BATTLE CREEK, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Bombers bats exploded for the second straight game as they scored a season-high 10 runs en route to a 10-5 victory over the first-place Traverse City Pit Spitters.
The Bombers collected 10 hits in the ballgame. Eight of the nine Bombers in the lineup recorded at least one hit, led by multi-hit performances from shortstop Ed Johnson and second baseman Miguel Larreal.
It was Johnson who started the scoring in the Bomber’s four-run fourth inning as he singled home Blake Bean to get the Bombers on the board. Larreal and Jacob McKeon would follow with RBI singles of their own to tie the game at three. Larreal then scored the fourth run of the inning to make it 4-3 when Stephen Krause grounded into a double play.
Although getting hot as the game went on, the Bombers started off slow. Starting pitcher Lyle Hibbitts allowed a run in each of the first three innings as the Pit Spitters had a 3-0 lead after the top of the third inning. The Traverse City offense was paced by Aidan Brewer who went 2-4 including an RBI double in the second.
Hibbitts went four innings striking out three in his Bombers debut.
The Bombers would add two runs in the fourth but the Pit Spitters didn’t go away. They would make things interesting in the top of the seventh off reliever Tanner McNamara as Johannes Haakenson scored on a wild pitch and Trey Truitt would score on a sacrifice fly to cut the Bomber lead to 6-5.
But the Bombers bats came alive in the latter half of the frame as they would break the game open, scoring four runs in an inning for the second time in the game. A two-run double by Nicholas Israel extended the Bombers lead to 8-5. And after Ben McNaughton drove him home on a fielder’s choice it was Johnson who doubled home the 10th run of the night.
McNamara, who like Hibbitts, was also making his Bombers debut, recorded the win pitching three innings in relief giving up two runs on just one hit.
Traverse City’s Morgan Lunceford took the loss as the University of San Diego commit was pulled after 3.2 innings of work allowing six runs on six hits and surrendered four walks.
The Bombers look to sweep the Pit Spitters and make it three wins in a row to close the homestand tonight at 6:35 p.m.
