{"id":17760,"date":"2025-08-08T22:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T03:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rockford-rivets\/?p=17760"},"modified":"2025-08-08T22:46:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T03:46:35","slug":"rivets-blown-out-by-kingfish-in-2025-home-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rockford-rivets\/2025\/08\/08\/rivets-blown-out-by-kingfish-in-2025-home-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"Rivets Blown Out by Kingfish in 2025 Home Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By: Niall Rosenberg<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">ROCKFORD, Ill. \u2014 The postgame fireworks capped off a rollercoaster season in Rockford.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The final home game of the 2025 season for the Rockford Rivets (13-23) was a blow out loss to the Kenosha Kingfish (16-19). The loss finished a turbulent season in Loves Park that saw Rockford have two separate managers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Head Coach Griffin Smith reflected on his opportunity to coach this squad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cRockford will always have a special place in my heart,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey gave a chance on a 24-year-old kid. It means a lot to me, the support I got when I took over was awesome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kenosha started out hot at the top of the first. James Davis Gaston (West Alabama) struggled mightily with his control. The first six Kingfish batters reached base to open the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Two wild pitches allowed the first scores of the game. A two-RBI double and an RBI single brought the Rivets down 5-0 to end the inning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis Gaston didn\u2019t last the full first inning. The right-hander had many problems with his command, giving up five earned runs on four hits and three walks while striking out three.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Rivets came back with one of their own at the bottom of the first. Two were hit by pitches and a walk loaded the bases to begin the inning. A sacrifice fly from Collin Taylor (Los Angeles Valley) scored the first Rivets\u2019 run of the game. Rockford was unable to score any more in the inning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kenosha regained the five-run lead with the first two batters in the top of the second. Alex Easton (Rockford) came in relief of Davis Gaston and struggled himself. An RBI double followed a leadoff double to make it 6-1. The Kingfish were not done there, an RBI double and a three-run home run blew the game wide open, making it 10-1.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tate Shimao (Hawaii) added his 40th RBI of the season in the bottom of the second, with an RBI single to score Kenny Hirschfeld (Lackawanna).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Kingfish kept taking advantage of Rivets\u2019 pitching, this time it was Ty Horkan (Keiser). In the top of the fourth, Kenosha opened the inning with two walks and a single to load the bases. An RBI single added the 11th run of the ballgame for the Kingfish.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They didn\u2019t stop there, another RBI single and a RBI walk added two more runs. If things couldn\u2019t get worse for the Rivets, a RBI fielder\u2019s choice and a two-RBI single added the 14th, 15th and 16th runs of the game for Kenosha.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Rivets added its third run of the ballgame with a Taylor sacrifice fly to left that scored Shimao.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Kingfish kept pouring on the runs, with () in the top of the seventh. Two walks and a single loaded the bases, and a RBI hit by pitch scored the first run of the inning. A walk and a sacrifice fly scored two more to bring Kenosha\u2019s run total to 19.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nick Williams of the Kingfish rubbed salt into the wounds. He jacked a three-run bomb for Kenosha\u2019s second of the game. Kenosha now had 22 runs to end the eighth inning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the second straight night, Gavin Taylor (Nevada Las Vegas) homered. After a double from Shimao, Taylor jacked a two-run home run to left. He had seven RBIs in the final two games at Rivets stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ninth inning saw the Rivets go 1-2-3 for the final time this season. The Rivets get blown out in the last game at home of the 2025 season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">An emotional Smith had one final message for Rivets Nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThank you for the support,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBecasue as many ups and downs we\u2019ve had, the fact that there\u2019s still people out here supporting and that are invested in the guys. If I get the opportunity to come back next year, it\u2019s going to be a really good one.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Rivets will play one final game tomorrow night against the Kingfish in Kenosha at 6:35 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fans can purchase tickets to Rivets games all season long at <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rockfordrivets.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">www.rockfordrivets.com.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">###<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Rockford Rivets are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Now in its\u2019 31st season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in history with 26 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, 360 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (TEX), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (STL) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (ATL). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019\/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2023 World Series Champion, MLB All-Star, MLB Gold Glove winner and two-time All-MLB first team shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). League games are viewable live on Northwoods League+ (at watch.northwoodsleague.com), ESPN+, and the Northwoods League Network.\u00a0 Learn more and find complete streaming schedules at watchnwl.com. For more information, visit <\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rockfordrivets.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">www.rockfordrivets.com<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 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.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Niall Rosenberg ROCKFORD, Ill. \u2014 The postgame fireworks capped off a rollercoaster season in Rockford. &nbsp; The final home  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":17761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - 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