By Grant Montgomery
The Rockford Rivets take down the visiting Battle Creek Bombers by a score of 10-2. This extends their win streak to two games, as the offensive explosion for the Rivets continued.
Rockford’s offense was on full display on Tuesday night, as they racked up ten runs on thirteen hits, in which six starters recorded multi-hit games. Manager Josh Keim had praise once again for the offensive explosion, saying, “The bats are still there, the overall approach we have had recently is very positive. We took great swings early, which lead to timely hitting.”
In the middle of the Rivets lineup, left fielder Matt Higgins was at it again at the dish. In the bottom of the 6th inning, Higgins launched a pitch over the right field wall for his first home run of the season. He has been in a nice stretch of games recently, recording hits in seven of his last eight games, while knocking in six runs over that span. “That’s a guy that is going to be out there everyday for us. I still believe he is one of the best hitters in this league. He always has a mature approach at the plate, and he is never out of an at-bat” Keim said when speaking about Higgins.
Perhaps another offensive bright spot for Rockford was center fielder Cam McDonald. Since joining the team on June 13th, he has notched base hits in all five games he’s played with eight runs batted in. During Tuesday’s game, he was 2-5 with a double, triple, and three RBI.
Following a masterful performance during last week’s game, Brad Littleton of Lewis University was outstanding again. After getting into some trouble early on with runs allowed in the first and second inning, he was able to settle in and finish the night with a quality start. When asked about how Littleton has been able to stay in such a strong groove as of late, his manager said, “After he settled in, he was able to change speeds and turn into the Brad we know. He’s fun to watch pitch, he doesn’t allow much hard contact, and even in those first two innings, he was able to limit the production on their end.” Littleton’s final line on the night was 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER and 6 K.
Following the Rivets home win against the Bombers, they now sit at 11-10 through 21 games on the young season. Rockford looks to extend their win streak to three games as they take on the Bombers in the series finale on Wednesday, June 19th.
The Rockford Rivets are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 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 (MIA). 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.