By Larry Larson<\/p>\n
Winnebago native Jace Warkentien (R-Jr, Western Illinois) went out in a big way in his final start of the summer, helping Rockford snap its 5-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over Battle Creek.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Warkentien went 7.1 innings, allowing just one run on nine hits and four strikeouts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Rivets started the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd, as Brian Fuentes (R-Fr, Indiana State) dashed home from third on a wild pitch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Warkentien nearly lost the shutout in the top of the 4th inning as Heath Hood (So, Tyler Junior College) lined a single into right field and Aaron Beck (R-Jr, Indiana State) attempted to score from 2nd base. Rivets rightfielder Cam McDonald (R-So, Illinois) fired a strike to home plate, where catcher Grant Magill (R-Fr, Indiana State) applied a swift tag to preserve the 1-0 lead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the bottom half, Rockford would increase its lead to 2-0 with an RBI single by Greg Ziegler (So, Missouri State).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n From there, it was the Jace Warkentien show, as the lefty cruised until the 7th inning – when the Bombers would threaten again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After setting down the first two batters on strikes, Warkentien surrendered back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases. Facing the leadoff man Ed Johnson (So, Tennessee Tech), Warkentien induced a popup to center to avert any damage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With his pitch count into the 90s, Warkentien headed back out for the 8th and recorded the first out on one pitch, but allowed a single and a double to put the go-ahead run at the plate and was subsequently removed to a standing ovation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Elijah Sanchez (Jr, NIU) came on in relief and allowed a single to Harold Coll (Fr, San Jacinto College) to cut the lead to 2-1. The Rockford native would bounce back to strikeout back-to-back hitters to preserve the lead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the bottom of the 8th, the Rivets pushed across two insurance runs as McDonald scored on a passed ball and Jake Donahue (Fr, CMU) picked up an RBI single to push the score to 4-1.<\/span><\/p>\n Closer Tucker Shalley (Fr, Illinois) came on for the save in the 9th and worked around a one out walk to slam the door.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With the victory, Rockford improves to 14-18 with four games remaining in the first half. Warkentien earned the victory, finishing his summer with a record of 2-2.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Rivets will start a six game road trip tomorrow with a 5:35 CT matchup with Kalamazoo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Larry Larson Winnebago native Jace Warkentien (R-Jr, Western Illinois) went out in a big way in his final start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":4997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-team-news","category-update-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\n