LOVES PARK, Ill. – The Rockford Rivets defeated Fond du Lac by a score of 7-2 Thursday night at Rivets Stadium to complete the two game sweep of the Dock Spiders.
Rockford pitcher Cooper Cain continued his success on the mound and got his first win of the season while giving up no runs and just three hits in seven innings pitched. Cain’s performance earned him Northwoods League Pitcher of the Night for his second straight start.
In his last outing, he earned Northwoods Pitcher of the Night honors when he managed to strikeout 10 Dock Spiders in six innings pitched on June 1. Rivets manager Brian Smith was more than happy with Cain in his second meeting with Fond du Lac.
“He did a great job, his second time through against Fond du Lac and he made a lot of adjustments,” Smith said. “Not being the same pitcher as he was last week and that’s what made him be so successful tonight.”
The Rivets struck early when left fielder Parker Bates hit a two run homerun to put them ahead. The Louisiana Tech outfielder took the first pitch he saw in a Rivets uniform and hit a moonshot over the right field wall to put Rockford in front 2-0 early.
Bates continued the trend in the bottom of the third and hit an RBI double to score center fielder Brennan Reback and push the lead to 3-0. Bates finished the game with two hits, three RBIs and two runs. His big night earned him Northwoods Player of the Night honors.
Smith said he knew what he was getting when he heard Bates would be playing in a Rockford uniform this summer.
“We knew coming in that he was going to be one of our better offensive players,” Smith said. “He drove 12 hours two days ago to get here so we wanted to give him a day yesterday to get him some rest and to get acclimated. He’s here and ready to work, we needed that good early run and he got it for us.”
First baseman Braden Mosley also finished with two hits, a run and a stolen base. As a team, the Rivets finished with nine hits total.
Rockford will hit the road tomorrow and face the Lakeshore before returning home on Saturday to finish the two game series with the Chinooks in Rockford.
Tickets for the Rockford Rivets are available for purchase, including our 5-Game Pack which now costs only $60. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Rivets’ Ticket Office at (815) 240-4159.
The Rockford Rivets are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.rockfordrivets.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rivets as your favorite team.