FOND DU LAC, WI – Grant Hussey (West Virginia) drove in a career-high six runs in an 11-8 Fond du Lac Dock Spiders win on Friday night against the Kalamazoo Growlers on the road.
The win broke a four-game losing streak for the Dock Spiders, as they scored seven of the final nine runs to break the Growlers four-game home winning streak. Fond du Lac stays tied with the Wausau Woodchucks for second in the Great Lakes West Division with the win, while Kalamazoo stays a half-game ahead of Kenosha for first in the Great Lakes East with the loss.
For the third time in four games, Hussey put the Dock Spiders up 1-0 with a solo shot with two outs and nobody on in the first. His homer marked the first of three extra-base hits on the day.
Kalamazoo would tally three in the bottom of the first, but the Dock Spiders would jump back in front with a two-run third and a one-run fourth when Hussey lined a double to left. The Growlers would retake the lead again with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
In the fifth, the Dock Spiders would take the lead again with four runs off one hit in the frame before the Growlers tied it with a two-run single to right. The Dock Spiders would score single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to take the lead for good.
On the pitching side, Alex Vera (Illinois), Luke Vaks (College of Charleston) and Garrett Houston (Georgia-Gwinnett) combined to toss five shutout innings to finish it out, allowing just two hits while striking out nine.
Vera (1-0) earned his first win of the summer, while Houston earned his second save. Noah Stants (Jackson College) fell to 0-2, taking the loss for Kalamazoo.
The Dock Spiders wrap-up their road trip tomorrow in Wausau against the Woodchucks. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 28th 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 280 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (NYM), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2021 All-Star, MLB Gold Glove winner and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. League games are viewable live at watchnwl.com. For more information, visit dockspiders.com download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Dock Spiders as your favorite team.
