Green Bay punches ticket to Northwoods League Championship Game with win over Traverse City
Traverse City, Mich.- In the Great Lakes Championship game, the Green Bay Rockers defeated the Traverse City Pit Spitters 15-14 Wednesday night at Turtle Creek Stadium, securing their spot in the Northwoods League Championship Game set for Friday night against the St. Cloud Rox.
In a game that lasted nearly four hours, the Rockers came back from a 10-4 deficit and eventually won 15-14 over the Pit Spitters, winning their first ever Great Lakes Championship in franchise history as a result. Green Bay is now 3-0 in the playoffs and are set to take on the Rox for the 2023 Northwoods League Championship, which is set for 6:35 p.m. CT at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud Friday night.
Green Bay scored the first runs of the game off RBI singles from JoJo Jackson (Georgia St) and Jayson Jones (Arkansas), handing the visitors an early 2-0 lead after just the first inning of play.
However, the Pit Spitters erupt for five runs in the bottom of the first to take a 5-2 lead through the first inning with the Rockers in search of more offense heading into the second trailing by three.
The Rockers responded quickly in the second off a two-RBI single from Cooper Kelly (Kansas), cutting the deficit to just one at 5-4 through an inning and a half at Turtle Creek Stadium, with the two offenses continuing to trade runs in the early going.
The Pit Spitters came back in the bottom of the second with five more runs however to increase their lead to 10-4 heading into the third in Traverse City, as Green Bay looked to respond in the third inning of play.
Zane Zielinski (Illinois-Chicago) and Sam Polk (Washington University St Louis) each added an RBI in the third to make it a 10-6 game after two and a half innings of play, and a scoreless bottom of the third from Henry Chabot (Chapman) took the contest into the fourth with Green Bay still down by just four at 10-6.
After each team went scoreless in the fourth, Green Bay cut the deficit to just one with three runs coming across in the top of the fifth, as led by an RBI double from Kendal Ewell (Illinois-Chicago) and a wild pitch scoring Sam Polk (Washington University St-Louis), the Rockers made it a 10-9 game halfway through at Turtle Creek Stadium.
An error put the Pit Spitters back up by two runs heading into the sixth, as the score became 11-9 after five innings, with both offenses continuing to answer throughout the ballgame.
The Rockers erupted for six runs in the top of the sixth as after back-to-back walks by the Pit Spitters forced in two runs, a bases clearing double from Ewell made it a 15-11 game as the Rockers continued to put runs at will with the score now at 15-11 in favor of Green Bay.
Traverse City scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Tyler Horvath (Case Western Reserve) retired the last batter he faced in the frame to keep the Rockers up by one at 15-14 entering the seventh.
Following a scoreless seventh and eighth inning on both sides, Horvath returned for the mound in the bottom of the ninth, needing to keep the Pit Spitters off the board one final time to send Green Bay to the Northwoods League Championship.
Even with the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth, Horvath struck out the final batter he faced to finish the job, securing the Great Lakes Championship victory over the Pit Spitters 15-14 on the road.
The Rockers are now set to play in the Northwoods League Championship against the St. Cloud Rox, with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. Friday night at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud. The game will be televised on ESPN+.
Visit www.greenbayrockers.com or call the ticket office at 920-497-7225 to reserve your seats today. The Rockers front office and Team Apparel Fan Shop at Capital Credit Union Park are located at 2231 Holmgren Way in Ashwaubenon. Office hours are Monday-Friday 8:30am-5pm.
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The Green Bay Rockers 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. Now in its’ 30th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 24 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 325 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 and on ESPN+. For more information, visit www.greenbayrockers.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rockers as your favorite team.
