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Ryan Knippschild (7-4) took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, and Jacob Blackwood homered twice to push the Kansas City T-Bones (37-19) over the Rockford RiverHawks (25-31), 12-2, in front of 6,046 fans at CommunityAmerica Ballpark Friday night. It was the first ever match-up between the teams.

Knippschild worked seven innings while allowing just two runs on five hits and two walks, striking out eight. His only blemish came in the fifth, when both runs scored on an RBI double by Kevin House.

Kansas City jumped on Rockford starter Roger Lincoln (4-5) early, as Keanon Simon tripled to lead off the first inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jacob Blackwood, giving the T-Bones a 1-0 advantage.

The T-Bones added to their lead in the third, putting the first three batters of the inning on against Lincoln.  Two then scored on a two-run single by Blackwood before a sacrifice fly by Rico Washington brought the score to 4-0.

After the RiverHawks cut the lead to 4-2, the T-Bones answered in the bottom half of the fifth with three runs, all with two outs. A solo home run by Jacob Blackwood plated the first run before a wild pitch and passed ball forced the next two home for a 7-2 T-Bones advantage.

Lincoln left after five having allowed seven runs, six earned, on seven hits in the loss.

Ryan Fox homered off reliever David Wagner in the sixth, and the T-Bones used four extra-base hits, including Blackwood’s second home run of the game, to plate four runs in the seventh capping the score at 12-2.

Erik Hamren relieved Knippschild in the eighth, and pitched a perfect inning, striking out two. Kyle Heim worked a perfect ninth inning for Kansas City. Blackwood finished four-for-four with five RBI, pushing his season RBI total to 50. Every T-Bone batter collected a hit.

Kansas City sends Northern League wins leader Andrew Cruse (8-2, 1.90) to the mound opposite right-hander Kyle Wright (4-3, 3.81) and the RiverHawks in game two tomorrow. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Catch all the action online at www.tbonesbaseball.com or on the radio at KXTR 1660 AM.