On a beautiful Friday evening, my wife and I headed down Hwy 83 to see a matchup between the visiting Watertown Rivermen and host Kenosha Kings at Burlington’s Beaumont Field.
For eight innings, it was a pitcher’s duel as Kenosha took a narrow 3-2 lead into the ninth. In the top of the ninth, the game turned into a nailbiter for both ballclubs and their fans.
Before that, let’s rewind.
In the bottom of the third, Kenosha scored all their runs, which was enough to maintain a lead entering the ninth. Aaron Hurd led off the inning with a double and scored when the next batter singled to right. Two batters later, Jared Bujdos homered to left to take a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the third, the Rivermen scored a run when Jonah Roloff, who was hit by a pitch, scored on a Tyler Swanson double.
In the top of the eighth Waterford narrowed Kenosha’s lead by scoring another run on a walk, hit by pitch, and a single.
In the ninth, things got interesting.
The Rivermen’s leadoff batter got things started by reaching base on an infield error, but that was quickly erased on a 4-6-3 double play. Waterford’s chances for a comeback looked grim.
With one strike away from a Kings victory, the next batter was hit by a pitch. The fourth batter of the inning also reached base when he was also hit by a pitch on a 3-2 count. The fifth batter of the inning, Tyler Swanson, became the third consecutive batter to fend off a Kings victory. With a full count and two outs, the baserunners were off and running as Swanson stroked a line drive single to center. The score was knotted at 3.
The next three batters, Aaron Chapman, Matt Korman, and Chris Saltzmann followed with singles that led to three more runs.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Kings started a comeback with a leadoff double by Jack Ryan, but the next three batters went down in order.
Final score: Waterford 6 – Kenosha 3.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a box score like that of Kenosha’s. Each of the starting nine had one hit that included five singles, three doubles (Hurd, Ryan, and Trey Starr), and a home run (Bujdos). From the dish, Kenosha starting pitcher, Nathan Gilman, had a solid performance: 5 hits, 1 run, and 7 K’s.
Waterford had just one extra base-hit, a double by Swanson, but a series of timely hits were the difference. Aaron and Andy Chapman, and Saltzman had a pair of hits, and Tyler Swanson went 3 for 5. Rivermen pitcher, Matt O’Sullivan, had a rocky 2nd inning, but scattered five hits throughout the other 8 innings of work.
My wife wanted to give a shout-out to the concession stand. She really liked the hot dogs.
Enjoy the aerial photos – it was a beautiful evening for a ballgame that concluded with a wonderful sunset.
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