MADISON, Wis – Texas Tech’s Hunter Hargrove homered for a second straight game as part of a four hit, five runs batted in night as the Rockford defeated the Madison Mallards 7-3 on Thursday night at Warner Park.
The Rivets opened the scoring in the first inning as Michael Smith (San Jacinto JC) walked to lead off the game and scored on a Hargrove single to left to make it 1-0 Rivets.
Rockford would reclaim the lead in the fifth. After singles by Jordan Hovey (Missouri State), and David Cronin (Illinois-Chicago), Hargrove launched a three run home run to left center field off of Mallards’ starter Westin Weuthrich (0-4) to make it 4-1.
After Madison scored a run in the sixth, Cronin scored Smith with a single and Neal Tyrell (Lewis) scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-2. The Mallards scored a run in the seventh, only to be answered by a run scoring single by Hargrove that scored Cronin to make it 7-3. That was more than enough support for Tennessee Wesleyan right hander Tyler Thornton (2-0), who went seven strong innings, allowing three runs on seven hit while striking out six.
The Rivets will wrap up the two game home-and-home series against the Mallards at Rivets Stadium on Friday 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.