KENOSHA, Wis. – The Rockford Rivets took a late lead Sunday at Simmons Field, but a bizarre ninth inning ended in an error as the Rivets lost to the Kenosha Kingfish 4-3 in the final game of the season series.
The Rivets spotted the Kingfish a 2-0 lead after three innings. In the fourth, Hunter Hargrove (Texas Tech) walked and Ricardo Ramirez (Illinois-Chicago) was hit by a pitch. After a balk against Kenosha starter Cole Erickson (Wisconsin-Stevens Point), Ryan Long (Texas Tech) drove home Hargrove with a groundout and Gavin Johnson (Rice) singled home Ramirez to tie it at two.
That would be the score until the ninth. After a Jordan Hovey (Missouri State) walk, Long reached on a fielders’ choice, and Johnson singled, Cory Wright (Parkland CC) drove home Long with a sacrifice fly off of Kingfish closer Ryan Orr (Kalamazoo) for a 3-2 lead.
That was the score until the bottom of the ninth. Pinch hitter Sawyer Gieseke (Arizona) singled and Marty Bechina (Michigan State) bunted him to second. On that play, Rivets pitcher Kasey Murphy (Arkansas) was injured. Mason Fishback (New Mexico State) was announced as a pinch hitter before Rockford had to replace Murphy with Albany’s Joe Romero (1-1). Following that change, the pinch hitter was pulled back and Cal Jadacki (St. Joe’s) singled to left. After Fishback struck out, Blake Reese (Florida) singled to tie the game before Nick Kanavas (Madison College) hit a ground ball that was thrown to Ricardo Ramirez, but the Rivets first baseman dropped the ball, allowing Jadacki to score the winning run.
The Rivets will open a two game series at home against the St. Cloud Rox Monday at noon. 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.