By Jacob Cotsonika

The Royal Oak Leprechauns notched their fourth consecutive victory on Tuesday night after taking down the Battle Creek Battle Jacks, 6-4. 

It is also Royal Oak’s ninth win in its last 12 games, the first such stretch the team has had since joining the Northwoods League.

The Leprechauns got to the finish line in this one through two big innings and some steady pitching. Five of Royal Oak’s six runs came in the fifth and the seventh innings. Aidan Schuck (Oakland) hit in the team’s first run of the ballgame with an RBI single with two outs in the second.

Entering the fifth with a 2-1 deficit, the Leprechauns tacked on three runs in the frame, all of which came with two outs. Preston Leon (Minnesota) hit an RBI double — one of his two extra-base hits on the day — to get the first across. Nolan Alvord (Grand Valley State) hit in the other two runs during the inning with a two-RBI single shortly thereafter.

In the seventh, the Leprechauns used three consecutive base hits to get their two runs across. Dylan Larkins (Georgetown) picked up two RBIs after Ryan Tyranski (Cincinnati) and Leon both reached scoring position through a single and a double, respectively.

As for the pitching staff, Royal Oak’s arms stayed resilient, despite having been low on bodies for the entirety of this second half. Jovan Gill (Grand Valley State) was solid on the mound in his first start of the summer, allowing two runs over four innings of work. Logan Ion (Cuyahoga CC) then handed in his best outing so far this season with two shutout innings. Tyranski also ended the sixth inning with the play of the night, a catch in foul territory where he was leaning of the wall on the first-base side while two men were on base.

To finish off Battle Creek, the Leprechauns went to Nick Brady (Thomas), who worked out of a jam in the seventh that Ion was responsible for where two men were on with no outs and the top of the Battle Jack order was coming up. Brady tossed a 1-2-3 eighth before running into trouble in the ninth, allowing two in, but still getting the first two outs. 

Ethan LaPointe (Eastern Michigan) entered with the tying run at the plate, but got Battle Creek’s Ryan Kroepel (Utah Tech) to ground out to end the game. It is LaPointe’s first save of the summer.

Royal Oak now improves to 22-22 overall this season, which is the first time the team has sat at .500 since 8-8. The Leprechauns have been as much as six games below .500 this summer, as well. Battle Creek’s record also became 22-22 with Tuesday’s result.

The more important part, though, is the Leprechauns’ second-half record. Royal Oak is now 5-3 in the second half, which is good for second place in the Great Lakes East and 1.5 games behind the 7-2 Kalamazoo Growlers. The Battle Jacks regressed to 2-7 in this portion of the season.

Royal Oak also now leads the season series against Battle Creek, 3-1. All four meetings so far have been away from home for the Leprechauns, as well. The team will host the Battle Jacks for the first time this summer on Wednesday night at 6:35 p.m. That will serve as a brief stop before heading off to play another two-game road set — this time against the Kenosha Kingfish.