The Mandan Flickertails are one win away from the 2020 North Dakota Pod championship after beating the Bismarck Larks 2-0 Wednesday night. It was also a good night for the Traverse City Pit Spitters, who ended the regular season on a winning note after a 12-9 win over the Great Lakes Resorters.
Michigan Pod
Kalamazoo Mac Daddies 6 Kalamazoo Growlers 5
The Growlers jumped out to an early lead, but the Mac Daddies clawed their way back, tying the game in the bottom of the fifth before picking up the win on a walk-off single off the bat of Patrick Arndt (Bellarmine University), which allowed Kyle Bean (Kalamazoo College) to score the game-winning run. Arndt ended up 2-2 on the night, with three runs batted in. Ethan O’Donnell (Northwestern) was 2-3, with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. Cooper Doughman (Chattahoochee Valley CC) had a breakout game for the Growlers, going 2-2 at the plate, with a home run and two runs batted in.
Kalamazoo Growlers 4 Kalamazoo Mac Daddies 3
In the nightcap, it was the Growlers who scored late to win, as they scored two runs in the top of the fifth to break what had been a 2-2 tie to top the Mac Daddies. Six different Growlers had hits on the game, with Doughman recording the lone extra-base hit, which was a double to lead off the top of the fifth. Robbie Berger (Indiana University South Bend) got the start for the Growlers and threw two shutout innings, allowing a hit and recording four strikeouts. Alex Lord (Davenport University) picked up the win after throwing two innings, allowing an unearned run on one hit with three strikeouts.
Traverse City Pit Spitters 12 Great Lakes Resorters 9
It was an offensive outburst on Wednesday for the Pit Spitters and Resorters, but in the end it was Traverse City who came out on top, scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth to escape with a win. All-but-one Pit Spitter notched a hit tonight as Cooper Marshall (Western Michigan), Sam Schmitt (Grand Rapids CC) and Keaton Peck (Grand Rapids CC) combined for seven RBIs in the victory. For the Resorters, three different batters had multi-hit performances with Noah Marcoux (Davenport University) blasting a grand slam, his first of the season.
North Dakota Pod
Mandan Flickertails 2 Bismarck Larks 0
The Flickertails scored the only runs of the game in the top of the eighth on a two-run home run from Seth Lucero (Dawson CC) to take the first game of the North Dakota Pod championship series from the Larks. Jarrett Bickel (Palm Beach State) ended up 2-4 for the Flickertails, while Lucero had the only two RBI. Morgan McCloud (Texas Wesleyan) threw eight innings for Mandan, allowing no runs on just two hits with a season-high 10 strikeouts to pick up the win. Jason Dressel (Hope International) threw one relief inning, striking out the side to earn the save.
Thursday, September 3 schedule
Battle Creek Bombers at Kalamazoo Mac Daddies 6:30 p.m. ET
Great Lakes Resorters at Traverse City Pit Spitters 7:05 p.m. ET
Bismarck Larks at Mandan Flickertails 7:05 p.m. CT