Wausau, WI- The Growlers fall 5-4 in game two of this mid week series as the Woodchucks rally for three in the 8th. Heres how it unfolded.
The Growlers would strike first in the top of the second with Charlie Carpenter (USC Upstate) at the plate on an error by Woodchucks first baseman Dalton Reed (Seminole CC) that allowed Jason Sullivan (Central Michigan) to score from second, 1-0 Growlers. Kalamazoo would then load the bases with nobody out but failed to score as Austin Lambright (Abilene Christian) the Woodchucks starter struckout two then got Matt Koehler (Western Carolina) to ground out to second ending the frame.
Wisconsin would take the lead in the bottom of the second on a two run shot from catcher Aaron Soucy (Boston College), 2-1 Woodchucks. Those were the only two runs of the game that Growlers starter JR Holloway (Oklahoma City) would give up in his six solid innings of work.
The top of the second would set the tone for the rest of game for the Growlers offense as they loaded the bases with nobody out for the second straight inning and only managed to scratch across one run on a double play by Carpenter, 2-2 . In total the Growlers left 13 men on base.
The Growlers would regain the lead in the top of the fifth on an RBI single from Ivan Estrella (UT Rio Grande Valley) that scored Jack Duffy (Missouri State) from third with one out, 3-2 Growlers.
Fast forward to the bottom of the eighth Growlers now leading 4-2 as Connor Hollis (Houston) scored on a wild pitch from third in the top of the sixth. Hayden Brauser (Missouri Southern State) on to begin the 8th after a 123 seventh. Brauser retired the first batter of the inning on one pitch as Milton Rivera (North Carolina A&T) grounded out to short. Then it would go south fast for the Growlers as Yeager Taylor (UC Riverside) would single to left and come around to score on a triple from Stevie Mangrum (Virginia Tech), 4-3 Growlers. The Woodchucks would tie the game at four as Ryan Franklin (Kalamazoo College) came in relief of Brauser; Dalton Reed would hit a ball into the left center field gap that left fielder Jeff Riedel (Ball State) wasnt able to come up with scoring Mangrum from third easily as Reed pulled into second. Then the Woodchucks would score the eventual winning run on a RBI Double from their second baseman Ivan Nunez (Hillsborough CC), 5-4 Wisconsin.
Kalamazoo would go down in order in the top of the ninth as Orsen Josephina (Hillsborough CC) collected his Northwoods League leading 8th save of the season. Growlers are back at it tomorrow in Fon Du Lac to face off with the Dock Spiders for the first time this season. Game one of this weekend series is set to start at 7:05 ET. You can catch the game on mixlr.com/kzoo-growlers as the voices of the Growlers Parker Brighton, and Griffin Sassano bring you all the action from Herr Baker Field.
###
The Kalamazoo Growlers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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, more than 170 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.growlersbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Growlers as your favorite team.