WAUSAU, Wis. –– The Rockford Rivets (10-7) picked up their eighth win in 11 games as they defeated the Wisconsin Woodchucks (5-12), 8-3, Thursday night at Athletic Park.
Cole Bellair (Illinois) started for the Rivets and went eight strong innings, allowing just three runs and striking out four. Left-hander Kellen Rholl (Angelo State) got the ball for Wisconsin and recorded just seven outs, surrendering six walks over his short outing, and took the loss.
The Rivets opened the scoring with three runs in the third inning, before adding one more in the fourth. Ryan Hutchinson (Illinois State), Brian Klein (Texas Tech) and Bren Spillane (Illinois) all walked and scored in the third. After that, the Woodchucks put up two of their own in the bottom of the fourth to cut the Rivets' lead in half.
In the sixth inning, Zach Rheams (Texas Tech) hit a two-run single to left field to increase Rockford's lead to 6-2. Wisconsin only scored one the rest of the way while the Rivets scored single runs in both the eighth and ninth innings. Jeremy Orbik (Stetson) pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth to finish the game and give Bellair his second win of the season.
The Rivets play Game 2 of their two-game series with the Woodchucks tomorrow at 7:05 p.m.
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, 160 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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