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Waterloo, Iowa — The Kalamazoo Growlers ran into a bear trap on Thursday night, as the Waterloo Bucks broke out of an offensive slump and cruised to a 12-2 victory at Riverfront Stadium, paced by a nineteen-hit attack.
Kalamazoo had its chances on offense but stranded four baserunners in the first three innings and could not come through with key hits and tallied only seven on the night. Justin Fletcher (Northern Illinois) and Karl Sorensen (St. Cloud State) each contributed two hits in the defeat as Kalamazoo moved to 15-30 overall in 2014 and watched its record fall to 2-8 in the second half.
Dillon Haviland (Duke) took the loss in his sixth start of the year. Justin Goike (Kalamazoo Valley Community College) pitched five innings of relief for the Growlers, his longest outing of the year. Waterloo improved to 29-16 overall and 6-5 in the second half.
The Growlers travel to Rochester, Minn. on Saturday to play the first of two games against the Honkers. Ryan Colgate (Ohio Dominican) will try and earn his first Growler victory since early June, as the conclusion of the Rochester series brings to a close the longest road trip of the year for Kalamazoo. They currently hold a 1-3 record through four games of the road trip.
The Kalamazoo Growlers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods 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, more than 115 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (DET) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League YouTube channel. For more information, visit http://www.growlersbaseball.com.
