Kalamazoo, MI. — In an entertaining back-and-forth affair, the Kalamazoo Growlers (29-26, 13-10) fell just short to the visiting Traverse City Pit Spitters (40-17, 18-3) at Homer Stryker Field Thursday evening. The Growlers have their four-game win streak snapped.

Kalamazoo struck first on a RBI single by Jimmy Sullivan (Virginia) in the opening frame to grab an early 1-0 advantage. Traverse City tallied a pair of runs in the third to take the lead with a RBI single from Hudson Byorick and RBI groundout by Adam Proctor.

The Growlers tied the score at 2-2 in the fifth as Joel Brewer (South Carolina) drilled a sacrifice fly to right field. Traverse City answered with a sacrifice fly of its own in the ensuing frame to regain the lead at 3-2. In the seventh, Kalamazoo evened the score again at 3-3 on the second sacrifice fly by Brewer. 

The Pit Spitters broke through in the visiting half of the 10th inning as Christian Faust grounded a RBI single through the right side to put the visitors ahead 4-3. Traverse City relief pitcher Kevin Hahn earned the win, improving to 4-0. Growlers reliever Pete Joseph (Northwood Univ.) took the loss, falling to 2-1.

The Kalamazoo Growlers remain at Homer Stryker Field tomorrow evening for the series finale. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.

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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.