Battle Creek, Mi. – The Rockford Rivets (17-15) couldn’t overcome clutch batting by the Battle Creek Bombers (16-16) on Saturday night at C.O. Brown Stadium and lost by a score of 7-4.
Rockford was able to strike first on an RBI single by Wyatt Mascarella, and Hal Hughes followed that up with an RBI single of his own and the Rivets were up 2-0 after only one inning.
The tides turned when Jalen Thomas cleared the bases on a three-RBI double in the fourth to spur the Bombers back to a 4-2 lead.
Hughes and Cory Wright gave a glimmer of hope to the Rivets when they each scored runs in the top of the sixth, but a three-run bottom of the seventh was enough to put it away for the home team.
“You know it’s a game of momentum,” Rivets’ Manager Brian Smith said, “They had it, they kept it, we got it back, and they finished it.”
Chase Kueter started his sixth game of the season and allowed four runs in six innings while striking out four and not walking anybody. Brad Littleton made his debut for the Rivets and threw an inning, while Hunter Keim also threw an inning.
Hughes was the only Rivet with multiple hits on the day.
Rockford plays the Bombers again tomorrow at C.O. Brown Stadium to round out the two game series. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 CST.
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.
