LOVES PARK, Ill. – It didn’t take long for the Rivets (2-2) to move up to the .500 mark on the season.
Despite giving up two solo home runs to Steve Mangrum (Virginia Tech) of the Wisconsin Woodchucks (1-3), Jeffrey Barton (Illinois State) settled in for the Rivets and pitched five strong innings to lead Rockford to a victory.
The game began with Mangrum taking Barton deep to right center in the top of the first inning. Rockford answered with a sacrifice fly from Ryan Hutchinson (Illinois State) to score Nate Montgomery (South Suburban College) in the bottom of the second. The game was tied until the third inning, where Mangrum took Barton deep again, this time to left field. But the Rivets responded with two more runs of their own, both coming off sacrifices from Montgomery and Keith Kerrigan (Triton College), to take the 3-2 lead.
From there, the Rivets gained control. Barton (1-0) pitched through the fifth inning, and kept the Woodchucks at bay. The Rivets’ bats came to life again in the fourth, scoring two more runs off a Woodchucks error and a double by Hutchinson.
Jon Laird (Illinois-Springfield) pitched the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings in relief without giving up a hit to the Woodchucks. Rockford added more insurance runs down the stretch; they punched in two runs in the fourth, one in the sixth, and five in the eighth. Dylan Stutsman (Indianapolis) finished off the night in the ninth and secured Rockford’s second victory of the season.
Rockford’s young season continues tomorrow, Saturday June 3 at 6:35 p.m. as the Battle Creek Bombers come to town for a brief two-game series. The series concludes on Sunday with a start time of 4:05 p.m. for Bark in the Park! Bring your dogs to watch the Rivets take on the Bombers. Don’t forget to order your Rivets tickets today by calling the Rockford Rivets ticket office at 815.240.4159!
The Rockford Rivets are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League, which will play its 24th season of summer collegiate baseball in 2017. The Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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, 170 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (Washington Nationals), two-time World Champion Ben Zobrist (Chicago Cubs) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (Boston Red Sox), Jordan Zimmermann (Detroit Tigers), Curtis Granderson (New York Mets) and Lucas Duda (Mets). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website, NorthwoodsLeague.com.
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