The Royal Oak Leprechauns overcame an eighth-inning deficit for the third time in their last four games, as the team took down the Kenosha Kingfish 9-6 on Friday night.
After Kenosha took its first lead of the game in the top of that frame via four walks and a hit by pitch, the Leprechauns became the beneficiaries of free passes themselves. Royal Oak plated four in the bottom of the eighth on just one hit, five walks and a hit by pitch. The Leprechauns have scored 16 runs in the eighth inning alone this season and have plated at least one in all five games.
“That just might be our good luck charm,” Royal Oak field manager Chris Faust said after the game about the eighth innings. “Just turn it on in the eighth, man… This team just likes to play. I know (I say this a lot), but they stay in the game the whole time. We’re never out of a game.”
In total, 25 combined walks or hit by pitches were handed out by the two pitching staffs (20 walks, five HBPs).
Royal Oak has now won four straight games, all within three runs or less. Its 4-1 record through five games is the inverse of the team’s 1-4 start during its inaugural season in the Northwoods League.
Another trend that includes the consistent eighth-inning surges is that the team is also scoring many of its runs in the later innings of games. On Friday, eight of the team’s nine runs were in the back four innings. Royal Oak scored three runs in the fifth inning despite the bases being empty with two outs after three straight singles and a couple wild pitches. In the seventh, the Leprechauns added another after Ryan Tyranski came around to score via a Chase Van Ameyde RBI single.
Offensively, every single player contributed for Royal Oak. The first six members of the batting order recorded a base hit, and all 10 players that saw a plate appearance reached base at least once.
As for the pitching staff, Eastern Michigan’s Cal Rutherford gave the Leprechauns a nice start on the mound. Rutherford was one of the few hurlers that was able to pound the strike zone consistently, as he delivered four scoreless innings and allowed only one hit and one walk.
After that, Royal Oak’s next four relievers combined to walk nine batters over the next 3.1 innings, which is largely how Kenosha was able to overcome a 4-1 deficit following the fifth inning. In fairness, Kenosha’s relievers returning the favor was also a factor in the Leprechauns getting the lead (and then the win) back.
To end it, Royal Oak’s starting shortstop on Friday, Tristan Crane, ended up being the other guy to fill up the zone. Crane had pitched a good bit during his freshman year at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and got the win during his first appearance on the mound for the Leprechauns. He recorded all five of his outs via strikeout, walking just one in comparison and allowing just one hit.
“That was my role ever since I was a freshman in high school,” Crane said. “I’d play shortstop, and then I’d go out there with no warmup and I’d go right on the mound. All I do is compete. That’s how I always have been and it’s worked out for me.”
Now, Royal Oak will seek its fifth consecutive win and to finish 5-1 during the season-opening homestand, with its second and final game of this series against Kenosha set for 6:35 p.m. on Saturday night. The team will then have an off day on Sunday before starting a five-game road trip that features games against the Madison Mallards, Wausau Woodchucks and the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters.
