on June 22 in Rockford. When play resumes at 4:05 p.m., they will resume that game, scoreless in the bottom of the first inning.

 

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.