The Rockford Rivets fell to the visiting Battle Creek Bombers on Tuesday night as the final score was 9-8. Pitchers of record on the evening were Sawyer Allen with the win and Cory Wright with the loss. Their records now sit at 1-0 and 0-3 respectively.
It was an offensive contest to say the least, with a total of 17 runs being scored between the two teams. The Bombers got things started early when they scored three runs in the 2nd inning off starter Cory Wright for the Rivets.
Entering the 9th, the score was 9-5 Bombers, and the Rivets certainly made things interesting. Back to back walks by Jonny Butler and Jake Vander Wal set the table for Rockford, as they were able to score three in the inning to ultimately come up short on the evening by one run. The rally was somewhat halted when Vander Wal was thrown out at third base while trying to advance on a wild pitch. As runs go, this could have put the Rivets in even better position to come up with the tying run in the 9th. Nonetheless, Bombers closer Beaux Bonvillan was called on to record the final out of the game to get his sixth save of the season.
Cory Wright was on the hill to start for Rockford as he was making his seventh appearance. He was on a low stress pitch count, as Rivets pitching coach mentioned before the game that his workload would be managed around the 80 pitch mark. His pitched five innings on the night while allowing five runs (two earned), and striking out three. His ERA now sits at 4.35 on the season across 20.2 innings.
Caleb Durbin and Tom Josten were present in the stat sheet for the Rivets as they each recorded multi-hit games on the night. Newcomer to the roster Anthony Fumigalli also had a productive night driving in three runs.
Rivets are back in action tomorrow night against the same Battle Creek club as they still find themselves five games out of the standings regarding the second half playoff hunt.
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.
