By: Emily Tuttle

ROCKFORD, Ill. — The Rockford Rivets returned home, giving away free hats to the first 500 fans though the gates, as they looked to do some duck hunting against the Madison Mallards. Unfortunately, the Mallards had a different idea, extending their win streak to six and beating the Rivets 10-0 behind the electric pitching of Ckyler Tengler. 

The Rivets weren’t able to get anything going against Tengler, who retired 17 straight batters. He dominated the night, carrying his team on his back as he gave no room for the Rivets to get on base and gain momentum. 

He had eight strikeouts with only two hits and giving away zero walks or runs. He helped shut out the Rivets in a performance that could likely win him Northwoods League Pitcher of the Night. 

The Rivets got two runners on in the first with a Bryce Nevils (John A. Logan CC) single and when Caleb Rhodes (Olive-Harvey CC) got hit by a pitch. Those two were both stranded, and no other Rivets batters reached base until when Rhodes singled in the bottom of the seventh. The Rivets only totalled three hits on the night, the other being off the bat of Alex Tabbert (Harper CC) in the eighth before being stranded. 

Baris Brua (UW-OshKosh) started on the mound tonight, going scoreless through his first four innings. In fifth, though, Brua lost his control and faced nine batters. He started off with a walk, gave up a double then an error in center allowed a run to score. The inning continued, and by the time it was done, the Mallards were up five.

What looked like it could be a low scoring pitching duel in the first couple of innings turned for the worse for the Rivets. 

Brua finished his five innings with four runs, but only one of them earned. He dosed out three walks and threw two strikeouts. After that, it was a revolving door of pitchers, each going only one inning. 

The Rivets defense struggled with three errors, matching their hit total for the night. Beau Bloxdorf (Madison College) had two at short, and Connor Kave’s (Harper CC) in center allowed the first run to score. 

But the Rivs defense did make some strong plays, turning four double plays. One of them was taken care of by Rhodes alone, as he grabbed the line out and stepped on first to put two men out and end the inning. 

Tonight game, though, is one that the Rivets will hope to forget about before they turn around and hope to split the series against the Mallards on Saturday at 6:35 pm. 

“Hopefully tomorrow’s a little different day,” Rivets manager Bob Koopmann said. “Hopefully we can turn it on them.”