After the Rivets fell to the Kingfish by 10 runs on the road on Thursday night, Rockford exacted its revenge in the form of a 15-5 victory over Kenosha on Friday night at Rivets Stadium. 

The win improves Rockford’s record to 14-20 in the second half and 29-40 overall with one game remaining in the campaign. 

Rivets starter Brendan Lawry (So, Eckherd College) surrendered a first inning run on a sacrifice fly, but his teammates backed him up in the bottom of the 1st. 

Rockford loaded the bases with no outs and Kevin Bushnell (Jr, Bennidictine) cleared them with one swing, lacing a 3-RBI double into the gap in right center to give the Rivets the lead. 

Lawry settled in, keeping the Kingfish off the scoreboard in four straight innings, while the Rivets’ bats continued to roll. 

Rockford struck with another big inning in the 3rd, posting six runs. The big blow in the inning came on a bases-loaded single to center by Johannes Haakenson (Jr, Concordia-Wisconsin), which center fielder Cam Collier (Fr, South Florida) booted. The error allowed Haakenson to circle the bases for a little league grand slam to break the game open. 

In the 4th, the Rivets scored two more times thanks to a Jack Cavanaugh (R-Jr, UW-Milwaukee) RBI and a wild pitch that scored Joaquin Monque (Fr, South Florida) to push the lead to 11-1. 

Kenosha would crack Lawry in the 5th, as Matt Korman (R-Jr, UW-Whitewater) belted a grand slam to left field to cut the deficit to 11-5. That would be the last runs of the game for the Kingfish, as Lawry bounced back with a scoreless 6th. 

Ty Rybarczyk (So, Illinois) came on for the 7th and dominated, striking out two batters. Following two unearned runs in the bottom of the 7th for Rockford, Rybarczyk came back out for the 8th and struck out three Kingfish.

The Rivets had some fun in the bottom of the 8th, as relief pitcher Elijah Sanchez (Jr, Northern Illinois) led off the inning and ripped a double down the left field line. The former Christian Life standout eventually scored from third base on a sacrifice fly to shallow right by DJ Noble (Fr, South Suburban College) for Rockford’s final run of the game. 

Brett Taucher (R-Jr, Quincy) hurled a scoreless top of the 9th to seal the victory for Rockford. 

Tomorrow night, the Rivets will wrap up their 2021 season with another matchup at home against the Kingfish at 6:05.