By Grant Montgomery
The Rockford Rivets were defeated by the visiting Kokomo Jackrabbits with a score of 8-3 in Monday Night’s matchup. This completes the sweep for the Jackrabbits.
Early on, the Rivets were in control with Jimmy Burnette on the mound. Burnette had retired the first 9 batters he faced, with his only hiccup coming in the 4th inning. Back to back singles by Logan Jarvis and Evan Albrecht set the table for the bases clearing triple by Jeff Timko. After this point, Burnette sat down the last 9 batters he faced, including a stretch of 6 straight strikeouts. He finished the night with 6 IP and 9 punch outs.
Though Burnett’s outing was more than serviceable, the bullpen was unable to perform down the stretch. After Burnette’s exit, Anthony Holubecki entered the game in a clean inning. Following the leadoff walk, Holubecki sat down the next two batters before allowing two earned runs. The Rivets bullpen then went on to allow three more runs putting the game out of reach.
Even with the bullpen woes, Rob Marinec and Matt Higgins were able to fill up the stat sheet on offense. Leading off the bottom of the second inning, Marinec singled out to left field. This resulted in a ground rule double down the right field line by Matt Higgins. Marinec went on to score on the RBI groundout by Josh Dudden.
Despite the tough loss, the Rivets look to move on from this sweep as they face the Kenosha Kingfish in their next series. The two teams play a home/road double header on June 11th. Following these matchups, Kenosha will host Rockford on June 12th while sending the series finale back to Rockford.
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.
