By: Larry Larson

The Rockford Rivets once again fell victim to early runs allowed, and lost 11-7 to the Lakeshore Chinooks after giving up five runs in the 1st inning at Rivets Stadium on Thursday night.

The loss drops the Rivets to 8-9 on the season.

In his first start in Rockford, Shemar Page (Jr, Louisiana Tech) surrendered five runs on five hits in the first inning, including a two-run home run to Dalton Doyle. With the first inning runs, the Rivets pitching staff has now surrendered 48 runs in the first two innings of games this season.

Rockford responded with one run in the bottom half on a sacrifice fly by Wade Elliott (So, Louisiana Tech) to cut the lead to 5-1.

After scoring one more run in the 3rd inning, the Chinooks would light up Rockford for 3 more runs in the 4th – all unearned – to push their lead to 9-1.

The Rivets would make a comeback push, responding with two tallies in the bottom of the 4th on RBI singles from Jared Cushing (R-Fr, Xavier) and Max Malley (So, Evansville).

After Lakeshore pushed across another run in the 5th, the Screws scored three more times in the 6th, including an RBI knock from Jake Donahue (Fr, Central Michigan), to cut the lead to 10-6.

In the 8th, the Chinooks added some insurance on a home run by Riley Swenson off of Ben Vitas (Fr, Central Michigan). The longball was the lone blemish on Vitas’ relief outing, as the Shorewood, Illinois native ate 4 innings without allowing another run.

Rockford would score once in the bottom of the 9th on a hard-hit ball by Cushing, which resulted in an error and Elliott scoring from third, but it was too little, too late, as the Rivets couldn’t complete the comeback.

Page would be charged with the loss, allowing 5 earned runs in two innings.

The Rivets and Chinooks will have a rematch tomorrow night at 6:35 at Kapco Park, before heading to Wausau for two games with the Wisconsin Woodchucks.