Rivets Get Shut Out, Extend Losing Skid to Six
Published on June 15, 2026 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Rockford Rivets News Release
ROYAL OAK, Mich. - Opening up a series against the Royal Oak Leprechauns, the Rockford Rivets' woes from the past couple of series followed them, as they lost 4-0 to the Leps and dropped their sixth game in a row.
They matched their hit count from the past two games, with a mere four.
Leprechauns pitcher Spencer Boynton dominated on the mound with six scoreless innings and 11 strikeouts. His impressive performance earned him Lep's player of the game. He only allowed one free pass, a walk to Tommy Townsend (Xavier University) in the fourth, and earned himself Leprechauns' Player of the Night.
In the top of the sixth, it looked like Boynton wouldn't complete the inning before reaching the 110-pitch limit, where a pitcher isn't allowed to face another batter. Upon striking out Davis Collie (John A. Logan CC) for the second out, Townsend got picked off at second to end the inning. He appeared to think Davis' strikeout was the third out instead of the second, starting toward the dugout before being caught off the bag.
Jack Kerpan (St. Ambrose University) started on the mound and was the first of five Rivets pitchers. He went for just two innings, and four earned runs were charged to him. The Leprechauns scored all four in the second, going scoreless the other eight innings.
Kerpan walked two batters after a single to load the bases, and an RBI double cleared the bases to score three. Another RBI single soon scored the fourth of the night.
Rowan Smyth (Lewis University) pitched his fourth Rivets outing, going for two innings. He tossed five strikeouts, the second most of any Rivets pitcher tonight against the Leprechauns. These were his most strikeouts of any game so far and he allowed no runs.
But when Michael Boyce (Parkland CC) took over for Smyth, he couldn't keep up the same control. His pitches were all over the place, causing catcher Dasaan Lee (Grambling State University) to lunge across the plate to reel them in. Some pitches were wildly outside, the next extremely inside. He threw back-to-back four-pitch walks before Justin Hallberg called down to the bullpen, bringing in Ben Buehring (UW-OshKosh) after a fast warmup.
As has been his reputation all season, Buehering entered and took control.
He struck out six batters through two innings. Each of his outs was gained on strikeouts. He used fast balls, breaking balls and painted each corner of the zone with precision to both make batters chase and to catch them looking. His ERA remains at 0.00, and his season is extremely impressive.
The Rivets will try again on Tuesday against Royal Oak at 5:35 pm CT, hoping for a couple more hits and some strength out of the pitching staff.
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