KALAMAZOO, MI – For the second night in a row, Kalamazoo and Wisconsin starters dueled. For the second night in a row, a Purdue Boilermaker for the Growlers pitched a great game. The only difference today, Kalamazoo (8-24) was able to come out on top over the Woodchucks (11-20) 4-3.

 

Shane Bryant (Purdue) left after the sixth inning with a no decision, but he did what a good starting pitching should do and kept his team in the game allowing only one earned run. The Woodchucks were not able to get much offence going either as four hits came from the pitches of Bryant.

 

The one Bryant earned run came in the second. Ryan Day (Duke) led off with a walk and two batters later, Ramsey Romano (Michigan) singled to put runners on first and second. A pass ball on the next batter, Keenan Eaton (Wichita State) allowed the runners to advance ninety feet. Eaton then hit a fly ball to right field which scored Day.

 

“My body wasn’t feeling that great tonight,” Bryant said. “Luckily I had my command today and was able to command both sides of the plate.

 

“When you are able to command both sides of the fastball it opens up a lot of the other pitchers and (the opposing team) is guessing pretty hard.”

 

With the way the Growlers’ season has been going, the two runs the Woodchucks scored in the seventh off a single by Ty Black (Ohio) seemed to all but secure a seventh straight loss for Kalamazoo.

 

Cue Jordan Stading (Houston). The bases were loaded, and, with wasting runners on second and third in the sixth, Stading did not want another rally killed.

 

Wish granted. Stading slapped a hit to left field for a two RBI single.

 

The Stading single kept the Growlers ahead for the remainder of the game as Nick Wernke (West Virginia) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his second Growler save of the 2015 season.

 

Kalamazoo hopes to keep the momentum going as the Lakeshore Chinooks come to Homer Stryker Field for the first time this year for a two game series.

 

The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 21-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 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, 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League YouTube channel. For more information, visit http://www.northwoodsleague.com.