July 1, 2019

Contact: Bennett Wise, wisebm@miamioh.edu

KZoo’s offense scores seven in the fifth and reach 11 hits

 

Kalamazoo, Mich. — The Kalamazoo Growlers scored seven runs in the fifth inning to beat the Kenosha Kingfish 7-4. 

It looked bleak early for Kalamazoo as Kenosha put up one run in the second on a sacrifice fly from Drew Dyer (Chicago State) to score Nate Thomas (St. Joseph’s).

The Kingfish added four more runs in the top of the fifth on a three-run home run from Mike Jarvis (SDSU), bringing home Brendan Hueth (St. Joseph’s) and Ethan Owens (Drury). 

Trailing by four going into the bottom of the frame, Clay Owens (U of Southern Cal) led things off on a walk and scored in the ensuing at bat on an RBI single from Rudy Maxwell (Duke).

Shea Kramer (Utah) was hit by a pitch from the starter Caleb Larson (Illinois) and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt from Miko Rodriguez (Texas A&M). 

The Growlers loaded the bases on a walk by Zach Gelof (UVA). Gabe Rivera (University of Miami) drove in two on a single, scoring Maxwell and Kramer.

The icing on the cake was put on by Drew Blakely (UVA) who cleared the bases on his first double of the year, scoring Rivera, Brooks Coetzee (Notre Dame), and Jake Topoloski (Duke).

Kalamazoo only recorded four hits in the frame, but it was all that was needed to seal the deal.

Kaden Helsel (Drury) earned the win for the Growlers after throwing two scoreless innings of relief with four strikeouts. Jordan Patty (CMU) set up Eamon Horwedel (4, Ohio University) in his first appearance for Kalamazoo going two innings, giving up two hits and one strikeout. Horwedel recorded the save with two strikeouts in the ninth.

Harry Orth (UW-Oshkosh) was the losing pitcher for the Kingfish with 1.2 innings of relief, allowing three hits, three runs, two of them being earned.

The Kalamazoo Growlers go for back-to-back series sweeps tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. 

 

###

The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Currently in its’ 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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 200 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.