SAINT CLOUD, Minn – The Rockford Rivets lead on Friday night on three different occasions, but a lack of shutdown inning sent them to their seventh straight loss 7-6 at Joe Faber Field
The Rivets would strike immediately. Michael Smith (San Jacinto JC) tripled into the right center field alley to lead off the game and David Cronin (Illinois-Chicago) drove him home with a groundout to first for a 1-0 lead. St. Cloud would respond just as quickly. Marcus Carson (Kentucky) walked and Ricky Ramirez (McNeese State) singled before Michael Strem (Boston College) laced a two-run double into right field for an early 2-1 lead.
The Rivets would battle back from a 4-2 deficit in the fifth. Cronin walked, and Hunter Hargrove (Texas Tech) tied the game with his eighth home run of the summer. After Ryan Long (Texas Tech) and Neal Tyrell (Lewis University) walked. Long would take home on a pickoff play for a 5-4 lead. But again Rockford couldn’t hold the lead. Strem doubled and scored on a Brett Pope (Western Carolina) sacrifice fly to tie the game at five.
In the seventh, the Rivets struck again. After Cronin singled and stole a base, Hargrove bunted him to third and Long drove him in with a groundout off of reliever Collin Strall (2-1). Yet again, Rockford failed to keep the lead. Luke Ringhofer (South Dakota State) walked and Strem singled before both were driven home by a single off the bat of Pope off of Rivets’ reliever Joe Romero (Albany), who dropped to 2-1. Brian Glowicki (Minnesota) earned his seventh save with a perfect ninth inning.
The Rivets will continue the road trip by opening up a two game series against the Willmar Stingers at Bill Taunton Stadium on Saturday night at 7:05. 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.
