By Jacob Cotsonika
For the second consecutive day, the Kenosha Kingfish got a win against the Royal Oak Leprechauns in walk-off fashion. After a walk-off home run from Ryan Bakes (Illinois State) in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader, James McCoy (Kentucky) roped a two-out RBI double that gave Kenosha a 5-4 victory over Royal Oak on Friday night.
Nick Brady (Thomas) has multiple opportunities to send the game to extras while on the mound in the ninth for the Leprechauns. He retired the first two batters of the inning on ground balls, but then he walked the next two batters to extend the inning, which is when McCoy came up to the plate.
Free passes were really the main culprit of the loss. Royal Oak out-hit Kenosha 7-6. The Leprechaun pitching staff collectively walked 10 batters and had three hit by pitches on the day. Kenosha, on the other hand, only handed out two walks and two hit by pitches.
Royal Oak actually also dug out of an early hole to get itself in a position to potentially win this game. The Kingfish had a 3-0 lead after two innings (largely because of four walks and one hit by pitch), but the Leprechauns plated two runs in both the fourth and sixth innings to take a 4-3 lead.
Tristan Crane (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) hit his second home run of the season to begin the scoring in the fourth. Ty Allen (Belmont) had a sacrifice fly later in the inning.
Jack Dauer (Yale) then had a two-run shot in the sixth that turned Royal Oak’s 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead. Friday was the first time the Leprechauns have hit multiple home runs in the same game this summer.
Royal Oak’s only lead of the night did not last very long, though, as Kenosha tied it in the bottom portion of the sixth.
Despite the loss, the Leprechauns did get two good performances from its bullpen. Mikey Eickhoff (Wittenberg), despite having to come into the game in the second inning, threw 3.0 innings of work without allowing a single hit or run. Ethan LaPointe (Eastern Michigan) then allowed just the one run over 3.1 innings.
Six of Royal Oak’s seven hits also came from its middle three hitters tonight. Devan Zirwas (Eastern Michigan), Dauer, and Dylan Larkins (Georgetown) all had exactly two base knocks while hitting 4-5-6, respectively.
With this series against the Kingfish now concluded, the Leprechauns will still be on the road for a bit longer. Royal Oak begins a two-game set against the Traverse City Pit Spitters for Saturday and Sunday. The team will then play two more contests at the Kalamazoo Growlers following that.
The Leprechauns’ next home game is on Wednesday, June 25 against the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters.
