The Rockford Rivets pulled out the win in extras on Thursday in Rockford and beat the Battle Creek Bombers by a score of 3-2.
After going fourteen innings the previous night, and losing to the first place Madison Mallards, the Rivets managed to win in walk off fashion when second baseman Joe Butler hit a bloop single to right field to score Rivet’s left fielder Ryan Cole in the eleventh inning.
Butler’s hit seemed to loom in the air forever, and off the bat it appeared to be an easy fly out to right field. However, the wind seemed to carry the ball and it barely landed in fair territory after a diving attempt from the Bomber’s right fielder.
Rivet’s manager Brian Smith was happy that this time around things worked out for his team in extra innings.
“Butler did a good job putting a swing on it and the wind made it very difficult for that right fielder, who almost made that catch,” Smith said. “I am glad it went our way tonight.”
Butler finished the game with two hits and the game winning RBI, while Cole reached base four times on three walks and a hit. Infielders Hal Hughes and Mason Templet also added two hits a piece.
Evan Snyder was on the mound for the Rivets and pitched six innings while striking out seven and allowing two earned runs. Tyler Thornton made his first appearance for the Rivets tonight in relief and went three innings while recording four strikeouts and allowing no runs. Luke Anderson pitched both innings in extras and picked up the win for the Rivets.
In yet another low scoring game, Smith was happy with the overall pitching performance from his team.
“Evan did a great job tonight despite losing some command there in the middle innings,” Smith said. “Luke Anderson and Tyler Thornton did a great job today. Tyler’s first day was today and he came in and pumped the strike zone.”
The Rivets will wrap up their series with Battle Creek tomorrow at home when they take on the Bombers at 6:35 pm.
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.