The Rivets stumbled on Sunday afternoon taking a 7-4 loss to the Kokomo Jackrabbits, who now are tied with the Kalamazoo Growlers for the division lead. Rockford is tied for the number 2 spot.
Kokomo came out firing when Jeff Timko hit an RBI double in the first inning, to give the Jackrabbits an early mark on the scoreboard.
The second inning was even more productive for Kokomo with a total of 3 more runs tacked on. The inning highlight occurred when center fielder Denzel Clark stepped into the box with two men on base. Clark drove a bullet to the left-field wall, and dug in with a 2 RBI triple. Clark then scored on a single by Logan Jarvis.
The second inning was full of frustration for the screw crew. After a 3 run inning by Kokomo, starting pitcher Cory Wright suffered an apparent injury, and left the game in obvious pain. Little information is known on Wright’s condition at this time. Kyle Seebach finished the inning in relief for Rockford.
Rob Marinec doubled to lead off the bottom of the second, followed by a first pitch crack of the bat by Aaron Mann to drive in Rockford’s first run.
Seebach was a bright spot yet again, pitching a 3 up, 3 down third inning.
Dylan Dohanos singled in the fourth, but reached third base on an Andrew Wilhite error in left field. Evan Albrecht drove in two before being thrown out and 2nd base after a wide rounding of the bag. The score was then 6-1 Kokomo.
Nathan Scheiderman was pitcher number 3 in the contest for the Rivets. He entered the game, and threw a 1-2-3 inning to fend off the Jackrabbits for a short time.
In the fifth, lead off man Rob Marinec singled to left, followed by a big single to center field by the newcomer from the University of Illinois, Josh Dutton. An infield single for Nick Figus loaded the bases for Rockford, then Tim Lilly stepped into the box with two down. Lilly went behind in the count quickly, but was then hit by the 0-2 delivery to drive in a run.
Rockford and Kokomo collectively left a plethora of runners stranded on the day.
In the eighth inning, Kokomo’s Denzel Clark delivered yet again, but this time on the defensive side of the ball. Clark robbed Nick Figus of a solo home run to straightaway center after reaching, and hauling in the ball from beyond the wall.
Joe Dittmar entered the game to close for Rockford, allowing a lead off walk to Evan Albrecht. Albrecht stole second base, then reached third on a wild pitch. Another wild pitch by Dittmar allowed Albrecht to score, and provided some insurance for Kokomo.
The Jackrabbits held on tight and took the contest as an added mark to their win column.
Rockford will challenge the Jackrabbits for game two on Monday at 6:35 PM.
The Rockford Rivets are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 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 (MIA). 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.
