The Battle Creek Bombers dropped the first of a two game series against the Traverse City Pit Spitters on Saturday night.

The Pit Spitters kicked off the scoring in the bottom of the first with two runs off two walks and a sac fly followed by a base hit RBU by center fielder Jake Wilson. They extended the lead in the third off a wild pitch making the score 3-0.

Battle Creek struggled at the plate early and allowed Traverse City to further extend the lead in the 5th inning by adding three more and again in the sixth by adding one.

The Bombers finally struck in the top of the 7th inning as center fielder Kolby Johnson was walked and eventually driven in by Hunter Ruhstorfer narrowing the deficit to 7-1.

The Pit Spitters added to their total again in the 7th stretching the lead to 8-1.

Battle Creek did score once in the 9th but could not complete the comeback.

Calvin Starnes walked five in his first 2019 Northwood’s League appearance earning himself the loss. Right handed pitcher Andrew Hoffman was awarded the win.

The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Currently in its’ 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 200 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.