By: Emily Tuttle
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The Rockford Rivets (10-11) completed their nine-game road trip in game two of a series against the Traverse City Pit Spitters (15-8) and ended their six-game losing streak. It was the Allred brothers, Gus and Hank, who dealt on the mound to lead the Rivets to a 6-4 victory.
The Screws again struck in the top of the first as Alex Tabbert (University of Illinois Chicago) led off with a single. Miguel Cantu (Missouri Western State University) followed suit, and Joey Appino (Carroll University) advanced the runners with a fly out. Zan von Schlegell (University of St. Thomas) also flew out deep, his an RBI that brought home Tabbert.
The Pit Spitters, looking to keep the game neck and neck once again, led off with two bunt singles from the Kucharczyk brothers. Two RBI followed, coming in the form of a single and a sac fly. By the end of the inning, the Pit Spitters had four hits and three runs.
But Keith Eusebio (Paradise Valley CC), standing on the mound versus the Pit Spitters last night, showed his two-way prowess this evening. He led off the second with a double to the center field wall, and crossed the dish thanks to a Coby Neville (Paradise Valley CC) RBI single.
Left-hander Gus Allred (University of Northern Colorado) was dealing from the mound tonight. He tossed for seven solid innings, demonstrating efficiency, composure and command. After allowing four hits in the first inning, Allred retired the next 11 batters in a row.
His ability to work deep into the game allowed the Rivets hitters to regain the lead after the first, as Allred helped put zeros up for six consecutive innings. He finished with zero walks, two strikeouts and three earned runs, which all came in the first.
The Rivs hitters fought at the dish tonight, with more than seven of them working full counts. Back-to-back full counts started the fifth inning, with von Schlegell’s ending in a walk. Bryce Nevils (McNeese State University) came in for von Schlegell, who got injured stealing second.
Then Jackson Forbes (University of San Diego) followed up with a single, bringing Nevils to third. Eusebio continued his strong hitting, bringing Nevils home safely after the Pit Spitters catcher dropped the ball on the tag. The seemingly odd play tied the ball game 3-3.
And the Rivets continued to score unanswered runs in the sixth. Neville singled to leadoff the inning before Sam Moses’ (Madison CC) bunt single and a Pit Spitters error allowed Neville to score.
In the bottom of the eighth, Gus finished his exceptional outing, poetically handing the ball off to his brother, Hank Allred (Alcorn State University).
Hank worked through four batters in the eighth, striking out two.
Though Nevils wasn’t originally in the lineup tonight, he led off the ninth with a standup triple and demonstrated his speed. Then Forbes, the late-game legend, belted an RBI single, and Eusebio followed with an RBI sac fly. The Rivets extended their lead and headed to the bottom of the inning hoping to hold onto it.
Hank gave out two free passes in the ninth and two runners were in scoring position with one out. But then a foul ball bounced off the glove of Ashton Zacher (Lamar University), and Nevils dove to catch it off the bounce. His miraculous catch made the second out and contributed to the first Rivets win in six games.
The Screws will finally head home after their nine-game road stint, facing off against the Kenosha Kingfish for a doubleheader on Tuesday at 5:05 pm and 8:35 pm at Rivets Stadium.