Published On: July 12th, 2023

The Rockford Rivets headed up north of the state line to take on the Lakeshore Chinooks in a double header to complete the Border Battle between the two rivals. Both games were tightly contested but in the end the Chinooks were able to jump out to an early lead and fight of a late inning comeback in both games.

In game 1 the Rivets struck first scoring a run in the second inning but that all changed when the Kingfish erupted for a 5-run 4th inning capped by pitching struggles and a home run by recent MLB draftee Avery Owusu-Asiedu. Despite this big inning, the Rivets did not give up scoring runs in the 5th and 7th innings. Unfortunately it was not enough as the comeback fell short in the 5-4 loss but Rockford showed grit as they fought back despite their struggles in the bottom of the 5th and otherwise played a sound game.

Game 2 seemed to follow a similar script as game one, only lacking some of the explosive plays that highlighted game 1. Once again the Kingfish took the lead early, scoring all of their runs in one inning, and the Rivets mounted a comeback late but again it was too little too late. In the 3rd inning the Rivets again struggled both on the mound and in the field as a combination of errors and walks accumulated to the 3 run inning by the Kingfish.

Overall both teams fought hard over the long 14 innings of baseball Sunday and ended the Border Battle rivalry in a 2-2 draw. As the Kingfish took this double header as the beginning of a streak, the Rivets lost some momentum and look to turn that around as they play a short series in Fond du Lac early this week.

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