Jun. 28—The Kokomo Jackrabbits smacked Rockford 9-3 Sunday afternoon at Kokomo Municipal Stadium to finish off a two-game series sweep of the Rivets.
With the wins, Kokomo moved to 15-13 on the season and is tied with Kenosha for second place in the Northwoods League’s Great Lakes East Division.
In both games, Kokomo fell behind 2-0 in the first inning. In Sunday’s game, relief pitcher Adam Christopher (1-0) took over in the second inning and threw six innings for the win. He gave up four hits, a walk, one run (earned) and struck out ten. Ryan Robinson finished the game with a perfect eighth and ninth innings. He gave up no hits, walks or runs and struck out three.
Kokomo turned Sunday’s game its way with four runs in the bottom of the third to start a string of five straight frames where the Jackrabbits scored. Michael Snyder had an RBI single in the fourth, Martin Vincelli-Simard followed with a run-scoring double, and Kokomo scored a run on a double play and one on an error.
Snyder had an RBI single in the fourth inning, Chase Meidroth singled in a run in the fifth, Josh Buckley scored on a balk in the sixth, and Kokomo scored two runs across in the seventh, with Snyder plating one on a sacrifice fly.
Meidroth went 2 for 2 at the plate, Snyder and Gavin Grant were each 2 for 4 and Camden Vasquez was 2 for 5. Vincelli-Simard, Vasquez and Jakob Marsee each doubled.
On Saturday, Kokomo outlasted Rockford 8-7 in 12 innings when the Jackrabbits pushed a run across in the bottom of the 12th inning
Dylan Dennis started the inning on second base. First batter Vincelli-Simard hit a single, Meidroth was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Dennis scored when the next batter, Buckley, was hit by a pitch.
That ended a game with two big momentum swings and a tense session of bonus baseball where each team scored in the 11th inning. Rockford went up 2-0 in the first inning. Kokomo cut the lead in half when Grant drew a bases-loaded walk, then Kokomo took the lead with five runs in the bottom of the fifth for a 6-2 advantage.
Chris Santiago had an RBI single in the fifth, Ryan Ellis had a two-run double, Vasquez drove in a run when he was hit by a pitch, and Ellis scored on a balk.
The Rivets scored a run in the sixth and forced overtime with three runs in the top of the third to tie the game 6-all. Each squad scored a run in the 11th. Luke Spillane drove in Kokomo’s tying run in the 11th with a two-out double.
Spillane led the Rabbits at the plate Saturday, going 3 for 4. Ellis was 2 for 5. Each had a double.
Reliever Brock Begesha (2-2) threw the 12th and got the win. He didn’t give up a hit or a run, walked two and struck out two.
Chris Santiago also had a strong relief stint. He entered with two on, and no outs in the top of the ninth after Rockford had already scored twice in that frame. He got out of the inning with only one more run scoring and pitched three innings total with a hit, a walk, an unearned run and three strikeouts. Starter Connor Linchey threw six innings with seven hits, no walks, three earned runs and three strikeouts.
Kokomo visits Kalamazoo at 6:35 p.m. today to start a two-game series.