Battle Creek Battle Jacks’ first half of the season a success

First-year head coach Ben Harley has Battle Creek in contention for the first half of the collegiate summer baseball season

BATTLE CREEK – How has the Battle Jacks’ new era gone under first-year head coach Ben Harley?

If the numbers on the scoreboard are anything to go by, the new leader of Battle Creek’s college-level baseball team is a winner.

Under Harley, the Battle Jacks have now recorded more wins than the Northwoods League team did in both halves of the season last year.

MORE: Battle Jacks excited about the 2024 season

Entering play on Thursday, Battle Creek was 17-13 and has been playing in the Great Lakes East Division since the start of the season. Last year the Jacks were 10-24 in the first half of the season and not much better in the second half at 16-22.

“I expected to come in and have some success knowing what was on the roster,” Harley said. “And it’s nice to see the guys we brought in have some success.

“We fought for the play-offs the entire first half, and that’s what you want.”

With the first half of the season ending on July 2, Battle Creek may not quite reach the top of the division at the halfway mark. The Rockford Rivets are in first place at 22-8 and five games ahead of the third place Jacks with six games remaining.

However, the strong first half gives Battle Creek some momentum to make a playoff run in the second half. The team with the best record in the first half and the team with the best record in the second half both make the playoffs. The team with the best overall record, outside of those two teams, also makes the playoffs.

“The standings have been down for a lot of the first half and we were right about that. Overall, that could allow us to have a strong start to the second half as well,” Harley said. “We’re just trying to get as many wins as we can over the summer to try and get in there.”

Fight Jacks and Growlers

One of the secondary stories of every Northwoods League season is the battle between rivals Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. The Jackets earned their first win of the series last week in a satisfying 18-11 win over the Growlers after falling in the first three matchups.

The two teams will play eight more times for the rest of the year.

Harley, who has been an assistant coach with the Growlers for the past two seasons, was happy to finally get a win over his old team.

“We played four very competitive games against the Growlers. Our bats went to bat against them last time, and it was good to finally play one against them,” Harley said.

Reinforcements

With many of the pitchers on the Jacks roster on innings limits, there will be a changing of the guard on the mound in the second half.

“We’re excited about the reinforcements coming in. We’ve got six new arms and they should be a force for us in the second half,” Harley said.

Tyler Sager (Northwood University) leads the Jacks’ pitching staff with three wins to date, with Noah Sample having the best first half of the season of any starter with a 1.17 ERA in four starts.

At bat, Alex Fernandes (University of Memphis) is one of the best hitters in the league, with a .351 batting average with 34 hits in 28 games. Mason Hamlin (University of Texas of the Permian Basin) is not far behind with a .350 batting average with 41 hits in 29 games, which is the best in the league.

Contact Bill Broderick at [email protected]. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.

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Battle Creek Battle Jacks’ first half of the season a success

First-year head coach Ben Harley has Battle Creek in contention for the first half of the collegiate summer baseball season

Fight Jacks and Growlers

Reinforcements

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