By Jacob Cotsonika
The Royal Oak Leprechauns dropped game one and took game two against the Kenosha Kingfish in a Thursday doubleheader that featured two tight contests.
Game One
Kenosha won the first game of the day 8-6. Royal Oak was actually in prime position to win this one, too. The Leprechauns had a 6-1 lead through five innings, but the Kingfish scored seven unanswered to steal the contest. With Kenosha down by one in the ninth, Ryan Bakes (Illinois State) hit a walk-off, three-run home run to win it for the home squad.
Some solid performances for the Leps in that one included Aidan Donovan’s (Michigan State) start on the mound. Donovan only allowed two earned runs over 5.2 innings pitched, but two more unearned runs were charged to him. Royal Oak’s defense did not help out its pitchers in the first game of the series with a six-error performance. Kenosha had a three-run sixth inning on no hits because of four errors and a walk in that frame alone.
The Leprechauns got multi-hit performances from Tristan Crane (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), Ty Allen (Belmont) and Jack Boike (Adrian). Boike also had three RBIs.
Game Two
The nightcap of Thursday’s doubleheader moved in a similar fashion to the first game of the day. This time though, the Leprechauns maintained their slim ninth-inning lead.
Earlier portions of the game moved very similarly to the first contest of the game. Kenosha took a 1-0 lead in the first, but Royal Oak had some great early offense, just like in game one. The Leprechauns scored two in the second, two in the third, and one more in the fourth to get a 5-2 lead.
That score held for a bit during the Northwoods League debut of Jack Decker (Saginaw Valley State) on the mound for Royal Oak. He handed in a solid performance by allowing just the two runs over 4.2 innings of work.
Kenosha struck back shortly after Decker was removed, though. For the second time on the day, the Kingfish plated three in the sixth — Royal Oak’s first full bullpen inning. That tied the game up a 5-5.
The thing is that a bullpen duel broke out for both sides after that. Brendan Roberts (Carthage College) did not allow a hit or a run through his first four innings out of the bullpen for Kenosha. Wyatt Ruppenthal (Kalamazoo College) and Fischer Hendershot (Eastern Michigan) each worked a scoreless inning in the seventh and eighth frames.
Entering the ninth in a tie game, Kenosha went back to Roberts. Given how well he was pitching and the fact he was a starter in college and therefore used to longer outings, who wouldn’t? It looked like the score would remain tied with Crane at the plate and two down with nobody on base, but then Roberts hit Crane with a pitch and crack open the window of opportunity a little bit. Then, Devan Zirwas (Eastern Michigan) actually struck out, but reached first on the dropped third strike.
Royal Oak manager Chris Faust then turned to Ryan Tyranski (Cincinnati) in a clutch pinch-hit situation. Facing a 1-2 count, Tyranski was able to hit a bloop single that dropped a few feet in front of two Kingfish outfielders to score Crane and give the Leprechauns the lead back.
Hendershot got the ninth with a 6-5 lead, the same exact score that Royal Oak blew a couple hours prior. He proceeded to strike out the side and finish off a victory for the Leprechauns.
This split doubleheader makes Royal Oak 11-14 on the season. The Leprechauns will look to salvage a split in the overall four-game series against the Kingfish on Friday at 7:35 p.m. ET. Following that, the team will remain on the road for four more days — two games at the Traverse City Pit Spitters, then at the Kalamazoo Growlers.
Royal Oak’s next home game is on Wednesday, June 25 at 6:35 p.m. ET against the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters.
