MEQUON, Wis. – The Lakeshore Chinooks used a big first inning, and put the game away with a bigger sixth inning to beat the Rockford Rivets, 6-3, on Tuesday afternoon at Kapco Park.
The Chinooks struck with two outs in the first inning. Zac Taylor was hit by a pitch, and Kurtis Brown, Darius Sewell, and Owen Miller followed with singles for a 2-0 lead. The Chinooks added a run in the third on a RBI single by Brown.
That score stood until the fourth, when Ricardo Ramirez hit a ground-rule double to right center field and scored on an error by Lakeshore second baseman Royce Ando. The Rivets scored in the fifth inning on a RBI walk by Ramirez, but Lakeshore responded for three runs on five hits in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach for Rockford.
Lakeshore righthander Luke Sommerfeld (1-0) pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for the win. Starter Cole Genetz left with the lead, but didn’t pitch five innings to qualify for the win. Zach Reeg picked up the save with a routine ninth inning.
Rockford starter Zachary Aring (0-1) did not return after a 36-pitch first inning, per Northwoods League rule, and suffered the loss.
The Rivets will begin a four game series against the Kenosha Kingfish Monday night at 6:35 at Rivets Stadium. Broadcasts and live streams can be found at NorthwoodsLeague.com.
Rockford is a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League, which will play its 23rd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2016. The Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 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 150 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (Washington Nationals) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (Chicago White Sox), Jordan Zimmermann (Detroit Tigers), Curtis Granderson (New York Mets), Lucas Duda (Mets) and Ben Zobrist (Chicago Cubs). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website, NorthwoodsLeague.com. For more information, visit RockfordRivets.com.
