The Owensboro Bombers set the tone in their first game of the Great Lakes Legion Tournament, using a steady offense to push past Rock Island, Illinois, 6-3.
Owensboro put the first runs on the board in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of multiple walks and an error.
Brock Brubaker reached base via a walk and moved his way to second after a sacrifice bunt. An error followed after a ground ball from Harrison Bowman, putting runners on the corners with one out.
Braxton French singled the following at-bat, driving in Brubaker to take a 1-0 lead. Jordan Tolle was walked afterwards, loading the bases.
While the Bombers could’ve blown things open, Chance Carruthers managed to escape the inning only allowing one more run thanks to a passed ball.
Rock Island bounced back trailing 2-0 in the top of the fourth, taking advantage of walks and an error as well en route to gaining their first lead of the game.
A leadoff walk, a single from Zach Carpita and another walk turned into a prolific scoring threat with the bases juiced and no outs.
Cohl Proctor’s third walk of the inning led to Rock Island’s first run of the game, with a sacrifice fly from Alex Edwards to knot things up at 2-2.
Proctor was able to get out of the inning without allowing major damage, but not before an error on a bunt brought a run home and gave Rock Island a 3-2 lead.
Momentum swung once again in the bottom of the fourth, as a triple from Brubaker kickstarted another rally for the Bombers.
Gibson singled following the triple, tying things up at 3-3. Back-to-back singles from Bowman and French then put Owensboro up 4-3 going into the fifth.
Proctor then wrapped up his day on the mound in the fifth, finishing with six strikeouts while allowing two earned runs on five hits.
French came in to close out the inning, setting the Bombers up for another inning of crooked numbers to grow their lead.
This time it was Gibson striking at the plate once again, getting his second and third RBIs of the day with a home run to left in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-3 lead.
This was the dagger Owensboro needed with French closing the door in the top of the seventh, earning a 6-3 win.
Gibson and French led the way offensively for the Bombers, as French went 2-4 with two RBIs while Gibson went 2-2 with three RBIs.
With the first win of the tournament under its belt, Owensboro has a quick turnaround, taking on Harrison, Ohio, or Morgantown Post 2 at 6:30 p.m.
