By: Emily Tuttle

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Rockford Rivets (12-20), in the second game of a quick stop in Rochester, continued in their theme for the season—winning game one and losing game two in a series. The Rivets let the game get away in the middle and end innings when the Honkers bats got hot, ultimately dropping 15-9 to the Rochester Honkers (17-13). 

The Rivets started off slow in the first two innings, going three up and three down in both of them. The leadoff walk by Connor Kave (Harper CC) was quickly dealt with by the Honkers’ defense who turned a double play. 

The Honkers, on the other hand, took advantage of a Rivets error in the first. An error at third allowed a runner to reach, who then stole a base and came home on an RBI single. 

In the third inning, the Rivets got on the board when Bryk Barnard (GateWay CC) led off with a single, then Kave continued his hot streak and drove him in on a single. They were unable to stack any runs, though as Alex Tabbert (Harper CC) lined into another double play to end the inning. 

For a brief moment in the fourth, the Rivets took the lead on an off-the-scoreboard moon shot from Davis Collie (John A. Logan CC). But unfortunately, it wouldn’t last long. 

Gus Allred (University of Northern Colorado) started on the mound for the Rivs, going three innings with two strikeouts and one unearned run. He did not walk a batter in his innings. Ammon Shaul (GateWay CC) went just one inning in the fourth when the game started to slip from his grasp. He entered the fifth, facing six batters and gaining no outs. 

Beginning the fifth, a Honkers runner got caught in a run down trying to steal second. After a faulty throw from Shaul on an error, the runner made it safely. That set up the next batter for a three-run homer–one of four on the day. 

George Gouriotis (Edgewood College) entered for Shaul with no outs in the fifth, two Rivets errors and two men on. Shaul finished his outing with eight runs, six of them earned, four walks and a single strikeout. He was also called for balks, a recurring issue this season despite his success picking runners off at first. 

Zan Von Schlegell (University of St. Thomas) did it all for the Rivets today, one of his highlights being a three run homer in the sixth. He also had multiple diving catches at third, throwing across the diamond to turn a putout. In the eighth, his defense saved what could have been a double and turned it into a groundout. 

The top of the eighth featured two doubles for the Rivets, off the bats of Collie and Barnard. These doubles propelled four runs in the eighth, the most by the Rivets in any one inning today. 

But Rochester, leading the league with 42 homers this season, contoinued to flex its power and added four of them today. In the bottom of the seventh, the Honkers hit a three run shot, and removed all doubt with back to back two-out home runs in the bottom of the eighth—putting the nail in the Rivets coffin. 

The Rivets will look to bounce back in game one of a series against the Madison Mallards on Friday at 6:35 pm.