KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Growlers continued to play incredible baseball tonight as they defeated the Wisconsin Woodchucks by a score of 14-4. Kalamazoo finished the game with 18 hits and the Woodchuck pitchers had no answers in tonight's contest.
Once again, the Growlers got on the board right away in the first inning. Dan Robinson drove in the first run on a fielder's choice that Connor Kopach, who extended his hitting streak to eight games, was able to score on. Robinson would extend his own hitting streak to 10 later in the game.
Kopach added an RBI of his own in the second inning when he drove in Kasey Cooper on a base hit.
Sam Griggs was also able to get in on the action with a sacrafice fly in the bottom half of the fourth inning that allowed TJ Marik to cross home plate.
The fifth inning brought a scare for the Growlers when the Woodchucks took their first and only lead of the game on a 3-run home run by Steven Mangrum and an RBI fielder's choice off of the bat of Steve Passatempo. Kalamazoo did not let this deficit last long and they added four runs to their total to regain the lead in the bottom of the inning. Dan Leckie, Connor Olson, Kasey Cooper, and Griggs all drove in runs in the inning.
The Growlers did not stop there. They were able to get five more runs on the board the following inning to blow this game wide open. Nick Hutchins started the inning with an RBI single that scored Robinson. Marik, Eli Lovell, and Kopach each added RBI hits in the inning and the game was all but over after the sixth.
Kalamazoo figured they might as well add on to their lead with two more runs in the seventh off of the bats of Cooper and Marik. This was more than enough help for Grant Wolfram, who came on in relief in the sixth inning. Wolfram finished his four innings of work on the mound and only allowed three hits while striking out five Woodchuck batters.
Devin Pellien started this contest on the bump for the Growlers and pitched five innings while giving up four runs on six hits and striking out five.
All eleven Growlers that played in tonight's game had hits in this one and eight of them drove in runs. The Growlers will be back home to begin a series with Green Bay tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m. EDT.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 22-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, more than 140 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 (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com.