Fond du Lac, Wis. – The Rockford Rivets (2-2) dropped a defensive battle against the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders 2-1 in walk off fashion on Friday night. Dock Spiders’ shortstop Alex Henwood walked on a full count with the bases loaded to drive home teammate Pat Sisk for the Rivets’ second straight 2-1 loss.
After taking an early lead in the second inning on a Tim Lilly sacrifice fly that scored Garrett Goetz, it was Rivets’ starting pitcher Cooper Cain’s turn to go on a tear on the mound striking out seven of the next eight batters. It was in the bottom of the fourth when Cain walked the Dock Spiders’ Chris Ayers who then worked his way around the base path later scoring on a wild pitch.
The Rivets had no problem getting on base as they totaled seven hits compared to Fond du Lac’s two, Rockford also had three walks, and one baserunner reached on an error. At the end of the game, they had left a total of seven men on base.
The Rivets had a scoring opportunity in the top of the ninth with runners on second and third but failed to drive anybody home. Manager Brian Smith talked about the struggles with situational batting after the game.
“We could have used a sac fly at some point in that game, I know we had runners at third base numerous times and weren’t able to execute,” Smith said, “You got to give credit to them, they put themselves in bad situations and got themselves out. We did for most of the night, until that ninth inning.”
Cain ended the game with ten strikeouts and only one hit allowed after his six innings of work. He then handed the ball off to reliever Hunter Keim who threw two scoreless innings, only allowing one hit.
The Rivets have only allowed five total runs in their first four games and while Smith is happy to continually have quality outings from his pitching staff, he knows they also should be getting more help from his offense.
“You just hope the when you give up five runs in four games, you’re not 2-2,” said Smith, “[The pitchers] are doing their job and the offense just has to pick up on their end, but that’s always what comes last in this league is the guys getting used to the wood bats.”
The Rivets look to get back to their winning ways tomorrow in Mequon, Wisconsin as they the take on the Lakeshore Chinooks (1-3). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 at Kapco Park.
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.
