By: Josh Gleason

Assistant Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

The Will County CrackerJacks dominated the Rockford Foresters for the majority of the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader, winning 9-5.

Matt Borens received the start for the CrackerJacks and worked quickly to begin. After two groundouts, Borens struck out former Northwest Indiana Oilmen, the designated hitter Hunter Pruitt to put an exclamation point on a strong first inning.

Center fielder Jacob Thomas reached base to lead things off by getting hit by a pitch. After left fielder Mitch Elliott struck out, Thomas advanced to third on a throwing error by the Foresters starting pitcher Joe Ross. Second baseman Michael Vilardo then laid down a sacrifice bunt to allow Thomas to score. The inning continued when designated hitter Shaun McGraw walked on a full count and shortstop Adam Springmeyer reached on an error by third baseman Tom Weissbeck. Third baseman Case Munson chopped one back to Ross who fielded it cleanly and got it to first baseman Geno Larkin in time for the final out.

To start off the second inning, third baseman Tom Weissbeck picked up the first hit of the ball game and after a pop out by left fielder Zach Wisowaty, right fielder Max Hoefer reached on a weakly hit ball past Vilardo. With runners on first and second, Borens picked up his second strikeout of the game and forced a groundout to escape the threat.

After two quick outs in the bottom of the second inning, the CrackerJacks really opened things up. Catcher Andrew Johnson walked on four pitches, Thomas picked up a single, and then Elliott picked up an infield single. With another chance at RBI, Vilardo delivered a two RBI single. The lead was increased to 4-0 when McGraw delivered an RBI single. Springmeyer then reached on an error by shortstop Jameson Henning. With the bases loaded, Munson delivered a two RBI single to push the lead to 6-0. The inning finally came to an end when right fielder John Menken was unable to reach for the second time in the inning.

The top of the third inning saw Borens pick up his third strikeout of the game and quickly got the second out on one pitch against Henning. Then, on what looked like a routine groundball to third base by second baseman Nick Richter, Munson tripped over his own feet while delivering the ball to Brown at first, but still managed to get it there accurately and in time for the final out.

Brown led things off in the bottom of the third inning with a single and Johnson followed that with a double that put both base runners in scoring position. With Thomas up to the plate, he laid down a bunt and was able to hustle down the line in time to beat out the throw, also scoring Brown on the play. With runners on the corners and a 7-0 lead, Elliott reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Johnson. The Foresters finally got out of the inning with a 6-3 double play.

The Foresters managed to put two runners on in the top of the fourth inning with one out, but Borens struck out Hoefer and catcher Ryan Williams in order to preserve the eight run lead.

For the first time all game, the CrackerJacks went three up, three down in the fourth inning. This was also the first inning of the game the ‘Jacks didn’t score.

In the top of the fifth, Borens retaliated with a one, two, three inning of his own. Ross once again stymied the ‘Jacks line-up in the bottom half of the frame.

The Foresters finally picked up a run in the top of the sixth inning, when Wisowaty delivered a stand-up, RBI triple to the right center field gap, scoring Weissbeck. Hoefer then followed that with a single to score Wisowaty. All three hits came with two down in the inning. Borens finally got out of the inning when he struck out Williams for the third time in the game.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the CrackerJacks picked up consecutive hits to lead things off from Elliott and Vilardo. After McGraw struck out, Ross balked to advance the runners to second and third. Springmeyer then laid down a sac bunt to score Elliott, but aggressive base running by Vilardo allowed the Foresters to get out of the inning, as they got the ball home just in time to get him coming home.

With a 9-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning, Borens was pulled for Austin Carden and things got interesting. Carden allowed the first two at-bat to reach, but then picked up a big strikeout on Jameson Henning. Following that, Richter grounded in what looked like a double play to end the game, but Vilardo’s throw to Springmeyer covering second base was high, and allowed Larkin to score. Menken then misplayed a hit by Pruitt to right field, reach allowed him to pick-up a triple and score two runs, making it a 9-5 game. Weissbeck was then drilled by a pitch to put runners on the corners. Wisowaty struck out to push the game to its final out. After 34 pitches in one inning, Carden finally ended the game by getting Hoefer to swing over the top of a 1-2 pitch.