For the second time this season, Traverse City scored 22 runs in a game against the Rivets to down Rockford 22-12 on Wednesday night at Rivets Stadium. The loss snaps a three game win streak for Rockford and brings their second half record to 11-15 with 10 games remaining.

The game started with a scoreless first inning for both sides, which was far from an indication of what was to come. 

Rockford starter Keegan McCarty (So, Lake Land College) surrendered a solo home run to Miguel Useche Canelo (R-Fr, College of Central Florida) in the top of the 2nd, but the Rivets responded with a Joaquin Monque (Fr, South Florida) RBI double in the bottom of the frame.

In the third inning, things started to turn for the worst for Rockford. After allowing back-to-back walks, an RBI double and then recording the first out of the frame, McCarty was forced to exit the game due to an injury in the middle of an at bat. 

Cade Turner (Fr, Kirkwood CC) came out of the bullpen first for the Rivets and allowed two walks and two hits – one of which being a two-run homer by Camden Traficante (Fr, Stetson) – which allowed five more runs to score in the frame. 

Rockford was determined to come back in the bottom of the inning, roaring back with five unearned runs to cut the lead to 7-6. Following an error by second baseman Mario Camilletti (R-Jr, Central Michigan), seven Rivets reached base with two outs in the inning. The rally was highlighted by two 2-RBI singles – one from Shemar Page (Jr, Louisiana Tech) and one from Monque.

From there on out, it was all Traverse City. The Spitters scored one in the 4th off Jared Herzog (Fr, Rockford), four in the 5th against Herzog and AJ Golembiewski (R-So, Illinois-Springfield), and five more in the 6th against Golembiewski to open a 17-6 lead. 

Golembiewski kept Traverse City off the board in the 7th and 8th, but the Rivets were shut down on the other side of the scorecard by Rockton native Aren Gustafson (Jr, Olivet Nazarene), who retired Rockford in order in his three innings of work. 

The scoring resumed in the top of the 9th, as Phil Matulia (Jr, Louisiana Tech) came in from center field to pitch in his final game of the summer. Matulia ran into some bad luck in the inning, as two defensive miscues were made in the field behind him, ultimately resulting in five unearned runs coming in to score.  

When Matulia recorded the final out of the inning, he threw his arms in the air in celebration – likely the highlight of the game for Rockford. 

Down 22-6, the Rivets attempted to come back in the bottom of the 9th, scoring 6 runs on RBIs from Conner Goodman (R-So, UW-Milwaukee), Jack Cavanaugh (R-Jr, UW-Milwaukee), Brody Harding (So, Illinois) and Johannes Haakenson (Jr, Concordia-Wisconsin), but ultimately fell short by 10 runs. 

Rockford will return to action tomorrow against the Lakeshore Chinooks in Mequon, Wisconsin at 6:35.