By Jacob Cotsonika
Three Royal Oak pitchers combined for a shutout of the Rockford Rivets on Saturday night, as the Leprechauns took a 3-0 road victory.
The bulk of the innings were handled by the starter, Grant Bradley (Michigan). He hummed the strike zone all night across all six of his innings, striking out six Rivets to just one walk and four hits.
It was also a much smoother outing for Bradley compared to his last start for Royal Oak, which also came against Rockford. Back on June 8, Bradley allowed four runs (two earned) and seven hits in just three innings against the same squad he just shut down. Bradley also received his first career Northwoods League win for his efforts.
Nick Brady (Thomas) got the seventh frame for the Leprechauns. He had a relatively low-stress outing, giving up a one-out single, but quickly getting the next two hitters to ground out and keep the shutout intact. It was also a get-right game for Brady, as he allowed four earned runs against the Rivets on June 7 across two innings.
Following that, the ball went to Royal Oak’s closer, Fischer Hendershot (Eastern Michigan). He ran into a little trouble during the eighth after the first two Rockford batters made their way on, but he also pitched around the jam by inducing a pop-out and a ground ball that was resulted in Leprechauns third baseman Jack Dauer (Yale) stepping on his designated bag for the force out and then tossing it to first for the inning-ending double play. Hendershot then allowed a one-out base knock in the ninth, but then got the next two Rivets on strikes to end the ballgame.
Hendershot also picked up his fourth save of the season, which is tied for the most in the entire Northwoods League and is all alone at the top of the Great Lakes Division. He also dropped his ERA down to 1.23.
That capped off the team’s first shutout of the season and the second since joining the NWL last year. The only other NWL clean sheet for the Leprechauns came in a 7-0 victory against the Kenosha Kingfish on June 12, 2024. This is the first time Royal Oak has blanked an NWL opponent as the road team.
Even though the Leprechaun offense only plated three runs on 10 hits, that was enough this time. The Leprechauns got on the board in the first after the team went station-to-station on three consecutive singles, with one run scoring on a bases-loaded walk for Nick Shenefelt (Princeton).
In the second, Dylan Larkins (Georgetown) made it 2-0 on an RBI single that was also set up via a walk and stolen base for Max Orozco (Oakland).
Royal Oak’s third and final run came in the fourth on an RBI single from Tristan Crane (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi).
Four different Leprechauns ended up with multiple hits. That list includes Dauer, Larkins, Crane, Ryan Tyranski (Cincinnati).
It all adds up to a much-needed win for Royal Oak. The Leprechauns had previously lost three straight and six of their last seven. It’s an especially big bounceback performance after losing 19-0 to the Madison Mallards just one day ago.
Now, the Leprechauns can look to build off this victory. Royal Oak will look to sweep this two-game series against the Rivets on Sunday and also even the season series at two apiece. Game time is set for 2:05 p.m. ET and can be streamed on ESPN+.
