Published On: June 1st, 2018

Fond du Lac, Wis. – The Rockford Rivets (2-1) fell to the Fon du Lac Dock Spiders  2-1 in their road opener at Herr-Baker Field in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on Thursday night. This was Rockford’s first loss of the season but third-straight quality outing from their pitching staff.

The Rivets fell behind in the second inning and could never tie the score.. A sacrifice fly by Pat Sisk and an RBI double by Brad Hudson were all the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders needed to get the better of the Rivets.

Fond du Lac starting pitcher Zack Kesterson almost went the distance on the mound as he went 8.2 innings before having to exit the game because of the Northwoods League pitch count limit. Kesterson struck out ten Rivets in his time on the mound and only walked one.

Kesterson’s performance shutdown the Rivets offense after they scored 15 total runs in their past two games. Rockford manager Brian Smith was impressed with the performance by Kesterson after the game.

“Their pitcher did a great job tonight, keeping us off balance, he really dominated us with his off-speed stuff tonight,” Smith said. “So we just got to tip our cap, and hopefully a good round of BP tomorrow can get us going offensively.”

Rockford starting pitcher Matt Vanek, and relievers JT Baksha and Nolan Gazouski teamed together for a solid team pitching effort for the Rivets. The trio totaled seven strikeouts, one walk, and allowed seven hits. Vanek was saddled with the loss after 4.0 innings of work.

Garrett Goetz scored Rockford’s only run of the night on a sacrifice fly from Pat Loeffler in the top of fourth. Goetz was the only Rivet to record a multi-hit the game Thursday night.

The chances were not sparse for Rockford as they loaded the bases with one out in the first before being unable to cash the opportunity in. The other big chance was in the ninth when Goetz was on third with one out but was eventually thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice.

With the loss, the Rivets move to 2-1 on the young season. Rockford will play Fond du Lac in the final game of their two-game series Friday night to try and look to bounce back. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM at Herr-Baker Field.

Tickets for the Rockford Rivets are available for purchase, including our 5-Game Pack which now costs only $60. Tickets can be purchased by calling the 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. Now in its 25th anniversary season, 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, more than 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.rockfordrivets.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rivets as your favorite team.

Latest News