KALAMAZOO, MI – The Lakeshore Chinooks beat the Kalamazoo Growlers 16-8 Monday at Homer Stryker Field. The Chinooks got on the board right away with the first at bat of the game. Leadoff hitter Matthew Mika went deep off of Ryan Johnson and Lakeshore didn't look back.

In the second inning, Connor Kimple came up with the bases loaded. He hit a double to center field, scoring two runs. Then, Mika singled to bring in two more runs and make the score 5-0.

The Chinooks continued to add runs here and there as the game went on, with home runs in the third and sixth. In the seventh, the Chinooks tallied four runs, making the score 15-1. Lakeshore scored in each inning except the eighth.

Three Growlers position players were called on to pitch the last three innings, with Jason Sullivan in the seventh, Jack Duffy in the eighth and Ivan Estrella in the ninth.

The Growlers offense never got much going until late in the game. Their earlier couple chances amounted to nothing; Kalamazoo just couldn't find the clutch hit to bring in a run early.

The Growlers and Chinooks will be back at it Tuesday. The 7:05 p.m. start will be followed by a fireworks show to celebrate the July 4 holiday.

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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 160 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.