Orsen Josephina was a perfect five-for-five in save situations before Monday night, when Battle Creek struck for three runs off of him in the ninth inning to life the Bombers (10-4) to a 9-7 comeback victory over the Wisconsin Woodchucks (5-9) at Athletic Park.

After a rain delay of three hours, Chucks starter DJ Moreland was strong through his first four innings, throwing only 50 pitches and allowing two hits, but he ran into trouble in the fifth. Cale Hennemann walked with one out to kickstart a five-run inning for the Bombers, highlighted by a two-run bomb by red-hot JD Mundy.

The Chucks headed into the bottom of the fifth down by five. They left that half inning up one. Tristan Clarke and Stevie Mangrum both walked to put two men on, and Brylie Ware brought home Clarke with a single. Ivan Nunez brought home two with a single and Kyle Mrozinski brought home one with a double. Nunez came around to score on an error to improbably give the Woodchucks a 6-5 lead.

They then turned it over to the back half of a bullpen that had been so stellar this season. But all that would change. Nick Walker singled to start the eighth against Lenny Gwizdala, and a few wild pitches later, Walker crossed home plate to tie the score at seven. Wisconsin responded perfectly in the bottom half. Milton Rivera and Clarke both singled and executed the double steal to perfection to advance a base, and Rivera came home when catcher Aaron Antonini’s throw sailed into center field.

The Woodchucks once again had a one-run lead, and they turned things over to their closer. Josephina struck out the first man he faced, but the next three all reached, two via singles, and the next three all scored to give Battle Creek the two-run lead. Colton Bradley entered to pitch the bottom half, and worked around a two-out double by Nunez to clinch his first save of the year and the 9-7 Battle Creek win.

The Woodchucks will look to rebound Tuesday night as they take on the stumbling Fond du Lac Dock Spiders at Herr-Baker Field. Korey Rasure will make his first Wisconsin start at 6:35 PM. The Woodchucks will return home Wednesday night to open up a three-game homestand by taking on Fond du Lac at 6:35 PM at Athletic Park.

(Wisconsin Woodchucks Facebook photo)

Game Date: 06/12/2017
Battle Creek Bombers 9 AT Wisconsin Woodchucks 7

YTD YTD
Battle Crk AB R H BI AVG Wisconsin AB R H BI AVG
Kaletha, L CF 5 1 1 0 .315 Rivera, M SS 5 1 2 0 .323
Howard, A 3B 4 1 1 1 .417 Clarke, T CF 3 1 1 0 .333
Stoffel, T LF 4 2 2 1 .447 Mangrum, S LF 3 1 0 0 .346
Mundy, J 1B 5 2 2 2 .400 Ware, B DH 4 1 1 1 .333
Walker, N RF 5 2 4 1 .255 Reed, D 1B 4 1 1 0 .143
Vasic, N SS 2 0 0 1 .189 Fleischman, C 3B 3 1 1 0 .179
Antonini, A C 4 0 0 0 .286 Nunez, I 2B 5 1 2 2 .256
Welch, W DH 5 0 0 1 .207 Soucy, A C 2 0 0 0 .269
Hennemann, C 2B 2 1 0 0 .226 Mrozinaki, K C 3 0 1 1 .207
Owens, J RF 4 0 0 0 .231
36 9 10 7 36 7 9 4

Battle Crk 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 3 – 9 10 3
Wisconsin 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 1 0 – 7 9 2
2B–Kaletha, L CF (5), Stoffel, T LF (5), Nunez, I 2B (4), Mrozinaki, K C
(2). HR–Mundy, J 1B (5). RBI–Howard, A 3B (4), Stoffel, T LF (11), Mundy,
J 1B 2 (8), Walker, N RF (9), Vasic, N SS (5), Welch, W DH (7), TOTALS 7
(0), Ware, B DH (3), Nunez, I 2B 2 (9), Mrozinaki, K C (2), TOTALS 4 (0).
HP–Vasic, N SS (9), Hennemann, C 2B (1), Ware, B DH (1). SF–Howard, A 3B
(1). SB–Walker, N RF (3), Vasic, N SS (8), Rivera, M SS (6), Clarke, T CF
3 (5). E–Vasic, N SS (5), Antonini, A C (2), Griffin, C P (2), Reed, D 1B
(3), Moreland, D P (2).
LOB–Battle Crk 8, Wisconsin 10. DP–T. Stoffel(LF) – C. Hennemann(2B).
YTD
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Battle Crk
Griffin, C 4.2 2 3 3 5 6 0 4.91
Shook, T 1.2 4 3 2 2 1 0 2.79
Helsel, Z (W,1-0) 1.2 2 1 1 0 1 0 1.29
Bradley, C (S,1) 1.0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0.00
9 9 7 6 7 11 0
Wisconsin
Moreland, D 5.0 6 5 4 3 5 1 9.28
Bottenfield, J 2.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.09
Lenny, G 1.0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1.23
Josephona, O (L,0-1) 1.0 3 3 3 1 2 0 3.86
9 10 9 8 5 10 1
WP–Griffin, C (9), Shook, T (3), Lenny, G 2 (3), Josephona, O (3).
PB–Soucy, A. HB–Griffin, C (2), Moreland, D (1), Josephona, O (3).
SO–Kaletha, L 2, Howard, A, Mundy, J, Vasic, N, Antonini, A 3, Welch, W,
Hennemann, C, Rivera, M, Mangrum, S, Reed, D, Fleischman, C, Nunez, I 3,
Soucy, A 2, Mrozinaki, K, Owens, J. BB–Stoffel, T, Vasic, N 2, Antonini,
A, Hennemann, C, Clarke, T 2, Mangrum, S 2, Reed, D, Fleischman, C 2.
BF–Griffin, C 22 (69), Shook, T 12 (49), Helsel, Z 6 (29), Bradley, C 4
(10), Moreland, D 25 (54), Bottenfield, J 6 (51), Lenny, G 5 (34),
Josephona, O 8 (33). P-S–Griffin, C 102-55, Shook, T 51-28, Helsel, Z
16-12, Bradley, C 15-12, Moreland, D 85-47, Bottenfield, J 19-15, Lenny, G
15-11, Josephona, O 35-21.
T–3:25. A–1009
Start of game delayed 2 hours 59 minutes due to rain. Wisconsin Head Coach
Fabian ejected in top of 5th inning.

Weather: 66 degrees, Partly Cloudy
Plate Umpire – Nick Marple (#12), Field Umpire #1 – Tyler Harvey (#43), Field Umpire #2 – Michael Epright (#22)