By: Emily Tuttle

ROCKFORD, Ill. — The Rockford Rivets (4-5) came home to their home field for the first time in over a week, ready to defend the diamond against the Traverse City Pit Spitters (8-2). The Rivets let up another large inning, this time in the fifth, and had to fight their way back the rest of the game. They ultimately dropped the game 9-5 to the Pit Spitters. 

The Rivets continued, similar to last night, fighting back and forth for the first couple of innings. The Rivets added one early when Zan Von Schlegell (University of St. Thomas) scored on an RBI double play. Bryk Barnard (GateWay CC) drove in the run before a flyout ended the inning. 

Right-hander Keith Eusebio (Paradise Valley CC) got another start on the mound. He had a couple of tough outings to follow up, with both of his last two ending in complete games. Tonight, he went five innings. In his first four, he allowed a smattering of hits, but no runs came home. 

In the fifth, though, as has frequently been the case, the runs compounded for the Pit Spitters, and the Rivets lost control. Eusebio allowed a single, then a double before throwing a wild pitch. Just like that, the Pit Spitters were ahead 2-1. They had their foot on the gas with no intention of taking it off. 

When the inning was finally said and done, the Pit Spitters came across home plate six times, and Eusebio left the game. He finished with six runs, but only two of them were earned. He had five strikeouts and gave out three walks. 

Compared to recent games, the Rivets’ pitching staff walked fewer tonight, with six. 

But this time, the defense struggled to keep up its end of the deal. Both the Pit Spitters and the Rivets combined had ten errors, with five of them belonging to each team. 

Consecutive in the top of the fifth led to two Pit Spitters scoring, and the other three errors all occurred in the top of the eighth. 

In the seventh, the speedy Connor Kave (Harper CC) led off with a triple before Barnard brought him home with a sac fly. Barnard totaled three RBIs against the Pit Spitters. Alex Tabbert (Harper CC) also belted in an RBI single to score Joey Appino (Carroll University) in the seventh, who reached via an error.

Kave continues to be productive for the Rivets, tonight at the plate going 3-for-4 with a walk. His only out was on the final play of the game when he was nearly beaten out by a grounder. Von Schlegell also had three hits, with the entire offense totaling 10.

The Rivets came to play on the offensive side of the ball, but even adding a couple runs in the ninth, were unable to ward off the Pit Spitters or recover their deficit.

The Pit Spitters will stay in town, dueling out the second game of the series on Wednesday at 6:35 pm at Rivets Stadium.