Royal Oak tied its largest offensive output of the entire second half on Sunday, cruising to an 11-3 win over the Kokomo Jackrabbits.
“Feels great,” said Leprechauns head coach Jonathan Vance. “In all facets of the game right there, that was the best we can play.”
The last time Royal Oak reached the 11-run plateau was July 4, which was the second day of the second half of the season.
Oliver Service led the way, getting his first four-hit game since June 11, along with two RBIs.
“It feels great,” Service said. “It feels good to come back [from injury] and feel like myself again.”
Four Leprechauns ended up with multiple RBIs, including Service. Lucas Rick drew two bases-loaded walks on top of two hits. Jayden Lopez also drew a bases-loaded base on balls and had an RBI groundout. Tony Hatzigeorgiou ripped a two-out, two-RBI double in the sixth.
All the offense also came after the first nine Leprechaun hitters were retired to begin the ballgame. Royal Oak scored three runs in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings. Two more were tacked on in the eighth.
The offensive outburst almost overshadowed another gem from a starter. Brandon Gutierrez went 7.1 innings of two-run ball during just his second start of the summer. Both runs on his watch came during an attempted eighth inning of work.
“When you are in the field and you come right in and out, that’s a big thing,” Service said. “Especially in the first one or two innings, when you have a pitcher who’s just going out there and dealing and doing his thing, it only makes you want to hit more.”
“I was feeling pretty good,” Gutierrez said. “I was really able to get ahead on counts. It was really easy just to throw my curveball whenever I could, and then dominating with the fastball as much as I could.”
Gutierrez, who went five innings during his first start, said that he was not anticipating working that late into the game.
“That’s probably the longest I’ve gone in a minute,” Gutierrez said. “But it felt good to be out there for that long.”
The second straight victory over Kokomo propels the team back even in the win-loss column, at 33-33. Royal Oak has now clinched the season series against the Jackrabbits at 7-3 with two more matchups in the next two days. Kokomo has now dropped its last seven games overall.
Playoff hopes remain slim for the Leprechauns at 4.5 games back. It would likely require victories in the final six games of the season and a lot of help.
“Still alive here in this playoff hunt,” Vance said. “Just we gotta do what we can do to stay alive, and hopefully we get an opportunity to play some meaningful ballgames at the end.”
